Hohenlychen sanatoriums

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Hohenlychen sanatoriums

The Hohenlychen sanatorium was a complex of sanatoriums in Lychen / Brandenburg that existed from 1902 to 1945.

history

Beginnings

After the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus and the treatment developed by doctors to combat the infection , which required plenty of sunlight, clean air, a balanced diet and sufficient exercise, Gotthold Pannwitz acquired over ten acres of land from the city of Lychen in 1902 and set up a children's sanatorium there to build. Most of these sanatoriums were financed by donations and maintained by the German Red Cross . For the time being, 20-30 beds were used on a trial basis for three months in the summer. Within a few years the number of beds rose to 500 in summer and 300 in winter. A sanatorium for women was also opened.

In 1904 the Helenenkapelle was built by the Venn Foundation .

Over the years the sanatoriums were constantly expanded, and by 1914 all construction work was largely completed. In 1911 the German Empress Auguste Victoria visited the sanatoriums. During the First World War , the sanatoriums were used as a hospital . In 1927 the hygiene commission of the League of Nations met in Hohenlychen.

  • Kaiserin-Auguste-Viktoria-Sanatorium
  • Lychen Auguste Viktoria Sanatorium 1.jpg
  • Lychen Auguste Viktoria Sanatorium 2.jpg
  • Lychen Auguste Viktoria Sanatorium 3.jpg
  • Lychen Auguste Viktoria Sanatorium 4.jpg

During the time of National Socialism

From 1935 Karl Gebhardt took over the management of the sanatoriums. As the number of cases of tuberculosis fell, the focus of the sanatoriums shifted from the previous lung sanatoria to three other departments and was re-profiled. When it was taken over in 1933, 133 beds were occupied. The focus was now on sports injuries and work injuries as well as reconstructive surgery. Surgical and internal departments for special treatments for adults with joint and lung diseases were created.

Later the sanatoriums also became the Reich Sports Sanatorium. Through the funding by the German Sports Aid could investments are used for the expansion and modernization of the plant. The clinical department for sports and occupational injuries was very popular. The former national coach Otto Nerz spoke of a hypothetical "Hohenlychen national team" that would be able to hold its own against almost all soccer teams, as many national players and top athletes were treated and cured in Lychen.

Hohenlychen was considered a “fashionable place to relax” not only for treated patients, but also for functionaries of the NSDAP . Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess were permanent guests . The visitor books show numerous Nazi figures who visited the sanatoriums. Among them, in addition to Hitler himself, Reichsleiter, Reichssportführer, State Secretaries, medical officers of the Army and international delegations from Italy, England, France, Portugal, Chile, Peru, Argentina. The mayor of Tokyo also spent his vacation in Hohenlychen, as did the Greek crown prince couple. In addition to the healing and recovery of patients and officials, lectures were held, especially for medical elites. The sanatoriums now had over 500 beds.

Swimming pool in the Lychener Heilanstalten

A gymnasium could also be used for cinema screenings and company parties. In addition to the bathing facilities of the lakes, a large swimming pool and bathing hall was built, which also served as a treatment pool for water massages. The glass roof could be pulled out on warm sunny days. In addition to other sports fields , another pharmacy and a weather station were built , which should serve to research the relationships between the weather and the course of the disease.

The sanatoriums achieved a worldwide reputation in the area of meniscus damage and for the rehabilitation of accident injuries, which became a further specialty.

The city of Lychen profited to a great extent from the sanatoriums, especially through tourism . Over 25,000 patients were treated between 1933 and 1942. Many residents received work in the sanatoriums. A second train station was built to ensure a better infrastructure and a faster connection to Berlin . Under Karl Gebhard, Hitler's second personal physician, Ludwig Stumpfegger, worked as well as Fritz Fischer , Herta Oberheuser and Kurt Heissmeyer , who were charged with the events at the nearby Ravensbrück women's concentration camp during the Nuremberg medical trial .

