Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Boltzmannstraße 22
14195 Berlin
E-mail: coertzen@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Title: | Dr. |
Prename: | Katharina (Käthe) von |
Surname: | Künssberg (Kuenssberg, Künßberg) |
Profession: | Zoologist |
Birthday: | 05/05/1883 |
Place of birth: | Cottbus |
Date of death: | 10/27/1978 |
Place of death: | Heidelberg |
Married since: | 1910 |
Married to: | Eberhard Freiherr von Kuenssberg |
Profession husband: | legal historian |
Children: | 5 |
Education: | 1902 final high school examinations (*Abitur*) in Breslau (Wroclaw); university studies (zoology, botany, geology and philosophy); 1908 doctorate |
Career: | 1909 private assistant, Munich University; 1910 assistant, Institute of Infectious Diseases, Berlin; resigns after her marriage and moves to Heidelberg; 1933 threatened by Nazi antisemitism, children emigrate to Britain;1942, after husband’s death, goes into hiding to escape impending deportation; 1946 failed attempt to join her children in Britain; 1947 returns to Heidelberg and works on social and educational issues; 1961 creates the Eberhard Freiherr von Künßberg Foundation in memory of her husband |
Memberships: | 1947 founding member of the federation of women’s organizations Deutscher Frauenring; founder and president, Heidelberg chapter of the German Federation of University Women (DAB); German-American Women’s Club |
Biographical literature: | *Vom langsamen Aufstieg der Frau. Dr. Katharina Freifrau von Kuenssberg erzählt aus ihrem Leben*, ed. Katharina Holger (Heidelberg: DAB, 1973); René Schorsch, *Eberhard Georg Otto Freiherr von Künßberg (1881-1941): Vom Wirken eines Rechtshistorikers* (Frankfurt/Main: Lang, 2010), 68-70, 76, 105-109, 141-144, 157-159, 177-189, 202-205 |