Konrad Biesalski

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Konrad Biesalski
Konrad Biesalski as Halle Teutone

Konrad Alexander Theodor Biesalski (born November 14, 1868 in Osterode , East Prussia , † January 28, 1930 in Berlin ) was a German orthopedist and university professor who is important for special education , among other things . He is known - together with Hans Würtz - as the head of the Oskar-Helene-Heim in Berlin . He is considered to be the founder of modern handicapped care and was therefore also a pioneer for social work .

Life

Biesalski attended the Herzog-Albrechts-Schule in Rastenburg as a boarding school student . His brother was the chemist Ernst Biesalski (1881–1963).

From 1887 to 1894 he studied medicine , first at the University of Halle , where he became a member of the Corps Teutonia Halle in 1887 , and later in Berlin. After the state examination he worked for a year as a military doctor in Pomerania , then from 1895 to 1896 in the children's department of the Elisabeth Hospital in Hamburg-Altona with Theodor Görges, then until 1898 as an assistant doctor in the surgical department of the municipal hospital "Am Urban" in Berlin. This was followed by further training in the children's clinic at the Charité in Berlin and in Albert Hoffa's orthopedic clinic at the University of Würzburg , before he set up a general medical-pediatric practice in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1901.

In 1921 he was President of the German Orthopedic Society , of which he became an honorary member in 1926.

Konrad Biesalski's grave in the Zehlendorf cemetery

Konrad Biesalski died in Berlin in 1930 at the age of 61. He was buried in the state's own cemetery in Zehlendorf . By resolution of the Berlin Senate , Konrad Biesalski's final resting place has been dedicated to the State of Berlin as an honorary grave since 1975 . The dedication was extended in 2001 by the usual period of twenty years.

"Cripple Welfare"

As a school doctor, Biesalski learned how many children suffered from the consequences of poliomyelitis, rickets and tuberculosis and malformations and observed the social problems of the physically handicapped who did not receive orthopedic treatment and therefore remained in their "cripple". For this reason, he initiated a statistical survey on the "crippling", through which the authorities should be obliged to take action against the existing conditions. He also hoped to win other orthopedic surgeons to work in this field. He wanted to achieve this by trying to define the “cripple”, who until now had only been the helpless, frail and “sick” object of the church's poor welfare, as a sick person who, in order to be able to step out of this condition, received orthopedic treatment by one Doctor needed. Due to his success in implementing this idea, the leadership role of the orthopedic surgeon in "cripple care" was mapped out, as it later became apparent in the Oskar-Helene-Heim through his influence. In addition, the idea of rehabilitating physically handicapped people in specially created facilities was born.

Biesalski ran a private orthopedic clinic in Berlin in an apartment at Freiligrathstrasse 1 ( ) in Kreuzberg . There, in 1906, the first home of the Berlin-Brandenburg Krüppel-Heil- und Erziehungsanstalt was opened with ten beds. In this forerunner of today's homes for the disabled , Biesalski introduced a holistic treatment. He characterized his approach with the saying: “Not a single foot should be treated, but a whole person!” . At the second location of his institution (Am Urban 10–11) he has already implemented this educational concept with a school and workshop. He was finally able to expand this considerably in 1914, when the Oskar-Helene-Heim in Berlin-Dahlem , named after them , was opened with the help of donations mainly from the industrialist couple Oskar and Helene Pintsch , which he ran as founding director for almost 16 years. World icon

In addition to his work as a specialist in orthopedics, in the course of which he developed orthopedic technology, he significantly influenced the development of "cripple care". He achieved this primarily through his role in the German Association for Cripple Welfare .

plant

In 1906 Biesalski achieved the first official "cripple census". Thanks to his initiative, it was now possible for the first time to determine the number of physically handicapped people in the entire German Reich using standardized criteria. From this count he drew the following conclusion: “So there are 15 cripple children out of 1000 people in Germany, more than 8 of whom belong in a home; 12 of them need medical help. There are 36 cripples out of 1000 children ” (Biesalski 1911).

Above all, he wanted to record those who needed residential care, which is why he differentiated into “children in need of home” and “children not in need of home”, with additional subgroups being formed. Since many subjective factors of socialization were taken into account, the collected data were considered “soft” and vulnerable. The representatives of the church homes criticized the results of the nationwide “cripple census” and the socio-medical conclusions derived from Biesalski. They saw the denominational "cripple welfare" sidelined because the doctors would now dispute their source of income. In addition, they did not want to accept that "cripple homes" should better be run by doctors, because medical care is guaranteed in their "fully cripple homes" too. In addition, the denominational homes had existed for a very long time, which made Biesalski's new direction seem downright revolutionary.

