Commemoration of the German Society of Gastroenterology
In memory of

Doz. Dr. med.
Albert Herz
1876 - 1950

Dr. med. Albert Herz © Medical University Vienna – Josephinum, collections/image archive
Dr. med. Albert Herz © Medical University Vienna – Josephinum, collections/image archive

Member since 1925

Special expertise in infectiology and haematology

Dedicated himself to further training for doctors at Theresienstadt

House where Albert Herz lived in Amsterdam from November 1945: J. Luykenstrasse 54. Photo: Cornelie Haag, October 2025
House where Albert Herz lived in Amsterdam from November 1945: J. Luykenstrasse 54. Photo: Cornelie Haag, October 2025

Doz. Dr. med. Albert Herz

  • Freudenthal/Bruntál, formerly Austrian Silesia, Czech Republic, 0‌2‌.‌1‌2‌.‌1‌8‌7‌6‌
  • Amsterdam, 0‌5‌.‌0‌9‌.‌1‌9‌5‌0‌
  • Member since 1925
  • Escaped to in 1938
  • Vienna
  • Specialist in internal medicine and haematologist

Education and Places of Work

Albert Herz studied medicine at the University of Vienna, where he received his doctorate in 1901. He was an intern at the I. Medical University Clinic Vienna with Hermann Nothnagel and later with Friedrich Kovacs at the IV. Medical Clinic of the Vienna General Hospital. He habilitated in internal medicine at the University of Vienna in 1913. His main areas of activity were related to infectious and haematological diseases.

He was dismissed from his post on 22 April 1938 and his venia legendi was revoked.

 

Escape to the Netherlands in 1938

Albert Herz fled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1938.

He was tracked down by security forces in January 1943. He was briefly imprisoned in the “police transit camp for Jews” Vught/ concentration camp Herzogenbusch on 26 and 27 January 1943, and was transferred to the Westerbork camp one day later.

 

Deportation to the Theresienstadt/Terezín ghetto

Albert Herz and his wife Irene Herz-Adler were deported to the Theresienstadt/Terezín ghetto on 21 April 1943 (“Transport No.” 170-XXIV/1.).

At Theresienstadt, Herz was active in the scientific committee of the ghetto health service and participated in further medical training. Alongside Hermann Strauss, Hans Hirschfeld, and Gertrud Adler, Albert Herz gave lectures and talks on leukaemia and, most recently on 15 July 1944, on “Änderungen der Leukocytenzahl als differentialdiagnostisches und prognostisches Hilfsmittel bei Allgemeinerkrankungen“.

Their son Stefan Herz, born on 20 March 1918 in Vienna, was deported from Amsterdam to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he was murdered on 21 May 1943. Their daughter Liselotte Herz, born on 3 June 1914, was able to flee to New York in the USA via Rotterdam in July 1938. She died in the Bronx, New York in March 1941 at the age of 26.

Albert Herz and his wife survived the Theresienstadt ghetto and were able to leave on 13 June 1945. They returned to Amsterdam, where Albert Herz died on 5 September 1950 at the age of 74.

House where Albert Herz lived in Amsterdam from November 1945: J. Luykenstrasse 54. Photo: Cornelie Haag, October 2025
House where Albert Herz lived in Amsterdam from November 1945: J. Luykenstrasse 54. Photo: Cornelie Haag, October 2025

Publications

  1. Die akute Leukämie. Leipzig/Wien: Verlag von Franz Deuticke 1911.
  2. Differentialdiagnose der Infektionskrankheiten, in: Praktische Differentialdiagnose Band 1,7. Dresden/Leipzig: G. Steinkopff Verlag 1929, S. 448-552
  3. Differentialdiagnose der Blutkrankheiten, in: Praktische Differentialdiagnose Band 1,8. Dresden/Leipzig 1929, S. 549-635
Acknowledgements

Article by Harro Jenss, MD, Worpswede, Germany. As of 8.6.2022
Translation by Rachel Hinterthan – Nizan. As of 25.7.2022


Sources and Further Reading
Sources
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Sources/Literature/Weblinks

Biographie of Doz. Dr. med. Albert Herz

Sources

Nationalarchiv Prag. Karteikarte Dr. Herz. NAD 1077_Ka10_13_H_0000002A

Literature

Adler H-G. Die verheimlichte Wahrheit – Theresienstädter Dokumente. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr; 1958: 221

Fischer I. Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte der letzten fünfzig Jahre. Band I. Berlin, Wien: Urban & Schwarzenberg; 1932: 619

Makarova E, Makarov S, Kuperman V. University over the abyss. The story behind 520 lectures and 2430 lecturers in KZ Theresienstadt 1941-1945. Jerusalem: Verba Publishers; 2000: 402

Voswinckel P. Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte der letzten fünfzig Jahre. Berlin 1932-1933. Band III. Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Georg Olms Verlag; 2002: 629f.

Weblinks

Bauer-Merinsky J. Dissertation: Die Auswirkungen der Annexion Österreichs durch das deutsche Reich auf die Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Wien im Jahre 1938: Biographien entlassener Professoren und Dozenten. Wien 1980. Im Internet: https://repositorium.meduniwien.ac.at/obvumwoa/download/pdf/2466614?originalFilename=true; Stand: 09.08.2021

International Tracing Service (ITS). Arolsen Archives. 365506 Albert Israel Herz. Im Internet: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/archive/365504/?p=1&s=%20Herz,%20Albert&doc_id=365506; Stand 20.08.2021

Oorlogsgravenstichting. Stefan Herz 1918-1943. Im Internet: https://oorlogsgravenstichting.nl/persoon/62340/stefan-herz; Stand: 20.08.2021

o.V. Albert Herz. In: Gedenkbuch für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus an der Universität Wien 1938. Im Internet: https://gedenkbuch.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=435&no_cache=1&person_single_id=34385, Stand: 20.08.2021

Památník Terezín (Terezín Memorial). Albert Herz. Im Internet: https://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/prisoner/te-herz-albert-2; Stand: 20.08.2021

Stadtarchief Amsterdam . Archiefkaarten / Einwohnermeldekarten. Im Internet: https://archief.amsterdam/archief/30238/335; Stand: 20.08.2021

Stadtarchief Amsterdam, Karteikarte Stefan Herz, geb. 20.3.1918 in Wien: https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/persons?ss=%7B%22q%22:%22Stefan%20Herz%22%7D Stand: 1.11.2025

Arolsen Archives, https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/search/person/5149566?s=Herz,%20Stefan&t=224154&p=9 [Stefan Herz, geb. 20. 3. 1918 in Wien, Deportation in das Vernichtungslager Sobibor 1943] Stand: 1.11.2025

Yad Vashem, Zentrale Datenbank der Namen der Holocaustopfer, https://collections.yadvashem.org/de/names/4249212 Stand: 1.11.2025