She was born in Vienna, Austria, and after her father's death suffered from a psychosomatic paralysis, which was treated by the psychoanalyst Joseph Breuer. Sigmund Freud described her case in one of his most celebrated studies, in which she is identified as 'Anna O.'

In 1888 she arrived as a healthy young woman in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where her mother lived. Becoming involved in social work, her passion for social justice was aroused and she founded a national federation for Jewish women, the Juedischer Frauenbund.

Pappenheim headed an orphanage for Jewish girls and founded a home for disturbed Jewish girls and unwed mothers. She fought the white slave trade and the selling of Jewish girls into prostitution. She traveled throughout Europe propagating her views.

Pappenheim translated into German the memoirs of her ancestor, Glueckel of Hameln.

Bibliography:

Bertha PAPPENHEIM: Leben und Schriften. Dora Edinger Ed. Pp. 156. Frankfurt am Main: Ner-Tamid-Verlag, 1963

Max ROSENBAUM and Melvin MUROFF eds.: Anna O. Psychoanalysis-Case Studies; Bertha Pappenheim. Pp. XV, 187. New York, Free Press, 1984

Marion A. KAPLAN: German-Jewish Feminism. 2 Vols. (4, 640 leaves). University Microfilms International. Ann Arbor, Mich: University Microfilms International, 1977

Links:

Bertha Pappenheim - A New Look at the Concept of the Family