After completing his academic training, the newly minted
medical doctor strove to obtain a license as a general
practitioner in Hersfeld. For this purpose he directed the
relevant request on December 19, 1836 to the
appropriate authority in Fulda: the Higher Medical
Council. In their requested response, the district
administrator Karl Hartert and the district doctor Dr.
Zins expressed the concern that an additional local
doctor would present a substantial income reduction for
the three doctors already practicing there [in Hersfeld],
who could hardly make a living as it was.
Apparently the three doctors already established in
Hersfeld had brought to bear all their influence on the
head of the administration of the administrative district
[Landkreis] in order to draw him to their side. In his
response, the district doctor had let it be known that his
negative answer had a lot to do with the person of the
applicant, i.e., with his being a Jew. In his eyes – and in
those of his three Hersfeld colleagues – this fact meant a
competitive advantage in attracting patients, since the
applicant "is the son of an Israelite [a Jew], whose father
will most likely not refrain from providing his son with
customers in any way he can."
However, the Hersfelders did not get away with this
conspiratorial rationale for their negative response. As a
result, Dr. Carl Dellevie, M.D. received his license as a
general practitioner and obstetrician on March 28, 1837,
and so was able to open a practice in Hersfeld. For this
purpose he purchased the house at 4 Linggplatz (now a
watch and jewelry dealer with the name of Laufer.
Within just a few years, Carl Dellevie had apparently
earned for himself a good reputation, for in 1843 he was
offered the position of attending physician (school
doctor) for the Hersfeld Gymnasium.
The house at 4
Linggplatz in Bad
Hersfeld in 2004
The house at 4
Linggplatz in Bad
Hersfeld around
1910, where Dr.
Carl Dellevie had
his medical practice
from 1837 to
1848.
Source: Abbes, Jewish History of Hersfeld, 2002, p.53f.