Josefinum (Klagenfurt am Wörthersee)

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The Josefinum is a socio-educational and therapeutic center for children and young people in Viktring , the 13th district of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee . The facility has existed since 1900.

history

On May 21, 1898, the elementary school teacher Maria Wratisch from Obermühlbach founded the “Carinthian Idiot Institute”, so the original name, with the support of Prince Bishop Josef Kahn and Governor Zeno Vinzenz von Goëss . A number of Carinthian women supported the project with collections and donations, Leopold Erdmann acted as a major donor with an amount of 10,000 crowns. Two years after the foundation, the funds made it possible to purchase the Wegscheider grounds in St. Martin , at that time still an independent municipality, incorporated into the provincial capital of Klagenfurt from 1938. The building was quickly erected and blessed by the Prince-Bishop on September 5, 1900. The patron saint was Archduchess Maria Josepha , mother of the future emperor. In her honor, the new institution was named "Kärntnerische Idiotenanstalt Maria Josefinum". A donor gave 80,000 crowns for this.

Management of the house and care of the children were given to the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent von Paul , whose motherhouse is in Zams in Tyrol . First, ten children were looked after and trained by the sisters. The lessons were designed in a practical way, a tailor's shop, a shoemaker's and a wickerwork workshop were available, each led by a specialist. An extension had to be built as early as 1903. The foundation of free places made it possible to accommodate a larger number of children free of charge. In 1907 the number of pupils had risen to 53. The First World War brought the project to the test. The material became scarce and the workshop managers were called up for military service. In the financial turmoil of the post-war years, the project got into dire straits and in 1922 it joined the Carinthian Caritas Association , which supported the project. In 1936 the association changed its name, it was now called "Association Maria Josefinum - Klagenfurt". The club was headed by a committee consisting of six women. A phase of growth followed, which was suddenly interrupted by the annexation of Austria in March 1938. On January 2nd, 1939, the National Socialist regime dissolved the association and, after expropriation, handed over its assets to the city of Klagenfurt. The institution was to become a "National Socialist student home". The Caritas Association had to take over the pupils. The boys were housed in the Tainach provost , the girls in the parish of Griffen .

On July 2, 1942, the Gestapo appeared at night at the Tainach Probstei and picked up more than 30 pupils. Disabled people were considered " life unworthy of life " by the Nazi regime and were murdered in large numbers as part of Action T4 and, later, Action Brandt . The few survivors were homeless again after the end of the Nazi regime because shelters were otherwise occupied and the institution building in St. Martin had been confiscated by the British occupying forces. Bishop Joseph Köstner made Grades Castle in the Metnitztal available to the children and the nurses who looked after them, the new home of the Josefinum until 1954. In 1945 the original association was re-established and endeavored to return the original building, which was achieved in 1954. In 1956 and 1957 a renovation and extension was made. On October 30, 1957, the private special school was granted public rights.

In 1978, the construction of a spacious new facility began on a property on the outskirts of Klagenfurt. After the move, the dilapidated home in St. Martin was torn down. The new building was finally expanded to include a large multi-purpose hall. Sports and playgrounds were created, as well as a riding arena for curative vaulting. A pellet boiler house was built in 2016 . In 2018 Gunter Demnig laid eight stumbling blocks for murdered pupils in front of the property on which the old home was located .

Today's focus

Today the project is a socio-pedagogical and therapeutic center for children and adolescents aged 6 to 18, “who urgently need socio-pedagogical, psychological and therapeutic help due to their previous life story”, so the self-portrayal. The sponsor is the Josefinum Carinthia association, and the funding comes primarily from funds from child and youth welfare, and partly from assistance for the disabled. There are places for 110 children and young people. Mental stabilization and school education are in the foreground. The residential groups each consist of ten children and young people.

A private general special school , which is also called Josefinum , is connected to the project . In this Catholic private school with public rights, 26 of the 110 children in the housing project are currently being taught.

The project is funded by the private foundation Kärntner Sparkasse , among others . A Christmas bazaar is held every year.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History. Josefinum, accessed on March 28, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Peter G. Tropper: Bishop in a moving time. Carinthia's chief shepherds at the turn of the 20th century . In: Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld (ed.): Life opportunities in Carinthia 1900 - 2000: a comparison (=  archive for patriotic history and topography . Volume 80 ). Verlag des Geschichtsverein für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1999, ISBN 3-85454-093-0 , p. 135–164 , here p. 144 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed on March 29, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Hans Bösbauer: Handbuch der Schwachsinnigenfürsorge with special consideration of auxiliary schools, Graeser, 1909 , (pdf), accessed on October 1, 2018
  4. ↑ Irene Bandhauer-Schöffmann: Withdrawal and restitution in the area of ​​the Catholic Church (= Historians Commission of the Republic of Austria [Hrsg.]: Austrian Historians Commission ). Oldenbourg, Vienna / Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7029-0501-4 , p. 110 ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on March 29, 2020] at the same time as habilitation thesis, University of Klagenfurt, 2002).
  5. ↑ Waltraud Häupl: The organized mass murder of children and young people in the Ostmark 1940-1945 - memorial documentation for the victims of Nazi euthanasia . Böhlau, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-77729-8 , pp. 237 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed March 29, 2020]).
  6. ↑ In memory of Nazi victims. In: 5 minutes. August 5, 2018, accessed March 28, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Website of the private special school Josefinum , accessed on October 1, 2018
  8. ↑ Video on the support of the Josefinum by the Kärntner Sparkasse , accessed on October 1, 2018

Coordinates: 46 ° 35 ′ 31.5 ″  N , 14 ° 15 ′ 36.5 ″  E