Rahel Straus

Rahel Straus was born in 1880 in Karlsruhe

Rahel Goitein was born in Karlsruhe on 21 March 1880. Her father, Gabor Goitein, was an Orthodox rabbi from Hungary, and her mother, Ida Löwenfeld, was a schoolteacher. Her father died when she was 3, and her mother raised her in a religious home.

She finished her matriculation in 1899 at Germany's first gymnasium for girls. She became the first regular female student at Heidelberg University and graduated in medicine in January 1905. She completed her doctorate in 1907.

In 1905 she married the lawyer Elias Straus, a childhood friend, and they moved to Munich and had 5 children. From 1908 she ran her own practice as a general practitioner and gynecologist, treating mainly women and children. She was active in Zionist and women's groups, including the League of Jewish Women and WIZO, and wrote for Jewish journals.

Her husband died in 1933, and that year she emigrated to Palestine with her children and settled in Jerusalem. She retired from medicine in 1940 and turned to social work, including training young female immigrants and care for people with disabilities, which led to the founding of AKIM. In 1952 she helped found the Israeli branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

She wrote her memoirs in German and children's stories for her grandson that were published in Hebrew. She died in Jerusalem on 15 May 1963. Beit Rahel Straus in Jerusalem is named after her.