Gerald Westheimer

Nov 21, 2012 12:45 PM

today I look at Gerry's autobio in

a journal called the "history of Neurosci in Autobiography"

born in BERLIN !!!! in May 13 1924;   natl Australian Citizen in 1944;

Nov 12, 2009 10:12 AM

still working!!!

was age 83 in 2007,  so age 85;

Childhood ih Germany!

Jul 08, 2012 10:30 PM

still working!!!... age 87!

Sydney Tech College Optometry  1943

Univ of Sydney BS math and physio 1948

Ohio State PhD 1953

in 1989:  first head of the Divis of Neurobio at CAL.

read the riveting account of his youth in Germany; schooling; interest in vision;

Berlin

The  critical  juncture  was  a  law  enacted  to  take  effect  on  April  7,  1933,

a little more than  a month before my ninth birthday. In it, the new German

regime,  no more than  a few weeks old, mandated the removal from office of

all  academics  and  civil servants  of Jewish  descent,  with  almost  no  audible

dissent from the rest of the university, legal,  and professional communities.

Having skipped  a  grade  and  been  identified  as  promising,  I  had just  been

enrolled  in  the  Goethe  Gymnasium  in  the  western  part  of Berlin,  where

our familymparents and a brother  2 years oldermlived. Whatever schooling

I might have,  it was  agreed,  should prepare  me to  earn  a living outside the

confines of institutions.  The subsequent  emigration  experience  only served

to reinforce  this  conviction.

Although  my  maternal  grandfather,  Sanit_itsrat  Dr.  Moritz  Cohn  of

Breslau,  was a pediatrician,  the family on both sides was almost exclusively

business  people.  On  my  father's  side,  the  family  had  been  residents  of  a

region  near  the  Rhein  in  northern  Baden  for  hundreds  of years.  On  both

sides  they  regarded  themselves  as  Germansmall  males  had  served  in  the

Kaiser's  Army  during World War  I ~ a n d   at  the  same  time  consciously  as

Jews, fully aware  of the limitations of their place in German society. Hence

the  growth  of the  Third  Reich  and  its  acceptance  by  the  German  people

was  a  disappointment  to  them,  but,  deep  down,  not  a  total  surprise.

I  did  not  last  long  in  the  Goethe  Gymnasium.  My  father's  status  as

a  veteran  would  have  allowed  me  to  stay  but,  even  at  this  early  stage

of the  Hitler  regime,  an  atmosphere  of anti-Semitism,  albeit  still  genteel,

pervaded  the  classroom  teaching.  Hence  my  parents  decided  to  transfer

my  brother  and  me  to  the  Mittelschule  in  the  Grosse  Hamburgerstrasse,

a venerable Jewish institution.  It required  a  half-hour train  commute  each

way,  but  in  those  days,  that  was  regarded  as  safe  even  for  a  10-year  old.

Class  size  was  large,  up  to  60  per  form,  teachers  were  barely  competent,

and  there  was  little  in  the  curriculum  to  enlarge  the  mind  of  the  alert

pupil,  let  alone  challenge  it.  I  still  have  my  semiannual  reports,  which

show  undistinguished  grades,  not  because  of lack  of ability,  dedication,  or

diligence,  but  because  tests  were  haphazard  and students  were  essentially

anonymous.  Even  in  subjects  in  which  I  showed  proficiency  later,  such  as

music  and  mathematics,  the  grades  were  mediocre.

I  have  no  happy  memories  of  my  preteen  years:  The  shadow  of  the

Hitler  regime  loomed  and  the  middle-class  upbringing  did  not  expose  me

to  the  glittering  atmosphere  that  is  often  identified  with  Berlin.  However,

we  had  music  lessons,  participated  in  sports,  and  during  vacations  were

dragged  through  museums.  I  would  not  be surprised  if it were shown  that

in  those  days  Berlin  had  more  specialty  museums  than  any  other  city  in

the  world.  At  home,  my  academic bent,  although  not  exactly fostered,  was

at  least  mildly  encouraged,  especially  because  my  elder  brother  seemed  at

an  early  age  to  acquiesce  to  carry  on  the  family business,  which  in fact  he

did  into  his  80s.

As  long  as  I  can remember  I  was  a  rapid  and  avid reader  and  seem  to

have  developed,  without  any  overt  encouragement from  parents,  teachers,

or  other  role models,  a  knack for  effortlessly absorbing  and sifting printed

material.  Thus,  by the time  of my bar-mitzvah I had figured out for myself

the  differing  rational  contents  of science  and  religion_the  latter  loomed

large  in  the  home  and school  environment_and  had  my mind made  up  to

become  a  scientist.  And  naturally  the  ultimate  boundaries  of the  cosmos

fascinated me. Two more factors entered to seal my future career as a scien-

tist.  Even  then  I  seem  to  have  had  an  attraction  for  the  empirical  aspects

of  acquiring  scientific  knowledge,  although  actual  handicraft  or  working

with  gadgets  or  tools  played  absolutely  no  part  in  my upbringing.  Curios-

ity  about  telescopes  and  optical  astronomy,  and,  in  an  entirely  different

sphere,  the  need for optical  correction  of my incipient myopia,  combined to

direct my interest  to vision. When I was  12  or  13 and  had to write  a school

essay  about  a  famous  person,  I  chose  Helmholtz,  having  checked  out  his

Popular  Scientific Lectures  from  the  school  library.

By  about  the  same  time,  my  parents  had  underst

pular  Scientific Lectures  from  the  school  library.

By  about  the  same  time,  my  parents  had  understood  the  political

trend  and  decided  to  emigrate.  The  range  of destinations  had  become  lim-

ited.  Presciently  they  did  not  consider  other  parts  of Europe.  The  United

States  was  then  no  longer  an  option,  because  the  avenues  of  e n t r y ~  

"affidavits"  by  relatives  guaranteeing  support_had  been  preempted  by

other  members  of  the  family.  Middle  and  South  America  and  Australia

were  possibilities.  A  most  compelling  chronicle  of  the  topics  around  the

dinner  table  of a  middle-class  German  Jewish  family  at  the  time  is  given

in  Victor  Klemperer's  diaries  but  with  the  essential  difference  that  our

family  had  always  been  observant  Jews,  in  both  meanings  of  observant:

obeying religious rules  and remaining aware  of the  ever-present  possibility

of a  dissonance  arising from  being  both  German  and Jewish.  Klemperer's

trenchant  account  of the  matters  of concern  in  1938  still  resonate  in  my 700  Gerald Westheimer

mind:  who  emigrated  where,  to  whom  pets  and  house  plants  were  passed

on,  what  was said  on  terse  postcards  from  ships  or from  Chile  or  perhaps

the  Dominican Republic,  and what  new regulations  had been  promulgated

9  to  make  living  conditions  and  emigration  ever more  difficult.

During  1937,  my  parents  submitted  an  application  for  immigration

to  Australia  and,  in  one  of  the  pivotal  days  in  my  memory,  in  March

1938,  the  certificate  arrived from Canberra,  allowing us  entry to Australia.

There followed several frantic months, severing business  and personal ties,

liquidating  assets,  selecting what  to  pack  and  what  had  to  be  left  behind,

arranging  passage,  and  trying to scrape  together  the s  Australian  cur-

rency  that  had  to  be  shown  on  entry.  When  it  was  all  over,  there  was  the

glorious  moment  in  the  morning  of August  26,  1938  when  we  sailed  into

beautiful  Sydney harbor  on the R.M.M.S. Aorangi  to start  a  new life.

Gerald Westheimer

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