Arnold Kürten

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Monument to Arnold Kürten in Alt-Huerth

Arnold Kürten (born January 18, 1842 in Heppendorf ; †  August 21, 1912 in Cologne ) was a doctor and medical adviser in the Hürth mayor for over 40 years . As a doctor for the poor , bachelor and original, he enjoyed a high reputation, which lives on in anecdotes. An honoring monument was erected for him in the city .

Life

Arnold Kürten was born in Heppendorf, but grew up as an orphan in Hürth- Gleuel at Schallmauer Castle with relatives. After attending grammar school in Bonn , he studied medicine at the universities of Bonn and Würzburg . After completing his doctorate, he remained loyal to his homeland and received an employment contract from the mayor's office on February 28, 1869. He lived and practiced from 1869 to 1909, only interrupted by his military service as a medical officer in the Franco-German War of 1870/71, as a respected doctor in the restaurant Zur alten Post (e.g. opposite the AOK) in the former community of Hermülheim owned by the mayor of Hürth. Medical skills and helpfulness characterized him, so that he was extremely popular with the population. His generosity towards poor people, who, if the circumstances required, were treated by him without a fee , earned him the title “doctor for the poor”, which was understood as honorable. As was customary in Prussian times, Kürten was given the title of medical councilor, apparently due to his more than 20 years of practice. Arnold Kürten died impoverished at the age of 70 and was housed there by a compassionate person in the Alexian Monastery in Cologne . His counterparts had him buried in full honor .

Environment of his work

In the 19th century, medical care in rural areas, as in the mayor's office in Hürth, was in disarray. Only the hospitals in neighboring Brühl (first hospital in 1866) or the corresponding facilities in the city of Cologne offered the option of inpatient treatment in the event of a serious illness or even an operation .

Honors

To commemorate Arnold Kürten, who had campaigned for the health of the people in the mayor's office for 40 years, the "Hürth Friendship Association Morgenstund" erected a memorial for him in 1923 . The lifelike sculpture made of French chalk lime with a bowler hat and umbrella and created by the Hürth sculptor Emil Hayn has changed its location several times over the decades. Today it stands, raised on a pedestal, in a small Alt-Hürth green area, to the side of the former Catholic parish church of Alt St. Katharina , which has been profaned since 1895 . Not far from there is a street that bears his name. Also by naming the "Dr. Kürten School ”, a special needs school in the recent history of the city, the memory of Arnold Kürten was revived.

Dr. Kürten Prize

In 2016, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the Lions Club Hürth / Rhineland donated and awarded the € 1000 Dr. Kürten Prize for the first time , which is intended to honor citizens of Hürth who have rendered services to the common good. The five-person jury includes the mayor of Hürth, Dirk Breuer, and the head of the cultural department. The first award winner is Werner Schürholz, founding member and board member of the Hürther Tafel, which has been in existence since 2004 .

literature

  • Clemens Klug: Hürth - how it was, how it was , Robert Steimel Verlag, Cologne undated (1962)
  • Clemens Klug: Hürth - Art Treasures and Monuments , Hürth 1978
  • Chapter A philanthropist in: NS-Lehrerbund Hürth-Efferen (ed.): Heimatbuch der Gemeinde Hürth Cologne 1934 pp. 139 - 143

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Clemens Klug: Hürth - Kunstschätze und Denkmäler , Hürth 1978
  2. ↑ Clemens Klug, Hürth, how it was, how it became , Cologne 1962, p. 129.
  3. ↑ Chapter: A philanthropist in: NS-Lehrerbund Hürth-Efferen (ed.): Heimatbuch der Gemeinde Hürth , Cologne 1934 pp. 139-143
  4. ↑ According to Heimatbuch
  5. ↑ Quote from Heimatbuch, p. 140
  6. ↑ Clemens Klug, Hürth, how it was, how it was Cologne 1962
  7. ↑ Press release at lc-huerth and Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Rhein-Erft, from May 23, 2016, p. 34
personal data
SURNAME Kürten, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and medical council
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Heppendorf
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1912
Place of death Cologne