Meine ersten drei Leben

Ingeborg Rapoport is known as a pediatrician at the Berlin Charité, as the founder of neonatal medicine in the GDR, and possibly as the oldest woman to have been awarded a doctorate. Her doctoral recognition was denied to the young physician in Nazi Germany in 1937 due to her Jewish roots. In 2015, the now 102-year-old was retroactively awarded the title. In 1938, she fled to the United States, where she met her later husband, Samuel Mitja Rapoport. Both were active in the Communist Party of the USA. Due to this political activity, they were pursued by the McCarthy campaign and had to emigrate again. In the GDR, Inge Rapoport found her new home and her place of work at the Berlin Charité. In retirement, the scientist reflects on her life, remembers companions, addresses grievances in politics and society – but also with herself. She invites others to understand her experiences in the German Democratic Republic and the medical advancements in pediatrics. Addressed to her unborn descendant Joshua, a moving picture of her life emerges, set against a backdrop of anti-Semitism and political persecution, medical commitment, and socialist ideals.