Nathorff, Hertha, 1895-1993

Born in Laupheim in 1895 as Hertha Einstein (Gerda presumably was the Anglicized name she took on after emigrating to the United States), Nathorff was related to both Albert Einstein and Carl Laemmle. She attended Gymnasium, which unusual for young women at the time, and continued her studies, and eventually became a pediatrician in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Here she met her husband Erich Nathorff, with whom she had one son. In addition to working at Berlin hospitals, they opened their own family practice clinic. After Aryanization in 1933 they had to give up their posts at the hospital, and until 1938 they survived on work from their family practice. During the November pogrom of 1938, Erich Nathorff was briefly imprisoned in Sachsenhausen, leading the family to seek emigration. They secured support and an affidavit from Carl Laemmle to emigrate to the United States, and they settled in New York. Because the United States did not recognize their medical credentials, they could not carry on their professional work. Further hardship came with the death of Erich Nathorff in 1954. Hertha Nathorff eventually built a career in social work and psychotherapy and was deeply involved in the affairs of the German refugee community in New York. She also began to publish fictional and poetical writings in German-language newspapers in America. In addition, two volumes of poetry, as well as her diary written during the war years, were published in Germany.

From the guide to the Hertha Nathorff Collection., 1813-1967, (Leo Baeck Institute Archives)