Julius Tandler Family Center

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Julius Tandler Family Center

The Julius Tandler Family Center is a building in the 9th district of Alsergrund , which was opened in 1925 as a child care center for the municipality of Vienna . From 1965 to 1985 it was called Julius-Tandler-Heim .

The institution of the Red Vienna , founded by the doctor and politician Julius Tandler , served until 1998 for the temporary accommodation, observation and referral of infants, children and adolescents. At the time of its establishment, it was internationally regarded as an exemplary social institution. The building by the architect Adolf Stöckl is also architecturally significant and is a listed building.

history

Prehistory and foundation

For infants, children and adolescents who were either orphans or were taken into custody of the municipality of Vienna for other reasons, there was a takeover point from 1910 at Siebenbrunnengasse 78 in the municipality of Margareten . The journalist Max Winter wrote in the Arbeiter-Zeitung in 1919 about this overcrowded and overburdened facility that “Vienna has no greater shame than this house”. In 1923, on the proposal of Julius Tandler, who was then a councilor for welfare, the municipality of Vienna decided to set up a new municipal child care center. Adolf Stöckl was entrusted with the structural design by the municipal building authority. The building was erected between 1923 and 1925 in the immediate vicinity of the Karolinen Children's Hospital owned by the Municipality of Vienna and opened on June 18, 1925.

The first years

The child transfer point with an adjoining pass-through home, which offers space for up to 220 children, was an institution responsible for the whole of Vienna, in which the children after being removed from their parents' home by a caregiver were usually three weeks without any opportunity to visit (" quarantine ") under the observation of remedial teachers stood. Afterwards, the infants, children and adolescents were assigned to other homes or care places, and only in rare cases did they return to their parents' home. If no decision could be made yet, the children came to the central children's home for further observation. The youth welfare office often only obtained the consent of the guardianship court on the grounds that there was a risk of delay after the child had been transferred to the child transfer center. In 1936 an average of 21 children were admitted every day.

The child transfer point was also a branch of the psychological institute of the University of Vienna . Charlotte Bühler and Hildegard Hetzer conducted behavioral observations here, which they used in child psychological studies. Together with Wilfrid Zeller, Hetzer constructed a test procedure with which they standardized the child's development . The infant researcher René A. Spitz also carried out investigations in the child transfer point from 1935 - under the direction of Bühler.

time of the nationalsocialism

The years of the economic crisis led to a sharp increase in the number of children and young people in need of support, and there was a shortage of home places. The situation was exacerbated under National Socialism by the fact that 19 out of 44 church institutions were closed. The child transfer point became one of the main contributors to the so-called child euthanasia , the organized killing of mentally and physically handicapped, "neglected" and " anti-social " children and young people. The child transfer point took over the briefing of those affected on the Spiegelgrund , including many so-called " Reich Committee cases ". In the last days of the Second World War , the Wehrmacht claimed the child takeover point as a fighting position, but this was averted by the untrue claim that the children housed in the building had serious infectious diseases.

After the Second World War

Memorial plaque for Julius Tandler

In 1946 a Julius Tandler memorial plaque designed by the sculptor Josef Franz Riedl was unveiled in the courtyard of the children's transfer point . In 1950 Riedl received the order to design two more memorial plaques for Julius Tandler, which were attached to the left and right of the portal.

From its founding in 1925 to 1964, around 63,000 infants, children and young people were looked after at the child care center - out of a total of around 158,000 who were in the custody of the municipality of Vienna during this period. The building was restored between 1962 and 1965. In the course of which was Magna Mater Fountain of Anton Hanak , who had originally been in the courtyard, in the City Hall Park Wall added. The reopening of the child transfer point under the new name Julius-Tandler-Heim took place on November 22, 1965 by Mayor Bruno Marek . At the same time, the content was reoriented. Previously, the focus was also on general medical care, but now more attention has been paid to psychological care. In addition, family-like groups were created to make life in the home easier.

