«Students could register without disclosing their religious affiliation.»
Franziska Rogger on a Milestone in Swiss Higher Education
Dr. Franziska Rogger, an archivist and historian, has researched the life of Anna Tumarkin, one of the first Jewish women permitted to study in Switzerland and the first female professor in Europe to award doctoral degrees and habilitations. Sarah-Maria Hebeisen, scholar of Jewish studies at the Jewish Museum, spoke to Franziska Rogger about university admission policy, about Swiss-Russian relations and about revolutionary activity on Swiss campuses.
Sarah-Maria Hebeisen: Dr. Rogger, Bern University admitted women in 1874. In the European context, was this early?
Franziska Rogger: Yes, it was very early. Zurich, Bern, Geneva and Paris were the first universities to welcome female students. The first woman to receive a doctoral degree was Nadezhda Suslova, a medical doctor, in Zurich. She became famous in Russia and inspired many of her countrywomen to follow in her academic footsteps.
SH: Why did so many students come from Russia?
FR: Admission to universities in Russia was restrictive: Women were not permitted to study under any circumstances, and Jews were hindered by quotas. Meanwhile, dissenters fled in large numbers from Tsarist oppression.
SH: Tsar Alexander II even went so far as to ban Russian women from studying at the University of Zurich. Why?
FR: The Tsar was afraid of women revolutionaries. He believed them to be bloodthirsty, even more so than their male counterparts. He forbade them to study in Zurich and threatened to ban them, if they did not comply, from practising their profession in the Tsarist Empire. In 1873, many therefore left Zurich to take up their studies in Bern, which was under less scrutiny from Russia. Many female students enrolled in Bern, especially in medicine. In some medical courses, Swiss non-Jewish men were the minority.
SH: Did Jewish students prefer Switzerland to other European countries?
FR: It’s hard to answer this question, since students registered without disclosing their religious affiliation. So we, in fact, don’t know the number of Jewish students. What we do know is that the Bernese physician Gustav Valentin was the first non-baptized Jewish professor at a German-language university. Moritz Lazarus was the first Jewish dean.
SH: Were there any conflicts between the Russian students and the Bernese population?
FR: There were some: The students complained about the limited number of acceptances and about a dearth of corpses for their medical studies. The inhabitants of Berne, on the other hand, criticized loud discussions on the streets at night. There were bombing and assaults. There was little, if any, worry, however, that the Russian students would compete for jobs in Switzerland, since most wanted to return to the Tsarist Empire after their studies, get involved in politics and pursue their careers. They didn’t «push» into the Swiss labor market. And indeed, after the Russian Revolution, many returned home.
SH: In 1909, Anna Tumarkin became the first woman in Europe with full examination rights. Looking back, how did she view her role?
FR: Tumarkin was highly regarded by her students and friends. Her mentors at the university supported her, which helped her overcome the obstacles as a woman in her field. She never received the position she deserved, but she became an associate professor with the same rights and duties as full professors. Tumarkin reacted with composure: «What counts isn’t fate, but what we make of it.» As a woman whose family was confronted with the pogroms of Eastern Europe and later the atrocities of the Nazis, she viewed the discrimination she faced, I think, as of lesser significance.
SH: Dear Ms. Rogger, thank you very much for the exchange!
verfasst am 26.08.2025
Dr. Franzsika Rogger, Foto: Kusano Yoshiko, Illustration: Emma Schweizer
