Pappenheim, Bertha (1859–1936)

German feminist, social worker and famous patient. Name variations: "Anna O."; (pseudonym) Paul Berthold. Born Feb 27, 1859, in Vienna, Austria; died at Isenburg, Germany, May 18, 1936; dau. of Sigmund Pappenheim (grain dealer) and Recha (Goldschmidt) Pappenheim; educated by governesses and at a Catholic school in Vienna; never married.

Founder of several pioneering Jewish social organizations in Germany and Austria, who was later revealed to be "Anna O.," the subject of a famous case in the early history of psychoanalysis; was treated by Dr. Josef Breuer in Vienna (1880–82); moved to Frankfurt with family (1889); was described as patient "Anna O." in Studies in Hysteria, by Breuer and Sigmund Freud (1895); became director of the Jewish Orphanage for Girls (1895); translated into German and published the English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1899); wrote a play entitled Women's Rights (1899); raised the issue of the "white slavery" of young Jewish women in Eastern Europe (1900); traveled to Eastern Europe and Middle East (1903–05); spoke at International Congress to Fight White Slave Traffic in London (1910); founded home for Wayward Girls and Illegitimate Children in Neu-Isenburg, Germany (1907); founded Care by Women, an organization seeking to apply the goals of feminism to Jewish social work (1902); founded Federation of Jewish Women's Associations (1904), and served on its board of directors (1914–24); translated into German and published the Memoirs of Glückel von Hameln (1910); wrote newspaper article advocating a national Jewish welfare association for Germany (1916); participated in founding of the Central Welfare Office of German Jews (1917); honored with a stamp by West Germany as a pioneer in German social work (1954).

See also Dora Edinger, Bertha Pappenheim: Freud's Anna O. (Congregation Solel, 1968); Lucy Freeman, Anna O. (Walker, 1972); and Women in World History.