In 1985 the facility was renamed the Julius Tandler Family Center . By the end of the 1980s, the number of children transferred to city homes declined and was around 600 annually. In 1992, however, the number rose to around 1,000 children transferred, which led to the capacity of the Julius Tandler Family Center being overloaded. The responsible municipal department 11 then worked out a reform of the home accommodation, which was called "Home 2000".

Closure of the transfer point and current use

In the course of the reform of home accommodation, the transfer point in the Julius Tandler Family Center was closed in 1998. "Heim 2000" aimed to close large institutions and move children and young people to assisted living communities. The city ​​of the child and the Hohe Warte children's home were also affected by the closure .

Today the Julius Tandler Family Center houses the department for adoptive and foster children of Municipal Department 11. There is also an office for partner, family and sexual counseling from the “Family and Counseling” association.

criticism

Memorial plaque to the victims of the Vienna Youth Welfare Association

The methods of the child care center came under fire in the wake of the so-called home scandal at the beginning of the 2010s. The process of removing the children from their family by a district welfare worker, the transfer, which took place by tram or taxi and sometimes with the police, as well as the admission ritual were psychologically stressful, frightening and intimidating for the children. They had to take off their clothes, which were then put in a sack and pulled up through a hole in the ceiling. They were located behind glass walls in the building designed as a panopticon and were thus observed. The children suffered from great isolation and loneliness under the unemotional nurses and educators and under an absolute ban on visiting. This is attributed to the "clinical observation" designed by Hildegard Hetzer, Charlotte Bühler and others. This primarily served to support the decisions made by the caregivers about the child acceptance through expert reports. Nobody seemed to mind that the children could not behave as they normally would under these conditions. Some of the structural measures used for observation were removed during the renovation in the 1960s, e.g. B. the glass walls were covered with plasterboard.

In the course of the home scandal and the associated reappraisal of the history of home upbringing in Austria , between March 2010 and June 2012, 64 cases of violence and abuse relating to the child transfer center and 42 cases relating to the Julius Tandler Home were reported to the White Ring by former pupils .

Location and architecture

Main portal with memorial plaques and a terracotta medallion

The Julius Tandler Family Center is considered to be the main work of the Austrian architect Adolf Stöckl, who designed numerous community and educational buildings on behalf of the City of Vienna . The four-storey corner building with an L-shaped floor plan is located at Lustkandlgasse 50 in the Thurygrund district . It borders on the Karolinen Children's Hospital , which was closed in 1977 , with which it encloses the Helene Deutsch Park.

The palatial architecture corresponds to the specifications of Julius Tandler, whose saying “Build palaces for children, tear down dungeon walls” is affixed to a plaque on the building. The facade combines elements of the Heimat style and the late Secession style . The arcaded courtyard and a terracotta medallion on the outside cite the Renaissance style as a reference to the Ospedale degli Innocenti , a famous Renaissance foundling house in Florence . The cornered staircase has a small vestibule in the form of a tempietto at the main portal on the street side .

The interior design is based on the aesthetics of the Wiener Werkstätte . In the stairwell there are balustrades clad with black stone . On the top floor of the staircase, which ends with a coffered ceiling , there are children's figures by the academic sculptor Theodor Igler . The academic sculptors Max Krejca and Adolf Pohl created other children's figures for the side stairs in the side wings. On the ground floor there are wall fountains with ceramic frogs.

literature

  • Regina Böhler: The development of the child transfer point in Vienna between 1910 and 1938 . In: Ernst Berger (Ed.): Persecuted Childhood: Children and Young People as Victims of the Nazi Social Administration . Böhlau, Vienna 2006, ISBN 978-3-205-77511-9 , pp. 193-196
  • Vera Jandrisits: The child takeover point as a turning point in the further life courses of disabled and “socially unfit” children in the time of National Socialism in Vienna . Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 2003
  • Julius Tandler: Child care center of the municipality of Vienna in the 9th district Lustkandlgasse, Ayrenhoffgasse, Sobieskigasse . Vienna Magistrate, Vienna 1925
  • Gudrun Wolfgruber: Child and youth welfare in red Vienna between social control and help, illustrated using the example of child acceptance . Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 1996

