Eugen Liebendörfer
Georg-Eugen Liebendörfer (born February 16, 1852 in Leutkirch , † October 3, 1902 in Stuttgart ) was the first German missionary doctor in India and co-founder of the Association for Medical Missions, from which the German Institute for Medical Missions (Difäm) emerged .
Life
The Liebendörfer family has lived in the Württemberg region since the end of the Thirty Years' War . Eugen Liebendörfer was the son of the station commander of the Landjäger in Leutkirch, Jakob Friedrich Liebendörfer (died in Wain in 1880 ) and Elisabeth born. Lochbiller from Memmingen (died in Ravensburg in 1899 ).
Influenced by Swabian Pietism , Eugen Liebendörfer went to India as a missionary via the Basel Mission . On November 5, 1878, he married Emilie Lydia Layer, who was born in Wilhelmsdorf (Württemberg) in 1856 . The wedding took place in Talacheri ( Malabar ) India. Hermann Hesse's grandparents (Julie and Hermann Gundert ) ran this mission station until 1846 .
On July 7th, 1882, Liebendörfer experienced the death of 60 people when a bridge collapsed, caused by a ferry that rammed a bridge pier. He was able to save and care for 20 people from the river. Shaped by this experience, he went back home and studied medicine in Basel from 1883 to 1886 . After that he was the first missionary doctor in India until 1896. In Kalikut he built and established a new hospital. In 1893 he set up another small hospital in Kodakal and trained Indian doctors there. Eventually the government turned him over to run a hospital for lepers .
Due to illness of his own, he returned to Stuttgart . He spent some time in the Palmenwald Kurhaus in Freudenstadt . There he had friendly and close contact with Hermann Hesse's parents.
In 1898, Liebendörfer and the entrepreneur Paul Lechler founded the Association for Medical Missions as an aid organization for the Basel Mission . Until shortly before his death, Liebendörfer was the first managing director of this association. The Association for Medical Mission formed the basis for the Difäm (German Institute for Medical Mission) that still exists today . Liebendörfer never recovered completely and died in Stuttgart at the age of 50.
literature
- Kammerer: Dr. Eugen Liebendörfer, a pioneer of the German medical mission in India. 2nd edition, Stuttgart / Basel 1927.
- A servant of Christ. Sheets of memory of Jakob Liebendörfer. Bookshop of the German Philadelphia Association, Stuttgart 1919.
- Immanuel Kammerer: A faithful servant of the Lord. Life and work of Dr. Eugen Liebendörfer. Stuttgart 1904.
- Günter Ostermeyer: Layer family. 3rd impression. Bonn 1984.
- 2. Children's letter from the Spaich missionary. Chr. Scheufele printing house, Stuttgart.
- Hermann Hesse - childhood and youth before 1900. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985.
- German Institute for Medical Mission in Tübingen (Hrsg.): The German Evangelical Medical Mission according to the status of 1928. Stuttgart 1928.
Web links
- difaem.de , see the section History of the Difäm.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Liebendörfer, Eugene |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Liebendörfer, Georg-Eugen (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | First German missionary doctor in India and co-founder of the association for medical missions from which the Difäm emerged |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1852 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leutkirch in the Allgäu |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 3, 1902 |
| Place of death | Stuttgart |