Paul Doctor
1910 - 1998

Paul Doctor was born in Frankfurt on the Main on September 10, 1910, the son of Dr. Ernst Doctor and Helene Doctor, née Brüll. Both parents were Jewish. While his father came from Walldorf (near Meiningen) in Thuringia, his mother came from Lichtenfels in Bavaria. Their family was firmly anchored in the Jewish community of Lichtenfels: two Brülls donated the land for the Jewish cemetery in Lichtenfels in 1840 and the family even provided the head of the community, Benny Brüll, around 1878.

Dr. Ernst Doctor ran a practice for skin and urinary ailments on the Zeil and had a polyclinic at Mainzer Land street 145 before the First World War, where, according to the Frankfurt address books of the time, "Unbemittelte" (impecunious people) were treated free of charge. In the 1910s, the Doctor family lived at Körner street 4 (in the Westend district), while the doctor's practice was located still on the Zeil with an entrance at Hasengasse 19. Paul's younger brother Hans was born in Offenbach in April 1917. At that time, his father was working as a war assistant doctor at the fortress hospital in Strasbourg in Alsace (then Germany). After the First World War, the Doctor family moved to Rossert street 9, also in the Westend district. Paul Doctor went to the Wöhler Realgymnasium in Frankfurt on the Main and obtained his university entrance qualification there at Easter 1929.

Dr. Paul Doctor married Marie Luise, known as Mieze, Ginsberg, who was born in Berlin in 1913. Their daughter Anne Sophia was born in August 1940 and their son Bernard Arthur in November 1942, both in Alicedale in South Africa. However, the son died a few days before his 18th birthday. His sister survived him by just under two months and died in January 1961 at the age of 20. Marie Luise Doctor passed away in Cape Town in November 1984 at the age of 71. Paul Doctor finally died in December 1998. All four were buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Uitenhage, a suburb of Port Elizabeth.

After Paul Doctor had passed his school-leaving examination at the Wöhler Realgymnasium in Frankfurt on the Main, he began his medical studies at the University of Frankfurt in the summer semester of 1929. At that time, he lived with his parents at Rossert street 9, in the Westend district, close to the famous Palmengarten and the Westend Synagogue. After two semesters, he changed universities, only to return to Frankfurt University in the winter semester of 1930/31.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, all "nichtarischen" (non-Aryan) students had to fill out a questionnaire in order to obtain permission to continue their studies. Paul Doctor completed and signed this questionnaire on May 4, 1933. For example, he had to answer the question as to how long his family had been resident in Germany. His answer was: "Väterlicherseits nachweisl[ich] seit mindestens 1805 in Walldorf (S[achsen]-Meiningen)[.] Mütterl[icher]seits seit mindestens 1745 in Lichtenfels (Bay[ern])" (On my father's side, the family have lived in Walldorf (Saxony-Meiningen) since at least 1805. On my mother's side, they have lived in Lichtenfels (Bavaria]) since at least 1745). Finally, he was asked to state what other special aspects he had to indicate for his further admission to study (e.g. brother fallen). Here Paul Doctor entered the following:

"Bruder meines Vaters 27. IV. 17 vor Reims gefallen. Bruder meiner Mutter Kriegsfreiwilliger, Reserve-Leutnant und Kompagnieführer, 6 mal verwundet, besitzt E.K. I. und II. Kl[asse]. Großvater war 1870/71 Kriegsfreiwilliger und Reserveleutnant." (Brother of my father 27.IV.1917 killed before Reims. My mother's brother, war volunteer, reserve lieutenant and company commander, wounded 6 times, has received the Iron Cross medal first and second class. Grandfather was a war volunteer and reserve lieutenant in 1870/71.)

In fact, Paul Doctor was allowed to continue his medical studies at Frankfurt University. He took a leave of absence in the winter semester of 1934/35 and finally passed the state medical examination in Frankfurt on December 18, 1934. In order to obtain his doctorate, he went to the University of Bern in Switzerland and was awarded his doctorate there in 1935 with a thesis on the hollow foot in X-rays.