Web links

Commons : Julius-Tandler-Familienzentrum  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Winter: The Children's Asylum of the City of Vienna . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung from January 19, 1919
  2. ↑ Reinhard Sieder, Andrea Smioski: Violence against children in educational homes of the city of Vienna. Final report . Vienna 2012, p. 39–41 ( online [PDF]). Online ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wien.gv.at
  3. ↑ Herwig Czech: The municipal child takeover (Küst) . In: Eberhard Gabriel (ed.): From forced sterilization to murder . Böhlau, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-205-99325-X , p. 166 f.
  4. ↑ Web service of the City of Vienna: Admission of the children to the institution - child euthanasia in Vienna 1940 to 1945  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 8, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wien.gv.at  
  5. ↑ Peter Malina: In the safety net of the Nazi "education". Child and youth “welfare” on the “Spiegelgrund” 1940–1945 . In: Eberhard Gabriel, Wolfgang Neubauer (ed.): On the history of Nazi euthanasia in Vienna: From forced sterilization to murder . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 978-3-205-99325-4 , p. 166–167 ( Google Preview ).
  6. ^ Web service of the City of Vienna: Vienna in Review - Calendar "Vienna 1945" , accessed on December 8, 2009
  7. ↑ Web service of the City of Vienna: The community honors Prof. Dr. Tandler - Unveiling of a memorial plaque in the Kinderübernahmsstelle , town hall correspondence from August 26, 1946, accessed on December 8, 2009
  8. ↑ Web service of the City of Vienna: Memorial plaques for Professor Tandler , Rathauskorrespondenz from April 21, 1950, accessed on December 8, 2009
  9. ↑ District Museum Alsergrund | Historischer Bezirksführer ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 8, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bezirksmuseum.info
  10. ^ Web service of the City of Vienna: The deed is the highest educational principle, not the word! - Mayor Marek gave the renovated child care center the name "Julius Tandler-Heim" , city hall correspondence of November 22, 1965, accessed on December 8, 2009
  11. ↑ Gabriele Ziering: 90 years youth welfare office Ottakring 1913 to 2003. From professional guardianship to youth welfare of the MAG ELF . Published by the City of Vienna. Vienna 2002, p. 47
  12. ↑ Web service of the City of Vienna: Referat for adoptive and foster children ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 8, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wien.gv.at
  13. ↑ Web service of the City of Vienna: Partner, family and sexual counseling  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 8, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wien.gv.at  
  14. ↑ Reinhard Sieder, Andrea Smioski: Violence against children in educational homes of the city of Vienna. Final report . Vienna 2012, p. 39-41, 512 ( online [PDF]). Online ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wien.gv.at
  15. ^ Hans Weiss: Crime scene children's home. An investigation report . Deuticke in Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-552-06198-9 , p. 179 ( Google preview ).
  16. ^ Adolf Stoeckl . In: Architects Lexicon . AzW , Vienna 1880–1945, 2007
  17. ^ Julius Tandler: Child care center of the municipality of Vienna in the 9th district Lustkandlgasse, Ayrenhoffgasse, Sobieskigasse. Wiener Magistrat, Vienna 1925, p. 41
  18. ^ Julius Tandler: Child care center of the municipality of Vienna in the 9th district Lustkandlgasse, Ayrenhoffgasse, Sobieskigasse. Wiener Magistrat, Vienna 1925, p. 38 f.
  19. ^ Dehio-Handbuch Wien. II. To IX. and XX. District . Edited by Federal Monuments Office. Anton Schroll, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-7031-0680-8 , p. 397

Coordinates: 48 ° 13 '47.7 "  N , 16 ° 21' 8.3"  E