Jewish Doctors – Page 3 – Walking tours on Jewish history

Stop 3: Dr. Emil Kronenberg

Katternberger Str. 24 – go to map – go to starting point

Emil Kronenberg was born in 1864 in Leichlingen. He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at different universities between 1885 and 1890.

Jewish medical students

Medicine used to be the most popular subject of study among Jewish students at the time. In the winter semester of 1886/87, there were 1,134 Jewish students enrolled at German universities, accounting for 9% of all German students. 57% of the Jewish students had opted for medicine, marking a peak in the subject’s popularity among that group. Almost 20 years later, 25% of all Jewish students in Germany were still studying medicine, while 41% studied law. Their choice of faculties demonstrates how strongly young Jews of the time already anticipated the occupational restrictions they had to expect when working in public service jobs. As doctors or lawyers on the other hand, they were able to work in liberal professions.

Why did those young Jews – both males and, successively, females – turn to these subjects? In many cases, their fathers were merchants. In the German Empire (1871-1918), the social prestige of merchants was low: their interests were considered to be purely materialistic, and they had a reputation of being unproductive. Many sons now aspired to become part of the humanistic educated elite. In 1906/07, 92% of all German children went to the “Volksschule” (primary school of the time, providing basic education for grades one to eight), while just 8% went to a secondary school (admission to which was only possible from grade five onwards and required an entrance examination). In comparison, 59% of Jewish pupils attended a secondary school.

In the winter semester of 1911/12, the number of enrolled Jewish students rose to 1,356. However, they now made up only 5.6% of all German students – as compared to 9% 25 years earlier – since more and more Protestant and, with some delay, Catholic families were eager to participate in higher education.

In 1891, Emil Kronenberg settled in Solingen-Höhscheid as general practitioner, but went to Berlin the year after to become trained as an ENT physician.

Foto des Ehepaars Adele und Dr. Emil Kronenberg, Quelle: Stadtarchiv Solingen, Na 25-21 — Adele and Dr. Emil Kronenberg. Source: City Archive of Solingen, Na 25-21

Back in Solingen, he opened an ENT practice in 1894 and married Adele Becker in 1896. Adele was the daughter of a merchant and came from a Christian family. Emil, however, remained a member of the synagogue community. The marriage remained childless, but the couple repeatedly took in children of their relatives and had them stay at their house for several years. In this context, Emil Kronenberg’s niece, future doctor Grete Blumenthal, is to be especially mentioned.

In the decades that followed, Emil Kronenberg published numerous medical articles in specialist journals. In 1894, he joined the “Ärztlicher Verein Solingen” (“Doctor’s Association Solingen”) and was a member of its board for many years, until 1933. He was a founding member of the “Verein westdeutscher Hals- und Ohrenärzte” (“Association of West German ear and throat physicians”) in 1897 and became their chairman from 1912 to 1914. During World War I, he served as major (Medical Corps), working in a field hospital at the Western front.

While his father had sympathised with the National Liberals, Emil Kronenberg thought of himself as left-liberal, following the ideas of Friedrich Naumann, founder of the “Nationalsoziale Verein” (NSV, “National-Social Association”). In 1906, Emil Kronenberg founded and chaired a local chapter of the NSV in Solingen as part of the “Freisinnige Vereinigung” (“Free-minded Union”). When Naumann managed to bring various left-liberal camps together in the newly founded “Fortschrittliche Volkspartei” (“Progressive People’s Party”) in 1910, Kronenberg became chairman of their local chapter in Solingen. Nine years later, in 1919, he became chairman of Solingen’s branch of the “Deutsche Demokratische Partei” (“German Democratic Party”). He must have given up that office at some point between early 1926 and mid-1928; since then, his wife Adele was the association’s clerk.

Foto Dr. Emil Kronenberg (in der Bildmitte sitzend mit Rotkreuz-Binde) im Feldlazarett während des Ersten Weltkriegs, Quelle: Stadtarchiv Solingen, Na 25-20 — Dr. Emil Kronenberg (centre of the image, seated, wearing armband of the Red Cross) at a field hospital during World War I. Source: City Archive of Solingen, Na 25-20

In 2019, two Stolpersteine were laid at Katternberger Straße, remembering Adele and Emil Kronenberg, after the district association of the “Freie Demokratische Partei” (“Free Democratic Party”) in Solingen had initiated the procedure.