Adalbert von der Recke-Volmerstein

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Adalbert von der Recke-Volmerstein

Adalbert (or Adelberdt) Friedrich Karl Georg Ernst Graf von der Recke-Volmerstein (born May 28, 1791 in Hamme near Bochum , †  November 10, 1878 in Kraschnitz ) was one of the founding fathers of Diakonie .

Live and act

Count Albert, from the Westphalian noble family Recke , was the fourth of nine children of Philipp Heinrich Christian Count von der Recke von Volmerstein (1751–1840), who was owned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1817 . raised by Prussia to the rank of count, and his wife Louise Alexandrine Johanne Christine Freiin von der Recke († April 16, 1836). It was only after he was eight years old that he was called Adalbert (or Adelberdt). Little is known about his childhood and youth. The boy's health instability and deep sensitivity, coupled with unchild seriousness, worried the parents. Recke-Volmerstein studied law and medicine in Heidelberg and volunteered in the Prussian army in 1813, where he was appointed governor's commissioner in the field of catering for the Northern Army.

Influenced by the ideas of the revival movement and the German Christianity Society , he took on a few homeless children since 1816. Due to the Napoleonic wars, there were many wandering children in the region. In 1819 he and his brother Werner founded a rescue house near their father's Overdyck estate , "which after a year already had 44 foster children". For this he acquired a former free school. Soon the rooms could no longer hold the growing number. The Count therefore bought the Düsselthal Trappist Abbey near Düsseldorf and moved there on June 19, 1822 with 44 children on carts. “Partly to satisfy the domestic need for fruits and cereals, partly to be able to open up a field of useful activity for his pupils, the founder endowed his Düsselthal with 480 acres of purchased land.” This was the beginning of the Düsseltal rescue facility for orphans , the later Count Recke Foundation .

In 1826 Recke-Volmerstein quietly married the Silesian Countess Mathilde von Pfeil and Klein-Ellguth . The marriage had ten children, seven girls and three boys. Two of the children died at a young age. Mathilde Gräfin von der Recke-Volmerstein has decisively shaped the spirit and life of the Düsselthaler Anstalt: “In addition to representing the institution, the Count's work areas include the 'office (correspondence, bookkeeping, book trade'), fundraising and the management of the 'boys' institution '. This includes the areas: 'Instruction, education'. Another department is the 'handicraft school' with 'book printing, bookbinding, shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, blacksmithing, locksmithing, bakery, cooper and wheeling'. In addition, there is nursing for the boys and male employees of the institution. Finally, the 'economy' is mentioned as an independent area under the supervision of the count, which is divided into four parts: 'mill, gardening, cattle farming and field farming'. The entire housekeeping as well as the care of the girls and the female staff are the responsibility of the countess. At first glance, the organization seems appropriate to the needs of the facility. But the above-mentioned list disguises the fact that in many branches of work there is always a shortage of personnel, especially those who have been trained. "

Monument to von der Recke; in the background the Overdyck children's home

A highlight for the rescue facility was the visit of the Crown Prince, who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, in October 1833. The asylum's mother u. a .: “He examined all the rooms very carefully and then went to the dormitory, where he walked along the whole room, looking at one bed after the other and coming down the other row. In the prayer room he went straight into the pulpit and looked up the open Bible passage that happened to contain the strange words 2. Timoth. 1, 8-9, which was just on top in the superb edition. - He filled the words so beautifully in their full meaning and announced the spirit that animated his inner being, because with every word he expressed his love for the kingdom of God ... In the kitchen I had to open all the pots for him and he looked at them Meals meticulously and eager to taste them; nothing like the soup was ready and then he ate a whole plate of it. Saying: 'You don't have to half-do anything, you see, I don't leave a drop,' he bent the plate over the spoon, pouring out the last one. - So he looked at all parts of the institution with the same interest and participation and often showed his joy about it. "

In 1845 Recke-Volmerstein acquired the Kraschnitz estate , a 1717 hectare property. In 1847 he ended his work in Düsselthal in order to be able to devote more time to his new property and social commitment in Silesia . Count Adelberdt von der Recke-Volmerstein died here, living for his institutions until the end. His wife had died eleven years earlier.

