Karl Birnbaum

Karl Birnbaum (August 20, 1878 in Schweidnitz/Świdnica – March 31, 1950 in Philadelphia) was a German-American psychiatrist and neurologist. Career In 1902 he received his doctorate from the University of Freiburg, and subsequently working at the Herzberge asylum in Berlin-Lichtenberg. In 1923 he began work as an assistant to Karl Bonhoeffer (1868-1948) at the Charité-Berlin. In 1927 he became an associate professor. An early interest in criminal psychology reportedly developed while in charge of high-secure wards for criminal and dangerous patients between 1908 and 1919. In 1930 he was appointed medical director of the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt in Berlin, but because of his Jewish heritage was dismissed from his position after the Nazi takeover of Germany. In 1939 he emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a lecturer at the New School for Social Research in New York City. From 1940 he also worked at the municipal medical department of Philadelphia.