Margarete Hedwig Zuelzer (7 February 1877 – 29 August 1943) was a German

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

specializing in the study of

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

Biography

Margarete Zuelzer was the daughter of Jewish textile manufacturer Julius Zuelzer (1838–1889) and Henriette née Friedlaender (1852–1931). She studied natural sciences at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. She was among the first generation of women to officially attend university in Germany. Studying science in particular was so unusual for a woman at the time that Zuelzer had to get special permission from each of her professors to attend their classes. She earned her doctorate in 1904 with a dissertation on Difflugia urceolata Carter, a

. This made her the 37th woman to have earned a doctorate at the University of Heidelberg and the sixth to have earned one from its faculty of natural sciences.Universitätsarchiv Heidelberg, Sign. H-V-5/2 In 1907, she became the assistant at the water treatment center in Berlin. In 1916, she took a position at the Imperial Ministry of Health (Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt), later the Reich's Ministry of Health (Reichsgesundheitsamt). After 1919, she led the Protozoa Laboratory in Berlin-Dahlem and continually served as one of the few women on the advisory board, sometimes the only one. From 1926 to 1929, she was invited by the Dutch government to carry out a research study on "Weil's disease" in the

Dutch Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which declared independence on 17 August 1945. Following the Indonesian War of Independe ...

, specifically in Bali, Sumatra, and Java. There, she became friends with German-Dutch biologist Wilhelm Schüffner. In April 1933, she lost her position at the Protozoa Laboratory due to the

Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-establish the Civil Service, was enacted by the Nazi Party, Na ...

, which allowed civil servants of "non-Aryan descent" to be dismissed. Zuelzer wrote an appeal demonstrating her ancestors' support of German nationalism, but this made no difference. In October 1939, Zuelzer immigrated to the Netherlands, where she procured a position at the Institute for Tropical Hygiene, which was led by Wilhelm Schüffner. Her sister Gertrud Zuelzer, a noted painter, was arrested in September 1942 and sent to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

after a failed attempt to flee Germany to Switzerland. Margarete sent Gertrud packages of clothing and colored pencils with which Gertrud drew portraits of other prisoners in exchange for food. Gertrud credited her sister Margarete's packages as the reason that she was able to survive. In April 1943, Margarete Zuelzer was forced to move into a Jewish ghetto in Amsterdam. On 21 May, she was sent to the

Westerbork Transit Camp Camp Westerbork (, , Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk''), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, during World War II. It was located in the municipality ...

. Before her deportation, her friend and colleague Wilhelm Schüffner had attempted in vain to procure a special position for her. She died of starvation in the Westerbork Transit Camp on 23 August 1943, aged 66. In 2012, a

Stolperstein A (; plural ) is a concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. Literal translation, Literally, it means 'stumbling stone' and metaphorically 'stumbling block'. ...

("stumbling stone") was laid in her memory at Eichkampstrasse 108 in Berlin, her last residence in the city.Vogt, Annette.
In Memoriam: Margarete Zuelzer.
" 9 February 2012. Accessed 7 June 2016. File:Reichsgesundheitsamt.jpg, In the garden of the health department of the empire, fall 1926. Margarete Zuelzer (middle), Wilhelm Schüffner (second from left), and Paul Uhlenhuth (third from right) File:Gertrud und Margarete Zuelzer (um 1920).jpg, Gertrud and Margarete Zuelzer (circa 1930) File:Stolperstein Eichkampstr 108 (Westend) Margarete Zuelzer.jpg,

for Margarete Zuelzer, Eichkampstr 108 Berlin

Bibliography

* Bloch, Max. "Gertrud und Margarete Zuelzer. Zwei Schwestern im Holocaust." ''Aschkenas'', Vol. 24 (2014), Issue 1, pp. 195–214. * Bogdanov, Franziska. "Das Leben wird anders schauen nach dieser Schreckenszeit. Der Nachlass von Gertrud und Margarete Zuelzer im Jüdischen Museum Berlin." ''Journal of the Jewish Museum Berlin''. Volume 13 (2015), pp. 40–41.

References

External links

"Stumbling stone" (Stolperstein) for Margarete Zuelzer with biography (in German and English)

Short biography on "Stolpersteine-Berlin" (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuelzer, Margarete 20th-century German zoologists 1877 births 1943 deaths German women biologists Women zoologists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Heidelberg University alumni German people who died in Nazi concentration camps Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands 20th-century German women scientists Deaths by starvation German Jews who died in the Holocaust