In 1860, Recke-Volmerstein founded the German Samaritan Order Foundation for disabled and sick children in Kraschnitz . In the style of the institution in Bethel near Bielefeld founded in 1867 , he also set up a deaconess institution in Kraschnitz a little later , which became known as the Schlesisches Bethel . Before that, in 1863 he had handed over the manor of Kraschnitz to his son Leopold .

Adalbert von der Recke corresponded with Johann Hinrich Wichern , who had founded a similar institution with the Rauhen Haus in Hamburg .

He was largely related to the writer Elisa von der Recke .

The Graf-Recke-Straße in Dusseldorf is named after him.

Works (selection)

  • To celebrate the meeting of the Society of Philanthropists in Limburg on October 18th, 1820 . Iserlohn 1820.
  • The oath. A religious treatise. For the best of the rescue institutions in Düsselthal and Overdyk . Barmen 1830.
  • The ladder to heaven or Angelika's book of fables . Düsselthal 1846.

literature

  • The so-called philanthropic institution of Count Reck-Volmarstein zu Düsselthal near Düsseldorf . Kranzbühler, Speyer 1827 ( digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf )
  • C. von Recke-Volmerstein: History of the gentlemen from the Recke. Wroclaw 1878.
  • W. Imhaeusser:  Recke-Volmerstein, Adelbert Graf von der . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 500-502.
  • Karl Schöpff, Walther Vogel: A philanthropist. Adelberdt Graf von der Recke von Volmerstein. His life picture and life's work depicted in letters, diary sheets and other documents. Gütersloh 1922.
  • Eva Maria Cranz: Adelberdt Graf von der Recke-Volmerstein. The common priesthood resuscitator. Goettingen 1941.
  • Gerlinde Viertel: the beginning of the rescue house movement under Adelberdt Graf von der Recke-Volmerstein (1791–1878). Cologne 1993.
  • Matthias Schreiber:  Adalbert von der Recke-Volmerstein. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1460.
  • Gerlinde quarter: Adelberdt Graf von der Recke von Volmerstein (1791–1878). In: Rheinische Lebensbilder, Volume 16. Edited by Franz-Josef Heyen. Rheinland Verlag, Cologne 1997, pp. 97-120.
  • Gerlinde quarter: Countess Mathilde von der Recke-Volmerstein (1801–1867). In: Adelheid von Hauff (ed.): Women shape diakonia. Volume 2: From the 18th to the 20th century. Stuttgart 2006, pp. 163-180.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. von Recke-Volmerstein: History of the Lords of the Recke. Breslau, 1878, p. 203.
  2. ↑ Cf. Gerlinde Viertel: Beginnings of the rescue house movement under Adelberdt Graf von der Recke-Volmerstein (1791–1878). Cologne 1993, p. 72.
  3. ↑ C. von Recke-Volmerstein: History of the Lords of the Recke. Breslau 1878, p. 203.
  4. ↑ Gerlinde Viertel: Countess Mathilde von der Recke-Volmerstein (1801–1867). In: Adelheid von Hauff (ed.): Women shape diakonia. Volume 2: From the 18th to the 20th century. Stuttgart 2006, pp. 163–180, here p. 169.
  5. ↑ Karl Schöpff, Walther Vogel: A human friend . Adelberdt Graf von der Recke von Volmerstein. His life picture and life's work depicted in letters, diary sheets and other documents. Gütersloh 1922, p. 264.

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personal data
SURNAME Recke-Volmerstein, Adalbert von der
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Recke-Volmerstein, Adalbert Graf von der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founding father of Diakonie
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1791
PLACE OF BIRTH Overdyk at Hamme
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1878
Place of death Kraschnitz