Irene Blumenthal

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Irene Blumenthal (born October 17, 1913 in Berlin ; † July 22, 2005 there ) was a German doctor .

Life

Irene Blumenthal grew up in Berlin-Tempelhof . In the Nazi state , her Jewish father, her two sisters and herself were stripped of their German citizenship . Looking back, Blumenthal said in a conversation with Gerda Jun: “Stateless - it was like homeless, without rights. Our mother was a real heroine: how she protected our father and her children during these dangerous times ...! ”In 1933, Blumenthal passed the Abitur . As a child of a so-called mixed marriage , Blumenthal was not allowed to study. As a young woman, she worked in church children's homes and, after completing her welfare training , looked after children with disabilities in a home of the Inner Mission in Züllichau . Shaped by these experiences, she felt in the post-war period by the ethics of Albert Schweitzer tightened.

In 1946, at the age of 33, Blumenthal began studying medicine . In 1951 she passed the state examination at the Humboldt University and then worked as an assistant doctor at the Charité . At the same time, Blumenthal completed a psychoanalysis training at the Institute for Psychotherapy in Potsdamer Strasse in West Berlin from 1955 to 1961 , which she was unable to complete because of the construction of the Berlin Wall .

In psychoanalysis, Blumenthal said in an interview with Gerda Jun, she perceived her own behavior, her own structure better: "The feelings of inferiority from the Nazi era also went away, I recognized my worth."

After completing specialist training in psychiatry and neurology , Blumenthal became a doctor in the Herzberge City Hospital in Berlin-Lichtenberg in 1959 . Initially, she worked in adult psychiatry. In 1959 she was commissioned to set up an independent child and adolescent psychiatric department, which she opened as the first senior physician in April 1960. From 1961 Blumenthal was chief physician at the clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry with an attached specialist outpatient department .

With her psychoanalytic knowledge, Blumenthal advanced psychiatry and psychotherapy, although Sigmund Freud's teaching was neither officially communicated nor applied in the GDR . She set new accents and advocated removing taboos and destigmatizing children with disabilities.

In 1961, Blumenthal introduced day care for young patients ; a novelty at that time. With it she wrote medical history, according to author Ursula Schröter. Due to the organizational form of the day clinic, the family ties of the patients were preserved. In addition, there was another aspect. Since the majority of the patients were brought to the clinic by their relatives by public transport , society was constantly confronted with people with disabilities. The personal encounter raised awareness that people with disabilities were part of society.

Blumenthal was never a member of the SED . She belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church ; 1968/69 Blumenthal was synodal of the Evangelical Church in Germany , 1969–1981 of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR . From 1969 to 1973 she was one of the members of the Conference of Evangelical Church Leaders in the GDR .

At a synod of the Evangelical Churches in the GDR in 1977, Blumenthal pleaded for the diakonia to turn to people with impairments and disabilities, pointing in particular to “ suicidal and dissocial children and young people”: “I am thinking of the addicts who are also in ours Society gives to add sleeping pills to children who hang around drunk in train stations, who want to be 'high' because they no longer want to live like that. ”Your statement received a lot of attention.

From 1993 to 2005 Blumenthal was a patient advocate at the hospital in Berlin-Lichtenberg .

On her initiative, a soup kitchen was founded in the St. Marienkirche in Berlin-Mitte in June 1994 . Since then, needy people have been given a warm meal every two weeks .

Awards

In 1980 Blumenthal accepted the John Rittmeister Medal from the Society for Medical Psychotherapy (GÄP) in recognition of her special merits in psychotherapy and social psychiatry . This was awarded to 21 people; among them were three women. In addition to Blumenthal, the medal was awarded to John Rittmeister's wife, Eva Rittmeister and the Leipzig professor Christa Kohler .

Furthermore, on December 7, 2003, Bishop Wolfgang Huber awarded Blumenthal the Johann Hinrich Wichern plaque of the Diakonisches Werk for her voluntary work .

literature

  • Gerda Jun: A joint journey with Irene Blumenthal . In: Heike Bernhardt, Regine Lockot (ed.): With without Freud. On the history of psychoanalysis in East Germany. Psychosozial-Verlag , Giessen 2000, ISBN 978-3-89806-000-4 , pp. 241-248.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gerda Jun: A common route with Irene Blumenthal. Here: p. 243.
  2. ↑ Gerda Jun: A joint journey with Irene Blumenthal. Here: pp. 242–243.
  3. ↑ a b Gerda Jun: A common route with Irene Blumenthal. Here: p. 244.
  4. ↑ In service for “Children who are different” . In: Evangelical Hospital Queen Elisabeth Herzberge : KEH-Report , October 2009, p. 9 (PDF; 787 kB) , accessed on January 14, 2020.
  5. ↑ Ursula Schröter: Survival Is Not Enough - From Biography to History. ( Memento from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Website from the House of Women's History, March 2015, pp. 12-13, accessed on January 14, 2020. In her publication, Schröter goes into the biographies of women that were presented in: Politeia. Historical weekly calendar . Scientific director of Politeia project was Annette Kuhn . Irene Blumenthal was also featured.
  6. ↑ Gerda Jun: A joint journey with Irene Blumenthal. Here: p. 245.
  7. ↑ Claudia Lepp: taboo of unity? The East-West Community of Protestant Christians and the division of Germany (1945–1969). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005. Here: p. 983.
  8. ↑ Ulbricht's shadow grows . In: Der Spiegel , No. 42/1979, October 15, 1979, accessed on January 14, 2020.
  9. ↑ Udo Grashoff : "In an attack of depression ...". Suicides in the GDR. Christoph Links Verlag , Berlin 2006.
  10. ↑ The soup kitchen in St.Marien - a table community ( memento from March 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 14, 2020.
  11. ↑ Michael Geyer (Ed.): Psychotherapy in East Germany. History and stories 1945–1995 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-40177-4 , p. 850 (online) , accessed on January 14, 2020.
  12. ↑ Johann Hinrich Wichern badge ( memento from February 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 14, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Blumenthal, Irene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 2005
Place of death Berlin