Eduard Wilhelm Güntz

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Eduard Wilhelm Güntz and his wife on a relief on the tower in the former park of his facility for the 50th anniversary of Güntzschen Anstalten

Eduard Wilhelm Güntz (born April 1, 1800 in Wurzen ; † March 3, 1880 in Thonberg ) was a German doctor and psychiatrist .

Life

Eduard Wilhelm Güntz was the son of an electoral Saxon chief escort. He studied medicine at the Surgical and Medicinal Academy Dresden and the University of Leipzig . After completing his studies, he began working as an assistant at the Leipzig maternity school . In 1827 he received a scholarship for a study trip that also took him to Italy . He visited institutions and hospitals, and he was particularly impressed by the institute of Baron Pietro Pisano in Palermo , which, in addition to medical help, also provided humanistic accommodation for the mentally ill .

After returning to Leipzig, he initially worked as an assistant doctor and opened a private practice in Grimmaische Gasse (today Grimmaische Strasse) in 1829 . In 1831 he became a district doctor and court doctor for the city of Leipzig, and in this office he also worked as an expert and advisor to the mentally ill. He realized that there were no accommodation options for the mentally ill from the upper classes of society, as the Georgen Hospital could not be expected of them.

The mental health and care institution in Thonberg near Leipzig 1861 (location)

As a result of his initiative, a small private sanatorium and nursing home for the mad was set up on the Möckernschen Gut of the Leipzig Economic Society in 1836 .In 1839, the Thonberg Irren-Heil- und Pflege-Anstalt was opened in Thonberg , which at that time was still far from the city gates , which Güntz had built with private funds but with advances from various city councilors and which he surrounded with a park. In the Saxon Psychiatry Museum in Leipzig it says:

In the 19th century, the Thonberg insane, sanatorium and nursing home in Leipzig represented an exclusive alternative to public institutions. In the private institution founded by Eduard Güntz, wealthy patients are treated in a dignified atmosphere based on the principle of “protection, production and care of the Entrusted in the gentlest way “treated.

In 1850 Güntz gave up his municipal offices and private practice and devoted himself entirely to work in the institution. In 1856 he enlarged it to include the neighboring Mariabrunn estate, which was opened in 1841 by Dr. Salomon was founded as a hydrotherapy institute. In the first 25 years of existence of the Güntz facility, a total of 600 patients were treated with an average of 24 new admissions annually.

In 1863 Güntz handed over the management of the institution to his son-in-law Theobald Güntz (1830–1902). In 1866 he retired to his villa "Güntzburg" on the Elbe near Meißen , where he cared for the sick and wounded during the war of 1870/71 . Theobald Güntz directed the institution until 1888. Then it passed into the possession of the Johannishospital . In 1920 it was dissolved. Up until then, around 2500 patients had been cared for in it.

Eduard Wilhelm Güntz was a member of the Leopoldina and the Natural Research Society in Leipzig . In 1872 he was appointed to the Royal Saxon Secret Medical Councilor.

Eduard Wilhelm Güntz was married to Amalia Auguste Müller, with whom he built the institution and who was in charge of housekeeping until her death in 1852. His second wife, who probably brought the future son-in-law into the marriage, was also a pillar of the institution.

In 1891 a street leading past the Thonbergschen Anstalt was named Güntzstraße.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Thonberg Irren-Heil- und Pflege-Anstalt in the first quarter of a century of its effectiveness , Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1861 ( google.de , bsb-muenchen.de ).
  • The human corpse in its physical transformations after observations and experiments , Leipzig 1827: Johann Ambrosius Barth
  • The dissipative capacity of the soul's activities, a means of protection against disturbances of the soul , Leipzig 1859: Philipp Reclam jun.
  • Don Pietro Baron Pisani, founder, director and administrator of the K. Madhouse in Palermo , Reclam 1878

literature

  • Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z . PRO LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 , pp. 206/7
  • Eduard Wilhelm Güntz: The Thonberg Irren-Heil- und Pflege-Anstalt in the first quarter of a century of its effectiveness , Leipzig 1861: Philipp Reclam jun.
  • Max Güntz: Eduard Wilhelm Güntz, the founder of the Thonberg , Thalacker & Schöffer, 1906

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d E.W. Güntz: The Thonberg insane sanctuary and nursing home ...
  2. ↑ Leipzig Psychiatry Museum
  3. ↑ Newsletter Psychiatry Museum
  4. ↑ Communications from the Academy, Vol. 3
  5. ^ Gina Klank, Gernot Griebsch: Lexikon Leipziger Straßeennamen , Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum Leipzig, 1995, ISBN 3-930433-09-5 , p. 92
personal data
SURNAME Güntz, Eduard Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH Spice up
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1880
Place of death Thonberg