Berta Bergman


Berta Bergman was a Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian Jewish] physician and partisan. She is also well known for being the first woman to finish high school in Bosnia.

Early life

Berta Bergman was born 10 May 1894 in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary to a family of German-speaking Jews. The eldest of four daughters, her mother Ernesta and her father Joseph were Ashkenazi Jews from Vienna. Both moved to Sarajevo during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia as her father worked as a railway engineer for the Imperial Royal [Austrian State Railways|Imperial Royal Austrian State of Railways]. Despite the family having a strong financial income, Bergman's mother vowed to secure a higher education for her daughters.
The girls first attended gymnasium in Mostar to achieve this. Berta and her older sister Marija made headlines when in 1905, they became the first female pupils in Mostar Gymnasium. In February 1912, the Croatian newspaper Narodna obrana published a report saying that Berta was the first female in Bosnia and Herzegovina to graduate from school. She went on to study medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1918. All her younger sisters would also receive their degrees. Her sister Marija became the first Bosnian woman to be awarded a doctorate.

Career

Bergman's career as a pediatrician took her across the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, including Banja Luka and Mostar. After quitting her position in Banja Luka, Bergman was awarded money for her hard work and self-sacrifices. She then worked in Mostar where she became head of a successful children's polyclinic.

Invasion and death

After the invasion of Yugoslavia by Nazi Germany in April 1941 and the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist puppet state, on the territory which included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bergman lost her job. Her sister Marija and Marija's family were deported to the Rab concentration camp, while the 49-year-old doctor Bergman joined the Partisan guerrilla resistance during [World War II|resistance movement]. She provided the Partisan fighters with medical care, supplies and first aid lessons. She was imprisoned twice; the capture on 15 January 1945 led to her deportation to Jasenovac concentration camp, where she was killed by the Ustaše.