As a Jew, Dr. Paul Doctor was no longer able to obtain a license to practice medicine in Germany and was therefore unable to take over his father's practice in Frankfurt on the Main. He therefore emigrated to Johannesburg (South Africa) in March 1936. However, his medical studies were only partially recognized there. He therefore studied medicine again at the University of Witwatersrand from April 1936 to December 1938. On December 17, 1938, he finally received permission to practice medicine in South Africa. He began his practice in Nigel (Transvaal), a small gold mining town southwest of Johannesburg. In 1940, when his daughter was born, the family was living in the small settlement of Alicedale, about 80 km north-east of Port Elizabeth.

Paul Doctor joined the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1932--at a time when Jews could no longer become members of numerous other sections of this Alpine Club. Paul Doctor was a student at the time and lived at Rossert street 9, where he was recommended for membership by Dr. E. Doctor, according to the Nachrichten-Blatt of the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club No. 3 from March 1932. In 1932, according to the address book of the city of Frankfurt, a Dr. med. E. Doctor, specialist for skin and urinary diseases, lived at Rossert street 9. This was the Jewish doctor Dr. Ernst Isaak Doctor, his father, who passed away in Frankfurt on the Main in March 1937.

Since this E. Doctor made the recommendation for admission to the Section, he himself must also have been a member of the Frankfurt section. In the list of members from 1925, however, there is only one Dr. Erna Doctor, who joined the Section in 1920. This cannot be Paul Doctor's mother, as her name was Helene. After 1925, however, we currently have no evidence of Dr. Ernst Doctor joining the Frankfurt section. It therefore remains unclear whether and when Paul Doctor's father joined it. In the entry in the published list of members from 1925, Erna could also have been entered by mistake instead of Ernst. This is also plausible because in the book by Birgit Drexler-Gormann on "Jewish Doctors in Frankfurt on the Main 1933-1945. Isolation, Expulsion, Murder", published in 2009, only Ernst Doctor is listed among the Jewish doctors. But ultimately the above remains speculation until we find proof of Dr. Ernst Doctor's membership.

In November 1932, Dr. E. Doctor and Otto Strohecker recommended the admission of Heinz Viebahn, who lived at Schwind street 22, to the Frankfurt section. Heinz Viebahn was the son of Reichsbahn chief inspector Wilhelm Viebahn. According to the 1932 Frankfurt on the Main address book, Otto Strohecker was also a Reichsbahn senior inspector, but lived at Schopenhauer street 2. Strohecker received the silver badge in 1933 for 25 years of membership in the Alpine Club.

Whether Paul Doctor left the Frankfurt section immediately after the National Socialists came to power in January 1933 or was expelled after the introduction of the so-called "Arierparagraf" (Aryan paragraph) cannot be determined at present due to a lack of sources.

Although Paul Doctor was able to complete his medical studies in December 1934 by passing the medical examination before the examination board in Frankfurt on the Main, as a Jew he had to go to the University of Bern for his doctorate. He studied in Switzerland from January to July 1935 and was awarded his doctorate in the same year with a thesis on the hollow foot in X-rays. In the German Reich at this time, it was no longer possible for Jews to obtain a doctorate or open a practice. Dr. Paul Doctor therefore emigrated to Johannisburg (South Africa) in March 1936. There he had to study medicine again at the Johannisburg University Witwatersrand from April 1936. In 1938, he was finally recognized as a doctor in South Africa and was now able to work in his desired profession. He first lived in Nigel (Transvaal), a small gold mining town southwest of Johannesburg. Paul Doctor died in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) in December 1998.

His father, Dr. Ernst Doctor, died in Frankfurt on the Main in March 1937 at the age of just 64. His death was recorded in issue 8 of the May 1937 issue of the Frankfurt Jewish Community Gazette, proving that the Doctor family maintained their ties to the Frankfurt Jewish community even during the Nazi persecution. Paul Doctor's mother Helene and younger brother Hans were also able to emigrate to South Africa, too. The Gestapo confiscated half of the proceeds from the sale of the Frankfurt house at Sophien street 58, including the property, in April 1939 due to Paul Doctor's previous forced expatriation. At this time, all family members were already living outside Germany.

Helene Doctor passed away in 1956 at the age of almost 70. Hans Doctor died in Sidney (Australia) in December 1998, just six days after his older brother.