Since 02/2021, permanent installation Queen, Selma Meyer Hörsaal at HHU, Düsseldorf
Since February 2021, a 200cm x 265cm work by Meral Alma in honor of Prof. Dr. Selma Meyer has adorned the lecture hall of the same name at the HHU Faculty of Medicine.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (Ludwig Kotter)”, Prof. Klaus Pfeffer said, adding that both the artwork and the lecture hall are commemorative symbols that must be preserved for the future.
In 1922, Professor Dr. Selma Meyer became the second woman ever to be habilitated at a German medical school, where she was later appointed professor. As a Jew, she was stripped of her position when the Nazis came to power in 1933, after which she was forced to flee Germany. She made a fresh start in New York: At the age of 58, Meyer passed the American medical exam for foreign doctors, enabling her to open her own practice. It was there that she continued to serve her patients until the end of her life.
After the Konrad Henkel Lecture Hall—which is adorned with paintings by the Düsseldorf painter and former Düsseldorf Art Academy painting professor Ulrich Erben—the Selma Meyer Lecture Hall is the second University of Düsseldorf lecture hall ever to be decorated with a specially created painting.
In attendance at the September 2021 ceremony were Prof. Gisela Miller-Kipp, Meral Alma, Prof. Frank Schneider, Prof. Benedikt Pannen, Prof. Martin Mauve, Prof. Nikolaj Klöcker, and Prof. Klaus Pfeffer, among others.
work: Meral Alma, Queen
2020, 2m x 2.65m, acrylic on glass