Anne Bohm (1910-2006) was born in Breslau (now in Poland) to a Jewish family. She studied at Berlin and Tubingen Universities obtaining a PhD in history and after graduation she worked as a secretary, including a time as secretary to the President of the Olympic organising committee for the 1936 Berlin games. In 1938 she joined her uncle and his family in London.

In 1941 they moved to Cambridge, where LSE had evacuated to at the outset of the Second World War. Anne began work in February 1942 for the LSE historian LG Robinson who was looking for an administrative assistant with fluent German to support courses on European international relations for army officers. He was also Dean of the Graduate School and Anne was appointed its Secretary. After the war, the School returned to London and she retained her post. “For everybody it was a serious but a very joyous time, these first five years after the war.”

In 1950 LG Robinson had a stroke and, although he retained his title of Dean of the Graduate School, Anne took on his role. He died in 1957 and for 20 years Anne ran the Graduate School with a firm hand, respected by colleagues inside and outside of LSE and making enduring friendships with many students. When she finally retired in 1977, Director Ralf Dahrendorf said “As everybody knows Anne has been the Dean and the Registrar of the Graduate School” – though Anne had never been given the title of Dean.

After retirement Anne Bohm was asked by the Director to become a roving ambassador for the School. She was made an Honorary Fellow in 1988 and received an OBE in 1991. In 1993 the artist June Mendoza donated her portrait of Anne Bohm to the School and it hangs in the Shaw Library. Anne Bohm died in 2006 at the age of 96.

Anne's nomination

Anne was nominated two alumni who said:

"She was legendary during my time."

"She took a personal interest in the individual progress of each of approximately 1,200 graduate students, not just on arrival, but throughout their studies at LSE. The testimonies of many past graduate students, upon her death, are evidence of appreciation of her support and advice to graduate students over a period of decades." Barry Goss

Read more

Anne Bohm on the LSE History Blog by Sue Donnelly