Helene Bresslau Schweitzer

Helene Bresslau Schweitzer (1879 to 1957) was a German medical missionary, nurse and social worker, best known as the wife and close collaborator of Albert Schweitzer. Born in Berlin into the Bresslau family, she grew up partly in Strasbourg, where her father worked at the university, and took courses in history there. She joined the Protestant Deaconess Society in 1904 to complete a course in nursing, and before leaving for Africa she studied higher level nursing to prepare. After her marriage to Albert Schweitzer in 1912 she travelled with him to Gabon in 1913 and worked beside him in the medical mission, co-founding the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. The article records that her husband did not mention her role in his efforts, and presents her as a woman of independent learning and many interests, including teaching, languages and editing.