Karolina Burger

Karolina Burger

Karolina Burger (born September 1, 1879 ; † December 9, 1949 in Altötting ) was a Catholic teacher and activist in the diocese of Speyer , founder of the St. Annastift in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , and was tirelessly involved in the pastoral care of women.

life and work

Karolina Burger was born on September 1st, 1879 as the daughter of a Bavarian postal worker. At the age of 18, she moved with her parents to Speyer in 1897 , since her father was transferred there as postal director. Here the girl, who is described as extremely talented, passed her teaching examination in 1898 in the Catholic teacher training institute of the Dominican women. In the same year she found her first job as an illness representative in Hambach , in 1905 the teacher came to Ludwigshafen, where she lived in the Hemshof district and taught at the elementary school and at the Catholic Sunday school. As she lived in a socially difficult area, Karolina Burger quickly got to know the needs of people, especially children, girls and women. From 1912 onwards, the committed educator actively responded to the social grievances in the young industrial city of Ludwigshafen and took in poor, unmarried girls and women in need out of Christian charity - especially during pregnancy. With three stranded girls, an illegitimate child and a homeless person, she began the selfless work in her three-room apartment. A year later she was able to move into a tenement house with seven rooms. Since many people seeking help had to be turned away, she rented a large house in Königsstrasse as a welfare home in 1918 and founded a welfare association with like-minded women, which later became the Catholic welfare association for girls, women and children. She remains the chairwoman of the association until 1933. The “ Institute of the Poor School Sisters” from Speyer (today the Institute of St. Dominic) made four sisters available to help in the welfare home. The essentials are often missing. Out of this need, the sisters open a public laundry, which becomes an important source of income for the home. There are so many people in need that two years later another six sisters from Speyer join them. In 1925 a side building was built, in 1927 the house at Königstrasse 51 was bought and a small hospital was opened in the previous care home. For the whole complex, Karoline Burger chooses Saint Anna as patron saint. In 1928 the hospital already had three beds for delivery, 10 to 12 beds for babies and children and 20 beds for internal, surgical and orthopedic adult patients. The first infant nursing school in the Palatinate was founded in which 15 to 20 girls and nuns were trained in annual courses. In 1929 150 children were cared for in the St. Annastiftskrankenhaus. In 1931 the house was incorporated into the Palatinate Hospital Association. During the 23rd air raid on Ludwigshafen on May 27, 1944, 80 percent of the St. Annastift was destroyed. There were also deaths to be lamented. After the Americans moved in in 1945, the children's department, the welfare home and the operating rooms were repaired at considerable expense. In 1949 a shelter with 20 beds is set up. The sisters lend a hand themselves and the Ludwigshafen police provide people for the expansion. 1952 begins with the planning of a new, modern, large children's clinic, which is opened on October 27, 1953 by Bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel . It still exists today and unfolds its beneficial effect in the spirit of the founder.

The single Karolina Burger is described as a resolute and strict woman who had a warm heart for people disadvantaged by society. She stood up for their concerns, worked tirelessly and self-sacrificingly to the limits of her health. She was a person who could spontaneously take action, a woman with a lot of idealism, who did not seek recognition and fame. When “politics” was still a foreign word for the female population, the teacher was already running for the city council in order to be able to actively support the implementation of her charitable interests. She attracted attention in the municipal elections in Ludwigshafen in 1929 because she entered with her own list of women and thus incurred the anger of the representatives of the Center Party at the time.

Due to a heart condition, Karolina Burger had to give up her difficult and important job in Ludwigshafen in 1933. She stayed in the Vorderpfalz for a few more years and then moved to Altötting, where she was accepted into the city's "Bruderhaus" and died after a long illness on December 9, 1949 at the age of 70. In 1960, the city of Ludwigshafen honored this woman's commitment by renaming the Königsstrasse to Karolina-Burger-Strasse. The secondary school in the Ludwigshafen-Mundenheim school center has also had her name since 1997.

Karolina Burger bears the first name of the first Bavarian queen who went down in history through her selfless charity. At the time, the needy population had coined a beautiful word from the queen, which could also be applied to Karolina Burger: "If you are in trouble, go to Karolin's!"

literature

Der Pilger , Speyer: "The St. Annastift in Mundenheim and its founder", Pilgrim No. 32, from August 6, 1950.

Web links

Commons : Karolina Burger  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Memorial page "Karolina Burger" from the home page of the "Karolina Burger Realschule" in Ludwigshafen.
• Website about the St. Annastiftkrankenhaus with information about the founder Karolina Burger.