Charlotte Buhler
The plaque I am standing next to in the picture translates to: "those who build palaces for children tear down prison walls." Charlotte Buhler is a German woman who worked to build these palaces for orphaned children in Vienna through humanistic psychology. The building pictured is the triage center where she worked. Charlotte was born in Berlin, to a Jewish government architect. She went on to study natural sciences and humanities at universities in Germany before graduating with her doctorate from University of Munich. Her dissertation explored "the origin of thought: Experimental studies on the psychology of thought." She ended up teaching at the University of Vienna which is when she founded the Viennese child psychology school. Here she studied children and their behavior, focusing in on the individual needs of a child and how to give them a community to address their needs. However, Nazi sentiment and occupation began in Austria, and her and her husband were forced to leave because of their anti-Nazi opinions and Charlotte's Jewish descent and moved to the United States. She continued her research there.
As someone who wants to go into education and cares deeply about children, Charlotte Buhler was someone that I was really excited to learn about. She, along with two other psychologists, laid the foundations of humanistic psychology. At the Vienna School, she created child intelligence assessment tests that are still used today. Her influence can be seen in modern psychology and the way we view human development (which is so cool!). Her legacy is one of inspiration, provoking those that work with children to consider the full spectrum of human development and educate, counsel, and help our children in whatever area they need. Charlotte Buhler was also one of very few women in her field, making her a pioneer for women in psychology.
Charlotte Buhler is commemorated in many ways throughout Vienna. There is an institute for practical research on infants named for her, a plaque in honor of her and her husband at Epstein Palace, and roads named for her not just in Vienna but also Dresden and Emsdetten. I love that there is a research institution named after her because that was her life's work and passion. However, I had never heard of Charlotte Buhler before, and I have had to take multiple classes about human development for my degree. I think that her research should be more widely shared, and her influence more well known. Her contributions are extremely important and she should be recognized in the world of human development just as much as Freud or any of the other men that are prominent in this field.
Extra background info from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_B%C3%BChler
Image from Wikipedia
I wanted to include a picture of this wonderful woman <3
Interesting that she seems to be commemorated well in the other countries she lived and worked in, but not the United States where she ended up. I also had never heard of her that I remember
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting this Lilly! I missed when we talked about this so I learned a lot from your post. Vienna has a rich history of incredibly intelligent people, and Buhler is certainly an important addition to this. I think it's pretty incredible how she was such a pioneer in her field! I think Vienna's cultivation and appreciation for intelligence is a big part of it's status as a cultural capital.
ReplyDeleteReally great post, Lilly! By understanding Buhler, we can get a better understanding of Vienna and its impact on history and society. As you pointed out, she was such a prominent figure, not only in Vienna, but in history. And I think how Vienna commemorates her really adds to the city as being a cultural capital because it highlights her and her contributions and how that added to their city.
ReplyDeleteCool post girlie! I thought learning about her was so interesting. I do think that it is interesting that what hindered her career was not necessarily the fact that she was a woman, but that she was jewish. She had to put on hold her career and move to America when they saw stuff going sideways in Europe and in their city. I think that is something we must always keep in mind, that new powers taking over our country could make it inhospitable.
ReplyDeleteLilly, I loved your post on Charlotte Buhler. I wrote about her as well. She definitely had obstacles to overcome as a woman in her field and also coming from Jewish descent during the second world war. She had to flee to the United States and continue her work there. I believe there are still obstacles in the way for women in all careers including medicine, psychology and research, but it has decreased since her time. There are still anti-Semitic feelings in the world, but those have also decreased in the last 80 years as well.
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