The Stolpersteine für Dresden association has dedicated two memorial stones to Dr. Walter Blumenfeld and his wife Margarete Blumenfeld (née Meyer). Walter Blumenfeld was a major pioneer in the field of work and organizational psychology. After the First World War, he taught general and experimental psychology as a Privatdozent (private lecturer) at the Technische Hochschule Dresden. Later, he was instrumental in founding the Psychotechnical Institute in Dresden. In 1934, Blumenfeld was forced into retirement due to his Jewish heritage.

The Stolpersteine were installed on February 8, 2024 in front of the house at Bayreuther Strasse 4 in Dresden's southern suburbs, where the Jewish couple lived from 1922 until their emigration to Peru in 1935.

The Stolpersteine were initiated by Andreas Jüttemann (TU Dresden) and Benjamin Kuntz of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, who have jointly published a book on Blumenfeld's life and work. They were financed by TU Dresden’s Faculty of Psychology and the German Psychological Society.

Historical background

Walter Blumenfeld (1882-1967) was a groundbreaking pioneer of work and organizational psychology. Originally from the town of Neuruppin in Brandenburg, Germany, he studied electrical engineering and worked as an engineer for AEG in Berlin. After completing a second degree in psychology and philosophy in 1913, he taught general and experimental psychology as a Privatdozent at the Technische Hochschule Dresden after the First World War. In 1924 he was appointed associate professor and played a decisive role in the establishment of the Psychotechnical Institute in Dresden.

Blumenfeld devoted much attention to the topic of work organization. He coined the “Blumenfeld effect” and developed methods for aptitude diagnostics, including the well-known cube test. He maintained a close friendship with the scholar and diarist Victor Klemperer. After the Nazis rose to power and Blumenfeld was dismissed from his position because of his Jewish heritage, he and his wife emigrated to Peru in 1935. He was appointed Chair of Psychology and Education in Lima. His works, written in Spanish, were widely circulated in South America. Walter Blumenfeld, who was awarded honorary membership of the German Psychological Society in 1949, died in Lima shortly before his 85^th birthday. 

Media inquiries:

PD Dr. Andreas Jüttemann 
TUD Dresden University of Technology 
Institute for the History of Medicine 
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