A fairytale career in spite of political disenfranchisement: The jewish oral pathologist Bálint Orbán (1899-1960)

Abstract

Viennese scientist Bálint Orbán (1899–1960) was an international pioneer in the area of oral pathology and one of the principle figures comprising the “Vienna School” of the 1920s. His works “Biology and Pathology of the Tooth and its Supporting Mechanism” (1938) and “Atlas of Clinical Pathology of the Oral Mucous Membrane” (1955), both published in the United States, set new standards across the globe. Even today, the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) honors aspiring researchers with the Bálint Orbán Award in the context of its “Orbán Memorial Program”.One aspect of Orbán’s life that remains widely unknown is the fact that his career was thrown into existential threat following Hitler's rise to power in 1938. As a scientist of Jewish ancestry, the new government stripped him of his venia legendi and, as such, robbed him the basis for working as a university professor in Vienna.What became of Orbán’s life and career in the years thereafter? What were the conditions that ultimately led him to the United States? How did he manage to set up his career in this new context – including in comparison to his other colleagues who also emigrated? Which factors were ultimately decisive for his further career?The present article seeks to address these very questions. The sources used for this study include documents from the Austrian State Archives as well as from the Vienna University Archive. Our archival work was followed by a critical re-analysis of the available secondary literature.This article illustrates that Bálint Orbán was part of a small group of Jewish scientists who did not suffer from a rupture or setback in their careers under National Socialism. In fact, despite professional disenfranchisement and forced migration, they succeeded in making smooth professional transitions and even advancing their careers. One decisive factor in this – apart from Orbán’s consistently high-degree of dedication to his work and above-average research output – was his robust network academic contacts, which he previously laid the groundwork for during his first stay in the United States (1927–1929) and continued to resolutely foster afterwards. Thanks to these contacts, even before his permission to work as a professor in Vienna was revoked, Orbán managed to flee to Chicago and quickly attain a professorship. He spent the rest of his academic life in the United States and, much like his other émigré colleague from Vienna, Hans Popper (1903–1988), he developed what would become his posthumous prominence in this new country.