One of hundreds of German scholars displaced by the Nazis after 1933, Rudolf Höber was an early proponent of applying physicochemical methods to the analysis of the physiology of cell membranes, particularly their permeability and electric properties. Born into an intellectual family in Stettin, Germany (now Poland), on December 27, 1879, Höber studied at the Universities of Freiburg and Berlin before completing a medical degree at Erlangen in 1898. His dissertation was an experimental study of wound shock, Ueber experimentellen Shock durch Reizung der serösen Häute (Leipzig, 1897), yet even while he was writing it, he found himself drawn to the prospect of applying physical chemical methods to the analysis of living cells. From the time of his first academic appointment at the Physiological Institute of the University of Zurich (1897-1909), Höber therefore directed himself to an innovative course of physiological research.

As early as his first years at Zurich, Höber characterized his research interests as centering on a single question: "Was ist und was leistet die Zellmembran?" (What is the cell membrane and how does it function?). This simple question led him to a suite of pioneering studies on the fundamental physiological properties of the cell membrane, its role in the regulation of transport, permeability, and electrical properties. His Physikalische Chemie der Zelle und Gewebe (1902) was a landmark and helped cement Höber's growing reputation in the field. One of the first monographs on the subject, it was considered the standard text in cell physiology for two decades, passing through at least seven editions before 1926. Höber also published important works on intestinal resorption, the hydroxyl ion concentration of blood, the mechanism of narcosis and its influence upon permeability, and the physiological significance of colloids.

Höber was assisted in his research by his wife, Josephine Marx (1876-1941), whom he married in 1901. Josephine completed her own medical degree shortly after their marriage, becoming one of the first female physicians in Germany. The two often collaborated, even as Josephine maintained her own medical practice. They had three children, Johannes (1904-1977), Gabriele (1906-1988), and Ursula.

In 1909, Höber left Zurich for the prestigious Institute of Physiology at the University of Kiel, receiving a promotion to Ordinarius fuer Physiologie in 1912, and later becoming Director of the Institute (1915), Dean of the Medical School (twice), and eventually Rektor. At Kiel, his reputation continued to expand on the strength of his 1919 textbook Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen (1919), which was as influential as Physikalische Chemie, passing through eight editions and translations into several foreign languages. His laboratory became a magnet for students from as far away as the United States and Japan and was much in demand as a lecturer throughout Europe, paying his first visit to the United States in 1929, when he attended the XIII International Congress of Physiological Sciences held at Woods Hole as president of the German Physiological Society. He and his colleagues, Albrecht Bethe and Emil Abderhalden were co-editors of essential journal Pflügers Archiv from 1918-1934.

Yet even an international reputation in his field did not insulate Höber when his country veered toward Fascism. Although neither a politician nor an activist, he earned the enmity of the Nazis when he sat on a University disciplinary court in 1931 that convicted and expelled six pro-Nazi students for their assault on a Lutheran clergyman. Within a week of Hitler seizing power in 1933, Höber himself became a target when his laboratory was taken over and he was confined to the second floor of his institute. Although he was briefly allowed to resume lecturing during the summer semester, by September he was forced into retirement by the Education Ministry of the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The shocking turn of events made Höber into a minor cause celebre, and with the assistance of the physiologist A. V. Hill and the Rockefeller Foundation, he soon received an invitation to join the staff at the University College, London. In the following spring, 1934, with the support of Henry C. Bazett Höber was offered a position as visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. For several years, Höber subsisted on grant money from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, the United Jewish Appeal, and the American Philosophical Society. He was able to bring his wife and daughter Ursula with him in 1934, and over the next three years he brought his children Johannes and Gabriele and their families. As she had in Germany, Josephine worked with Höber in his laboratory. When Höber died in Philadelphia in 1953, he was eulogized as a "pioneer and co-founder of a new direction in physiology" as well as a caring mentor. Despite the turmoil and dislocations of his life, Höber's bibliography surpassed 100 articles.

The papers of the German physiologist Rudolf Höber consist of five linear feet of family correspondence, with a small number of professional letters scattered throughout. Although Höber's physiological research, per se, is seldom discussed, the letters provide insight into the family life and privileged social milieu of a member of the German intellectual elite in the years prior to and immediately after the First World War, his loss of position after the rise to power of the Nazis, and the conditions of his emigration to the United States, his adjustment to American life, and his attempts to bring the remainder of his family to safety during the late 1930s. The collection is arranged in two series, Correspondence (Series I, 5.5 lin. feet), which is arranged chronologically, and Publications and miscellaneous (Series II, 0.5 lin. feet), which is arranged alphabetically.

After 1901, nearly all of the correspondence is between Höber and his wife, Josephine, with the exception being about 25 letters regarding Höber's academic positions in England and the United States after 1933, and a series of letters written by Höber to his children in Germany before 1938. The thickest documentation falls in the period 1898-1905, when Höber is in Zurich, and in the years after his emigration to the United States, while his children remained in Germany, 1935-1938. As might be expected, in this latter correspondence the Höbers are very circumspect when writing about conditions under the Nazis, at least as long as relatives remained in Germany, and they appear to have used a private code to refer to emigration or to express their views on the regime. There is little to document Höber's expulsion from Kiel in 1933.

Series II includes an interesting set of memoranda and some correspondence received by Höber while serving as Rektor of the University of Kiel, 1930-1931, as well as copies of a few his publications, some biographical materials, and an academic sash of unidentified origin. All but a few of the items in the collection are written in German, with the handwritten ones (the majority) written in the old script.

In their personal letters, all of the Höber's routinely referred to themselves and each other by affectionate nicknames, some more obscure than others. A list of these is included in the file marked "Biographical material" (Series II). This same list includes a list of code words used by the Höber's in correspondence between the United States and Germany during the Nazi period, 1933-1939. After their emigration to America, the Höbers have spelled their name Hoeber or Hober, depending on which branch of the family.

Provenance

Gift of the Elfriede Fischer Hoeber, 1985.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Rudolf Höber Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Cataloged 2003.

Related material

The Printed Materials Department has copies of two editions of Höber's major works:

1. Höber, Rudolf, Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen, 8th ed. (Bern, Switzerland, 1938).
2. Höber, Rudolf, Physikalische Chemie der Zellen und Gewebe (Bern, Switzerland, 1947).

Bibliography

• Universität Kiel

• Germany -- History -- 1919-1933

• Höber, Gabriele, 1906-1988
• Höber, Johannes U., 1904-1977
• Höber, Josephine Marx, 1876-19
• Höber, Rudolf
• Höber, Ursula, 1912-1990

• Cell physiologists -- Germany
• German-Americans -- Pennsylvania
• Physiologists -- Germany
• Political refugees -- Germany