[Debates on the "Jewish nurse" within the Jewish communities in Austro-Hungary around 1900].

The debate about the organisation of nursing became acute during the last decades of the 19th century when big modern Jewish hospitals were built in several cities of the Habsburg Monarchy. This led to an increase in the demand for nurses and to the initiation of a discussion about the professionalisation of Jewish nursing. In these debates different actors with different intentions were involved. While hospitals were looking mainly for inexpensive and unlimited working nurses, middle-class organisations such as B'nai B'rith emphasised the necessity for women to learn a useful profession to be able to support their husbands economically. Furthermore, feminists and women's associations tried to set new standards for female education, emphasising economic independence and improving the working conditions for women. Jewish feminists such as Henriette Weiss in Vienna, Ida Fuerst in Budapest, and Julie Leipen in Prague tried to build up Jewish nursing schools. The different strategies of implementations and the result of their efforts will be the main focus of this paper.