Stairwell in the Lychner Heilanstalten

After the beginning of the Second World War it was converted into a military hospital. Later human experiments were carried out with wound infections. Since the SS- Obergruppenführer and Police General Reinhard Heydrich died of a wound infection after an attack in Prague , and since numerous wounded in the front hospitals were killed by infections at the same time, a reliable therapy against bacterial wound infections was sought. The Western Allies had already discovered penicillin , which was still unknown in Germany. Since the number of wounded, especially on the Eastern Front, was constantly increasing and their lives depended on the testing of the well-known but controversial antidote sulfonamide , the doctors began to test intensively on people for reasons of lack of time.

The trials of the sulfonamide effect were assigned to Karl Gebhardt, who first reported on 29 August 1942 about clinical trials on women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp. The test groups consisted of 36 women who had bacteria, some with wood and glass particles, placed in their thighs. Three of the test subjects died and it was found that the sulfonamides are not suitable for preventing wound infections. Parallel to the sulfonamide experiments, Ludwig Stumpfegger carried out experiments on the transplantation of bones, nerves and muscles. For his habilitation thesis, he made human experiments to combat severe tuberculosis in the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. Since he did not want to lose the results of his habilitation thesis at the end of the war, he buried them in a zinc box on the premises of the sanatorium. In March 1964 they were rediscovered after a search operation and weighed heavily on Heissmeyer, who had got off lightly until then.

When Himmler realized that the end was coming, he wanted to present himself positively to the Allies. He negotiated with the head of the Swedish Red Cross, Folke Bernadotte Count von Wisborg . In the course of these discussions, Himmler also met Bernadotte personally in Hohenlychen. In the course of these talks, the rescue operation of the White Buses was agreed. However , it did not lead to a surrender that Himmler was considering . The hospital was completely evacuated at the end of the war. During this time the field command post of Heinrich Himmler with the code name "Styria" was in Hohenlychen. The command post was on a train and was on the branch line, the Britz – Fürstenberg railway line .

Since the buildings were marked with red crosses on the roof, there were initially no bomb attacks during the war. On April 27, 1945, however, 32 soldiers died in an air raid ; two days later the largely intact sanatoriums were handed over to the Soviet associations without a fight. The Red Army , under the commandant Nazarow, looted and destroyed all facilities. Surgical and X-ray facilities were partly destroyed or removed. The Helenen Chapel was also a victim of this destruction. The altar and organ were removed and the chapel used as a fuel store.

After the Second World War

Karl Gebhardt, who fled to Flensburg via the Rattenlinie Nord in the last days of the war and was arrested shortly afterwards in northern Germany, was charged with crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg medical trial in 1948 and sentenced to death. His interns Fritz Fischer and Herta Oberheuser were sentenced to life imprisonment and twenty years' imprisonment, respectively. Ludwig Stumpfegger had already committed suicide with a hydrogen cyanide capsule together with Martin Bormann while escaping from the Führerbunker a few hours after Hitler's suicide at Lehrter Bahnhof .

The group of the Soviet armed forces in Germany used the sanatorium as a hospital and maternity ward. With 200 beds, the sanatoriums no longer reached their former size and were partially converted into residential units for soldiers. On August 31, 1993, the last Soviet command left the sanatoriums and ended the Soviet era of occupation.

During the GDR era, Deutsche Post ran a holiday camp in the village for the children of its employees to relax .

Today the sanatoriums are in disrepair in Hohenlychen. Some former doctors' villas have been renovated and are used as residential buildings. Most of the systems are largely empty.

literature

Movie

Web links

Commons : Heilstätten Hohenlychen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henrik Eberle , Matthias Uhl (ed.): The book Hitler. NKVD secret dossier for Josef W. Stalin, compiled on the basis of the interrogation protocols of Hitler's personal adjutant, Otto G possibly, and the valet Heinz Linge, Moscow 1948/49. Translated from the Russian by Helmut Ettinger. With a foreword by Horst Möller . Orig. Edition, complete, revised Paperback edition 1st edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-404-64219-9 , p. 360 ( preview in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 22.

Coordinates: 53 ° 12 ′ 5 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 34 ″  E