Catherine (Katharina) Newman (nee Weisz)

This biography was written based on information primarily found in PapersPast. It was compiled by Michaela Selway.

1941 Graduate

Life before New Zealand

Katharina Newman (née Weisz) was born in Budapest in 1901 and was the daughter of a banker. (5) She married her husband, Oscar Newman, at the young age of 19, and then the couple moved from Budapest to Vienna for Katharina to commence her medical studies at the University of Vienna. She completed her studies at 28 years of age and spent two years working in paediatrics, one year in gynaecology, and one in psychiatry which provided her with a broad range of postgraduate training. She then entered private practice in Vienna, where she worked until the situation for those of Jewish heritage in Austria became dangerous. It is unknown how she obtained a visa to New Zealand, but she was among the first medical refugees to be granted access to New Zealand before the war. Katharina arrived in New Zealand with her husband, Oscar Newman, in 1938. Upon arriving in New Zealand Katharina anglicised her name to Catherine. It is not known what Oscar did before their arrival in New Zealand, but in Dunedin, he ran an antique shop on High Street. He died in 1956, four years before

Retraining in Dunedin

As Catherine had already completed a medical degree overseas she was enrolled in a “special” re-training course established for the transfer of medical degrees to the Commonwealth system. She was within the first two intakes of the new course, along with fellow woman medical refugees Hilda Fleischl, Rachel Monk, and Olga Semon. The students joined the fourth year of the standard medical programme and had to complete all four parts of the professional examinations. This could take a varying amount of time, depending on their knowledge of English.^[1] Newman and Semon sat their final examinations in 1941, Fleischl in 1942 and Monk in 1943. They could now practise, but their degrees were not conferred until around five years later, in 1947. This delay may have been on account of naturalisation, which had been halted for the duration of the war—Monk naturalised in May 1946, Newman in August 1946, and Fleischl and Semon in April 1947. (1)

Career in General Practice

After Catherine graduated from the Otago Medical School, she had a very successful career and she was loved by many of her patients. She continued to work in the refugee communities and was visited by many Hungarian refugees since she could speak the language. (6) Her obituary in the Press states that ‘she was not content to continue in the old routine but always kept up to date with medical literature and refresher courses, the last of which she attended in Australia in 1959’. (6) Catherine was very active in the medical and wider community. (3, 4) Shortly after completing the Otago course, she went into practice with Dr D. Cummack in Worcester Street, Christchurch. Then, in 1955, she went into practice with another Otago Medical graduate, Phyllis Brass (1953 graduate). (6) She assisted younger doctors in setting up their practices, was on the committee of the Medical Women’s Association, and was a member of the Family Planning Association. She was a foundation member of the United Kingdom College of General Practitioners and of the Canterbury Faculty of the same college, which was formed in 1957. (6)

Untimely Death

On 11 July 1960, Catherine Newman was brutally murdered by a patient, Emanuel Paskal Rokus Laudisz. Catherine had spent the day attending to patients in her home, as she had converted her living room into a surgery. Her housekeeper had left around 7:20 pm and her last patient had left around 7:50 pm. (5, 8) The trial began on 24 August, and there were 40 witnesses brought forward by the Crown. (10) The prosecutor explained that Dr Newman had been treating a number of Hungarian patients. This included Laudisz, who she had been attending for two years on account that when he arrived in New Zealand, he had no English. (9) Laudisz had been complaining of a treatment Dr Newman had given him for medication for a cold he had sustained during his flight from the Hungarian Uprising.[2] He claimed that the medication had made him impotent. Newman had examined him multiple times and found no issues, so Laudisz visited a number of other doctors, all of whom gave him the same conclusion. (9) Over the next few weeks, Laudisz became more and more distressed, to the point of telling some of his flatmates that he was going to take her to court or kill her. (8) On 11 July, Laudisz rode his bike to her house, attacked her with a small table he found in her living room, and then cycled to the police station, where he confessed his crime. She died from asphyxia from traumatic rupture of the trachea sustained from the assault. (12) Laudisz had previously admitted himself to Sunnyside Hospital upon recommendation from another doctor, and he pleaded not guilty to the sentence. (11) The court ruled Laudisz not guilty of her murder on the grounds of insanity. (12)

In her will, Catherine divided her estate, worth £21,000, into 92 parts, 46 of which went to various organisations such as the Christchurch Aged People’s Welfare Council, Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, the New Zealand Red Cross Society, and the Jewish National Fund. (7) The Aged People’s Welfare Council used the money to build a third wing at Langford House, which was named the Catherine Newman Memorial Wing in her memory. (2) The wing was opened by her Mr R. E. Sullivan (representing the Health Department), Mr A. H. Cavell (Canterbury Masonic Charitable Trust), Dr. P. M. Brass, Mr T. H. McCombs (vice-president of the Christchurch South Rotary Club), the Mayor, and Mr W. 11. Larcombe (chairman of the Langford House committee). (13) Her obituary described her as ‘a woman who stood high in wisdom and knowledge of her profession. The warmth of her nature and her joyous and unfailing generosity went out to one and all who came to her for advice and help. She will indeed be sadly missed’. (6)

Bibliography

1. Jillian Rothwell, Against All Odds: The Dramatic Story of Escape from the Horrors of Nazi-Occupied Vienna to a Life in New Zealand (Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand: David Ling Publishing Limited, 2020), 120.
2. Press, 18 September 1962, Page 15.
3. Press, 13 November 1942, Page 2.
4. Press, 17 September 1959, Page 4.
5. Press, 13 July 1960, Page 16.
6. Press, 16 July 1960, Page 15.
7. Press, 19 August 1960, Page 12.
8. Press, 25 August 1960, Page 9.
9. Press, 26 August 1960, Page 14.
10. Press, 1 November 1960, Page 8.
11. Press, 2 November 1960, Page 12.
12. Press, 26 November 1960, Page 4.
13. Press, 2 November 1964, Page 14,

Further Notes:

^[1] Georg Lemchen, for example, failed his final exam in the one-year course purely on account of his poor control of the English language. He was given a “special” the following year which he passed. Instances like these were one of the arguments for a three-year course as it assumed the refugees would have more time to catch up.

[2]  In order to fill their displaced persons’ quota, New Zealand agreed to take 1,100 refugees from the Hungarian Uprising. A Small Price to Pay, p.10.