Karl Theodor Neubürger
1890 - 1972

Karl (also Carl) Theodor Neubürger was born in Frankfurt on the Main on March 5, 1890, the son of Dr. Jakob Otto Neubürger (1864-1913) and Henriette Fanny, née Hallgarten (1869-1914). According to the Frankfurt address book of 1890, his parents lived at Hochstraße 20 at the time. His father was listed as a doctor, surgeon and obstetrician. Karl's grandfather Dr. med. Theodor Nathan Neubürger (1830-1915) was also listed in this address book with the address Hochstraße 20 and as a doctor, surgeon and obstetrician. His mother Henriette Fanny was the daughter of the Jewish patron Charles L. Hallgarten (1838-1908). The Neubürger family was thus related to the Neisser family, as both Dr. Otto Neubürger and Dr. Max Neisser were married to a daughter of Charles L. Hallgarten. Karl Theodor Neubürger had a brother named Friedrich (called Fritz) Alexander Neubürger who was two years younger.

Karl Theodor Neubürger attended the Goethe Gymnasium in Frankfurt on the Main and graduated from there at Easter 1908. His parents were still living at Hochstraße 20 at the time. He then studied medicine at the universities of Munich and Freiburg until 1913. In 1925, he married the Catholic doctor Dr. Katharina Wisbaum (1895-1972) and converted to Catholicism. They had three children: Maria Elisabeth Neubürger (1926-1991), Henriette Emma Neubürger (1927-1969) and Dr. Otto Wilhelm Neubürger (1929-2009).

After graduating from high school at Easter 1908, Karl Theodor Neubürger studied medicine at the universities of Munich and Freiburg in Breisgau. He was awarded his doctorate in 1914 at the University of Freiburg with a thesis on "Recent views on the occurrence of sensory illusions". After the First World War, he became a leading specialist in the field of neuropathology. Jeff Minckler wrote about this in his obituary:

"His interest in classic learning and literature, however, served him well and kept him writing through nearly 200 manuscripts, most of which were in the area of pathology with a heavy leaning to neuropathology. It is difficult, indeed, to survey disease processes of the nervous system without finding significant contributions in the area by Karl Neubuerger. He had unusual knowledge about the history of neuropathology and was one of few who had essentially lived through it all. His interests eventually centered in the heart and the attendant cerebral insufficiencies that went with cardiovascular problems."

From 1926, he headed the neuropathology department of the German Research Institute for Psychiatry at the Haar-Eglfing sanatorium near Munich (Bavaria). At the same time, from 1930, he taught at the University of Munich as a private lecturer in general pathology and pathological anatomy, particularly of the central nervous system. In 1931, he habilitated in medicine at the University of Munich with studies on pathological anatomy. Karl Theodor Neubürger published numerous research papers, for example "Beiträge zur Histologie, Pathogenese und Einteilung der arteriosklerotischen Hirnerkrankung" in 1930 with Fischer publishing house in Jena.

After emigrating in 1938, he succeeded in establishing a new place of work at the University of Denver. There he finally became a full professor at the School of Medicine in 1946.

Karl Theodor Neubürger joined the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1908, when he was only 18 years old. In 1912, while still studying medicine, he donated 20 marks for the extension of the Gepatschhaus. In the Frankfurt membership directory of 1925, he is listed as living in Munich. At the annual general meeting in March 1933, he was awarded the Silver Edelweiss for his 25-year membership of the Alpine Club. He is listed by name among the jubilarians in the Nachrichten-Blatt of the Frankfurt on the Main section, issue 5 of June 1934, with his place of residence in Haar (Bavaria) and the first name Carl. This proves that Dr. Karl Theodor Neubürger did not leave the Alpine Club in 1933 and was not expelled. As he joined the section before 1914 and was a so-called "Frontkämpfer" (front-line fighter) in the First World War, the so-called "Aryan paragraph" enshrined in the Frankfurt section statutes in 1934 did not apply to him.

His younger brother Dr. Fritz Neubürger was also a member of the Frankfurt section, but only since 1922. We find him in the list of members from 1925, but we do not currently know whether he left in 1933 or was expelled. Unfortunately, we do not have the relevant sources.

We are currently unable to say which mountain tours Karl Theodor Neubürger undertook in the Alps before 1938. However, we do know from Jeff Minckler's obituary that he undertook mountain tours in the Rocky Mountains in the USA until the 1950s: "he climbed all of Colorado's peaks over 14,000 feet altitude" (i.e. over 4,267m). Then he was no longer able to do so because of his heart problems.

Dr. Karl Theodor Neubürger headed the neuropathological department of the German Research Institute for Psychiatry (DFA) in the sanatoriums and nursing homes in Haar-Eglfing near Munich from 1926. Although he had converted to the Catholic faith in 1925, the government of Upper Bavaria forbade him to continue his work in March 1933 because he was the son of Jews. The director of the DFA, Walther Spielmeyer, protested against this. Due to Dr. Neubürger's status as "Frontkämpfer" (front-line fighter), he was allowed to continue working at the research institute for the time being. However, at the end of 1935, he lost his position as head of the Prosecture by order of the Bavarian Ministry of Culture. Thanks to funding from the American Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Karl Theodor Neubürger was able to continue his research at the DFA with the support of Director Ernst Rüdin until the summer of 1938.

In August 1938, Dr. Neubürger emigrated to the USA with his wife, the physician Dr. Katharina, née Wisbaum, and their three children Maria, Henriette and Otto. There he found a position as an instructor at the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver. He soon became Assistant Professor, Associate Professor in 1944 and Full Professor just two years later. Until 1958, Karl Theodor Neubuerger taught pathology with a research focus on neuropathology. He also worked as a pathologist at General Rose Memorial Hospital Denver from 1951 to 1960. As a professor, he was highly regarded in Denver and beyond. Jeff Minckler wrote in his obituary:

"His genuine modesty was almost excessive, his humility inspiring, his integrity unassailable, and his scholarship exemplary. With virtues such as these, there is little wonder at the frequent statement by clerk or colleague that, 'They just don't make them that way anymore'. All are poorer for his death, and richer for his life."

Dr. Karl Theodor Neubuerger died at the age of 82 on March 7, 1972, in Denver (Colorado, USA), his wife Dr. Katharina Neubuerger only six months later on September 6, 1972, also in Denver. Both were buried in the "Sacred Heart of Mary" cemetery in Boulder (Colorado), as were his daughter Henriette Emma, married name McCarthy, who died young at the age of 41, and Maria Elisabeth, married name Siddeek.

His younger brother Friedrich Alexander, known as Fritz, Neubürger emigrated to the Netherlands in November 1939, but later fell into the hands of the Germans. In January 1944, he was deported from the Westerbork concentration camp to Theresienstadt and from there, in September of the same year, to the Auschwitz extermination camp, where he was presumably murdered immediately upon arrival. His wife Eva, née Jaffé, was also deported to Auschwitz and murdered there on October 8, 1944.