In 1923 Fritz completed his medical exams and went to work or further study (Assistenzarzt) at the private gynecology clinic (von Geheimrat) of Professor Dr. Paul Ferdinand Strassmann in Berlin. At most he could have stayed here until the clinic’s last Christmas in 1935.
Strassmann's clinic was opened in 1909 on Schumannstrasse (the building is still standing - images right). In ‘its first decade, only the old university clinics at the Charité under Karl Franz and at the Artilleriestrasse under Ernst Bumm produced as many discoveries as the Strassmann Frauenklinik.’ From 1909 to 1936 15,000 babies were delivered and 25,984 gynecological patients were treated/operated. The facility supervised 56 staff physicians, accommodated 99 volunteer doctors and trained 344 graduate assistants. During these years, 2,183 students completed part of their training there, and 1,331
physicians were enrolled in postgraduate courses in gynecology and obstetrics.One doctor wrote in retrospect that the clinic was “appreciated as much by the inhabitants of Berlin’s inner city and the poor north as by the wives of foreign industrialists and diplomats… Guest book entries included the most famous gynecologists and surgeons of the world, such as the brothers Mayo of Rochester, Minnesota, who all came to study and marvel at the operative techniques of the director. (p.50).
Strassmann was secretary of the Berlin Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology 1904-1922, Chair in 1925 and a life member in 1926. There is also a German Society for Gynecology (Deutsche Gynäkologische Gesellschaft). In 1906 he received the rank of Titular-professor from the University of Berlin but without formal teaching responsibilities until he became an ausserordentlicher Professor in 1919. In 1923, finally as professor, he was elected to the Senate of the University of Berlin.
In autumn 1927 Paul and his wife made a 9 week trip to the US. In 1935 his son, Erwin Strassman, received a year’s non-clinical / observer work at the Mayo clinic (Erwin was paid an honorarium of $840 or $70 a month). The correspondence said: it was illegal to employ any alien before arrival in the US. Minnesota was not one of the fourteen states (plus DC) cited where a prior year of US residency was not required before granting a medical license.
Could Fritz have also gone to the U.S. to work?
References from: The Strassmanns: Science, Politics, and Migration in Turbulent Times, 1793-1993 by W. Paul Strassmann. Edition: illustrated. Published by Berghahn Books, 2008. Originally published as W. Paul Strassmann: Die Strassmanns. Schicksale einer deutsch-jüdischen Familie über zwei Jahrhunderte.
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