*May 29, 1907 (Berlin, Germany)
†June 19, 1992 (Berlin, Germany)

Lilly Buchhorn was born on May 29, 1904 in Berlin. Her father was the pharmacist Franz Buchhorn, her mother Gertrud Buchhorn, née Cassirer. After graduating from the “Städtische Studienanstalt Berlin”, she immatriculated in mathematics, physics and philosophy at the University of Berlin (Winter semester 1923/24). For the winter term 1926/27 she moved to Freiburg and returned to Berlin in the following semester. She passed her “Staatsexamen” (“State examination” or “exam by State”) on May 7, 1929 with the work “Die neueren Ergebnisse der modernen Ringtheorie” (1928). On December 3, 1929 she  submitted her work Evidenz und Axiome im Aufbau von Sigwarts Logik as doctoral thesis in philosophy. The referees were Heinrich Maier and Eduard Spranger. The oral doctoral examination took place at June 19, 1930. Lilly Buchhorn received her doctorate degree on February 24, 1931. In 1931, she worked as “Studienassessorin” at the Deutsche Oberschule in Berlin-Mariendorf and from 1932 to 1933 as “Oberstufenlehrerin” am Cecilien-Lyceum Wilmersdorf. Betwen 1931 and 1932 she also worked for the Jahrbuch für die Fortschritte der Mathematik. Buchhorn was forced to leave the teaching service by virtue of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (German: Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums, shortened to Berufsbeamtengesetz). She married Heinrich Görke, with whom she had three children (born 1940, 1942 and 1945). Together with her husband she ran a drugstore in West Berlin. After the Second World War she became a lecturer and teacher at the “Vorstudienanstalt ABF” (1946-50). After her divorce and move to the Eastern sector of Berlin, she habilitated at the Humboldt University Berlin in 1952 with a thesis on geometry in school teaching practice (“Die Grundlinien für den Geometrie-Unterricht der Mittelstufe der DDR”). In 1959, she received a full lecturership. Görke has written a number of textbooks for school teaching practise and numerous articles. One of her best-known publications is the book Mengen, Relationen, Funktionen (1965). In 1957, she received the Pestalozzi Medal, in 1963 the Dr. Theodor Neubauer Medal in silver. She has also been honoured with the “Vaterländische Verdienstorden” in bronze.

References

Buchhorn, L. (1928). Die neueren Ergebnisse der modernen Ringtheorie. Univ., Dipl. arbeit Bonn.

Buchhorn, L. (1931). Evidenz und Axiome im Aufbau von Sigwarts Logik. Phil. Diss. Berlin.

Görke, L. (1965). Mengen, Relationen, Funktionen. Volk und Wissen. Volkseigener Verlag, Berlin.

Archival Records

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek, Archiv Rigorosenakt der Philosophischen Fakultät (Lilly Buchhorn), Nr. 708, Bl. 268–279.

UA Berlin; Diss. mit Lebenslauf; Berlin, den 7.2.1964 Personalakte von L. Görke PA (nach 1945) G 417, Bd.1 Bl. 165.

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