Hirt, Susanne, 1913-2006

Susanne Hirt was born as Berta Susanne Hirsch in Berlin on August 1, 1913, the youngest daughter of Joseph Hirsch and his second wife Dorothea Hirsch née Schwabach. She had an elder sister Margarete (born Anna-Margarete), and two older half-siblings from Joseph Hirsch's first marriage, Alexander and Rosetta. Joseph Hirsch died when Susanne Hirsch was eight years old.

Susanne Hirsch began to study medicine at the University of Berlin, but was expelled from the university due to her Jewish heritage in 1934. She then went to Vienna, where she continued her medical studies for two semesters at the University of Vienna. When she had to leave the University of Vienna, she began a two-year course in physical education and physical education and gymnastics (kinesiology) in Vienna, where she worked with children with cerebral palsy. She watched the German troops enter Vienna in March 1938. Shortly thereafter she left to work as a nanny for family friends (the Weigerts) who had previously fled Germany and needed a caretaker for their young son. After six months, the Weigert family immigrated to the United States; Susanne Hirsch went with them, and in 1939 changed her surname to Hirt. She would spend the next three years with them. Her siblings were able to escape to Britain, but her mother was not, despite the work of both Susanne and Margarete Hirsch to assist her in leaving Germany. Dorothea Hirsch died in 1942, after deportation to Riga.

Susanne became interested in the developing field of physical therapy after hearing about the work being done in the new field with veterans. In 1942 she received her certificate in physical therapy from the University of Wisconsin. Her studies included some courses with Elizabeth Kenny, known for developing the Kenny method for the treatment of polio. Hirt then worked as a physical therapist at the University of Wisconsin's General Hospital, most notably working with polio patients, while additionally teaching anatomy and pathology. During her work with polio patients, Susanne Hirt became acquainted with Frances Hellebrandt, then director of the University of Wisconsin's School of Physical Therapy.

After Frances Hellebrandt moved on to the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), she asked Susanne Hirt to teach there and assist her in establishing a School of Physical Therapy at the MCV. Susanne Hirt would remain with this institution for more than thirty years, including working as technical director of the School during the polio epidemics of the later 1940s and 1950s. She began as an assistant professor of anatomy and supervisor of the polio clinics in 1945. After receiving her Bachelor of Science in physical therapy from the University of Wisconsin in 1948, Hirt was named technical director of the MCV's School of Physical Therapy, and went on to become the chair of the department. In 1956 she received her Masters in Education from the University of Virginia. She co-authored the work Scientific Bases for Neurophysiologic Approaches to Therapeutic Exercises, a physical therapy textbook published in 1977. Susanne Hirt retired from the MCV in 1982, although she continued to teach some courses as Professor Emeritus.

Susanne Hirt was additionally very active in several professional societies, especially the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and its local chapter, the Virginia Physical Therapy Association (VPTA). Her work with these organizations included serving as president of the local chapter during the 1950s and as chief delegate to APTA's national conference in the 1970s and she additionally served on APTA's Board of Directors for a time. In 1981 Susanne Hirt was selected as the sixteenth recipient of APTA's prestigious Mary McMillan Lecture Award, the highest honor of the organization. She also served on several committees for various health-related associations. In 1983 the Greater Richmond YWCA named her woman of the year for health and fitness.

In 1979 Susanne Hirt took her first course in the Feldenkrais Method. Following her retirement she continued to study this technique, and completed her training in it in 1991. She gave instruction in this technique at a local senior citizen's center and in her home for several years.

Susanne Hirt died on September 17, 2006.

From the guide to the Susanne B. Hirt Collection, 1822-2008, bulk 1938-1990, (Leo Baeck Institute)