Georg Varrentrapp

Johann Georg Varrentrapp (born March 20, 1809 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 16, 1886 there ) was a German doctor.

Varrentrapp studied in Heidelberg , Strasbourg , Paris and Würzburg , then visited the most famous hospitals of his time, traveled to Belgium , Holland and England and published the results of his research as a diary of a medical trip .

Varrentrapp has been called "Luther of Hygiene in Germany".

Life

During his studies he became a member of the old Heidelberg fraternity in 1827 . In 1841 he succeeded his father Johann Konrad Varrentrapp (1779-1860) as chief physician at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Frankfurt. He also became the director of the Senckenbergische Naturforschenden Gesellschaft , chairman of the medical association and the Pestalozzivereins, which cared for children at risk. He did a great job as one of the first pioneers in general health education (today: Public Health ) in Germany . Also active in municipal politics in Frankfurt with regard to urban hygiene issues ( City Councilor from 1867 to 1884) and driving force behind the comparatively early introduction of the central drinking water supply and sewer system in Frankfurt. In 1848 he was a member of the preliminary parliament .

Family grave of the Varrentrapps in Frankfurt am Main

Influenced by Edwin Chadwick , he initiated hygienic improvements on the issues of workers' housing , protection against contagious diseases, vaccination, water supply and the orderly sewage disposal of cities, public bathing , slaughterhouses , but also the prison system . He tried to back up his hygienic demands with medical statistical work, especially on child mortality . In contrast to Rudolf Virchow , he spoke out against alluvial sewer systems and in favor of agricultural use of urban sewage with sewage fields .

After his 100-day medical study trip in 1838, Varrentrapp spoke out in his diary for better training for nurses, as he had seen them in England. He also advocated that these well-trained nursing staff should take on minor medical tasks, initially in Frankfurt and later throughout Germany. However, in England there is insufficient ventilation in the hospital wards. The patient beds are also uncomfortable and separated from each other by heavy, unhygienic curtains, which makes it difficult for the nursing staff to supervise. He therefore recommended “air purification agencies” and more modern equipment in patient rooms.

Varrentrapp wrote, among other things: The drainage of the cities (Berlin 1868) and since 1842 (with Friedrich Noellner and Nikolaus Heinrich Julius ) he has edited the yearbooks of prison studies and correctional institutions , as co-editor from the second volume in 1870 the German quarterly journal for public health care (from the seventh volume 1875 together with the Frankfurt city doctor Alexander Spiess ). After he resigned from office, he worked for the establishment of the holiday colonies, which has become widespread.

His son Adolf Varrentrapp (1844–1916) was mayor of Frankfurt am Main from 1899 to 1906.

The city of Frankfurt chose him in 1947 as the namesake of a street in the Bockenheim district, the Manteuffelstraße named until 1947 after Edwin von Manteuffel (1809-1885), field marshal and governor of Alsace-Lorraine, a side street to Hamburger Allee.

family

Varrentrapp married Charlotte Alexandrine Mathilde Lutteroth on April 8, 1840 (* May 6, 1817, † May 7, 1890). The couple had several children:

• Maria Anna (born January 8, 1841; † September 17, 1875) ⚭ 1863 Heinrich Paulus Hirzel (born April 26, 1831), citizen and pastor in Zurich
• Maria Christina Auguste (born November 20, 1842) ⚭ 1877 Heinrich Paulus Hirzel (born April 26, 1831), citizen and pastor in Zurich
• Conrad Gustav Adolf (born January 18, 1844 - † November 26, 1916), Mayor of Frankfurt ⚭ 1872 Thekla Johanna Kissel (born May 26, 1852)
• Martin Alexander (1845–1871)
• Charlotte Mathilde (born February 26, 1847) ⚭ 1868 Philipp Ernst Weydt-Varrentrapp (born July 17, 1841), citizen and director in Frankfurt

literature

• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , pp. 112-114.
• Emil Roediger:  Varrentrapp, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, pp. 500-502.
• Varrentrapp, Johann Georg. In: Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 1: Social politicians in the German Empire 1871 to 1918. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2010, ISBN 978-3-86219-038-6 , p. 165 ( online , PDF; 2.2 MB).
• Katharina Sara Hammas: Dr. med. Johann Georg Varrentrapp (1809-1886): Social medicine practitioner and pioneer of public health care , Edition Centaurus - Modern History of Medicine and Science, Wiesbaden: Springer 2018.
• Werner Arnswaldt, From the history of the Varrentrapp family , panel V. Descendants of Johann Georg Varrentrapp
• Rudolph Bauer : Varrentrapp, Johann Georg , in: Hugo Maier (Ed.): Who is who of social work . Freiburg: Lambertus, 1998 ISBN 3-7841-1036-3 , p. 600

Web links

• Pagel (1901): Biographical lexicon of outstanding doctors
• Varrentrapp, Johann Georg. Hessian biography. (As of May 9, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
• Varrentrapp, Georg in the Frankfurt personal dictionary

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Federal Archives: Members of the Pre-Parliament and the Fifties Committee (PDF file; 79 kB)
2. ↑ Janet Bilali: Johann Georg Varrentrapp . In: Hubert Kolling (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon for Nursing History - Who was Who in Nursing History , Volume nine, Hpsmedia GmbH Nidda, 2020, p. 256 f.