Читать книгу Fritz Perls in Berlin 1893 - 1933 - Bernd Bocian - Страница 33

After earning his »Abitur,« Perls studied medicine from 1913 to 1919.⁴³ He rebelled against his family’s desire that he study law like his Uncle Julius Straub, who had established a reputation for himself in professional circles. Perls arrived at the human sciences after taking the disappointing path of medicine (see Perls 1977, 202). This matches the position Freud took on his own medical training, and Freud played a role in Perls’s choice of a field of study: »And there is Freud. Makes much sense; sees sex problems. Rather study medicine (without interest) – this opens the door to philosophy, physiology« (Perls 1993, 6). As a student, Freud’s book, »The Interpretation of Dreams,« had exerted the same fascination on him as it later had on the other two co-founders of Gestalt therapy, Lore Posner and American author and social critic Paul Goodman (see Sreckovic 1999, 20). His decision to study medicine, which was taken in this spirit, provided him with a sense of direction and apparently hope as well: »Life less confusing; see possibilities« (Perls 1993, ibid).

Perls enrolled in the medical school of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universitat zu Berlin on April 11, 1913, under matriculation Number 6170 during the 103^rd Rectorship. He completed his final semester at the University of Freiburg, and the diploma he received in Berlin after passing his state examination is dated September 16, 1919. On April 3, 1920, he was licensed as a physician. He completed his subsequent internship in the outpatient practice of neurologist Toby Cohn (1866-1929), who was a disciple of liberal Reichstag member Emanuel Mendel and as such belonged to the liberal wing of neurology.⁴⁴ The doctors in Berlin and Frankfurt tended to be in opposition to the professional medical organization because the majority of them did not hold nationalistic sentiments. This probably also had to do with the large percentage of Jews among them. On January 22, 1921, Perls declared in writing that his dissertation entitled »On Understanding Lipodystrophy« (Bl. 189) had been »produced independently in the polyclinic of Professor Toby Cohn, MD.« The dissertation was written at the end of his internship year and represented a clinical case study in the customary concise terms. It was supervised by Karl Bonhoeffer, a professor at the medical school and director of psychiatry at the Royal Charité Hospital, that is, the university neurological clinic. At this time, the medical school was an important center of European medicine. The faculty list contained some of the most famous names of the day, such as Rudolf Virchow, Friedrich Kopsche, Gustav von Bergman, Ferdinand Sauerbruch, Hermann Oppenheim and Karl Bonhoeffer. For American students as well it was considered important to spend some time in Berlin after graduation, working and gathering knowledge in one of the numerous hospitals there (see Rubin 1983, 48 f.). Bonhoeffer’s evaluation of Perl’s quantitatively brief (as was the custom) Doctoral Dissertation of January 20, 1921, reads as follows:

The monograph presented by Dr. Perls entitled »On Understanding Lipodystrophy« discusses the lipodystrophy studies published to date on the basis of a case involving fat loss from the upper body and fat accretion in the lower body. (…) The study presents the essential literature in concise form, contains good critical observations, and is suitable for acceptance as a medical dissertation. The grade of »Good« is recommended (Universitätsarchiv Humboldt Universität, Archiv Nr. 868, Bl. 187).

On January 27, 1921, Perls was examined orally in three subjects. For the examination in neurology, the transcript lists Bonhoeffer again as well as Professors Hertwig and Franz. Perls passed all three examinations, earning an overall final grade of »Good« for his medical diploma (ibid., Bl. 188). On February 1, 1921, a doctoral diploma in Latin was issued to »Frederico Perls« (ibid., Bl. 191), and from that point on he was officially Friedrich Perls, MD. As far as his medical career is concerned, he pursued a range of activities in Berlin during the following years. Between 1926 and 1928 he held positions as a staff physician at the Neurologisches Institut in Frankfurt, which was headed by Kurt Goldstein, and at the Vienna psychiatric clinic, where he worked under Julius Wagner-Jauregg and Paul Schilder; these positions were important for his training as a specialist. In the German Empire, licensure to practice as a medical specialist was subject to regulation only as of 1926. The 1928 edition of the Reichsmedizinalkalender (Imperial Medical Register), effective as of the end of 1927, lists Perls as a neurologist with an address of 5 Tharandterstrasse, Berlin Wilmersdorf. His last listing can be found in the 1933 edition (effective as of the end of 1932) which shows his address as 49 Münchenerstrasse, Berlin W. 30 (i.e. Schöneberg).⁴⁵