Due to the fruitful cooperation with the "cripple pedagogue" Hans Würtz , whom he appointed as educational inspector at the OHH in 1911, the socio-biological approach represented by Biesalski could be implemented. Biesalski worked according to the motto: "from alms recipient to taxpayer ". In this context he said:

“The cripple should become employable, in short, a charity recipient should become a taxpayer, a parasitic person a productive one, and an unsocial person a social member of human society. If this succeeds through adequate welfare institutions, many millions, who serve to support disabled cripples, will be released for other purposes every year, and just as many millions [...] will be earned again through the work of the disabled cripples. "

- Biesalski (1909)

Through this motto his influence increased, since the "decrippling" which he initiated was also in the interests of the state and it was therefore possible for him to influence the "Prussian Cripple Welfare Act". Above all, the passing of this law was the basis for the breakthrough of the "productive care for the cripple".

The law says:

"§ 1. [...] The state poor associations are obliged to take care of the needy mentally ill, idiots, epileptic, deaf and dumb, blind and crippled people, insofar as they require institutional care, in appropriate institutions for the preservation, cure and care of the needy. In the case of cripples under the age of 18, care also includes the ability to work for the cripple [...] "
"§ 8. Every city and rural district has to create at least one welfare office for cripples or to affiliate with one." (Prussian law, re. Public care for cripples. From May 6, 1920)

For Biesalski, who was a decisive champion with the statistical survey in 1906 and his work in the German Association for "Cripple Welfare", it was a great success and a sign of the breakthrough of the idea of ​​the "cripple home" based on the tripartite principle. This principle saw medical treatment, education and training as well as vocational training as the three cornerstones of the modern “cripple home”. If one of these 3 components had failed, the concept would no longer have been feasible. In order to implement this concept, Biesalski worked closely with Hans Würtz, who brought in the theoretical foundations of his "cripple pedagogy", "cripple psychology" and "cripple psychology", which were recognized in the professional world at the time and continue to have an impact today. Stadler explains that Biesalski's definition of “cripple” with a view to a medically treatable illness and the ability to work, as well as the assumption of costs for the needy “cripples” and the obligation to report, as a prerequisite for orthopedic early treatment. The denominational “cripple homes” also benefited from adherence to home care. The experience of outpatient "cripple care" was completely disregarded, which justified the need for special education advocated by Würtz . The separate home school was considered to be the "cripple pedagogy" best solution and thus the outpatient "cripple schools" had no prospects and joint teaching in the general schools was strictly rejected. The parents were by no means open to home care, which was stipulated in the "Cripple Welfare Act" of 1920. They feared alienation from their child through the hospital treatment. Until then, well-to-do parents were able to do without the “cripple homes” and privately finance the orthopedic treatment of their “crippled” child, but now the reporting obligation generally applied.

For example, the law states:

“Every cripple child capable of school belongs in a special cripple school, in which it is taught according to certain methods based on the special cripple psychology, taking into account the various ailments. The cripple child who has been cured from the cripple home should not be sent back to the elementary school if possible, but instead be taken to an outpatient cripple school attached to the home, which is run according to the same pedagogical and the same methods as the cripple schools in the homes. " (Prussian law, re The public welfare for cripples. 6 May 1920)

In Biesalski's opinion, alongside the work of the doctor, that of the teacher is "equally important". He believes that if “cripple welfare” wants to achieve lasting success, it must start with the young “cripples”. The “cripple school” was only conceivable for him as a school attached to a “cripple home”.

The school as Biesalski imagined it should be divided into three classes, which require a "skilled teacher":

“Good will or a warm heart is not enough here, but the teacher has to master all pedagogical means, because even if the mind of the cripples is educable, knowledge is often very uneven, the physical weakness needs to be considered and often play also, at least temporary, mental weaknesses and disturbances. A school for cripples is most appropriate if it has half-hour lessons, so that the same subject is taught in all three classes at the same time. The half-hour lessons protect the children from overexertion. Adding the same subject at the same time has the following advantages. It happens that a twelve-year-old girl is brought to the cripple home who can read like a twelve-year-old child, write like a ten-year-old and has absolutely no idea about arithmetic. Now it goes to the arithmetic lesson in the lower level, writing in the intermediate level and reading in the upper level and cannot miss another subject during this time because the same subject is being taught there at the same time. "

- Biesalski (1911)

Position on eugenics

In Biesalski's work there are statements that suggest a social Darwinian elite thinking in the style of the liveability debate of the 1920s. On eugenics , he said in a lecture on the occasion of the special education week in Berlin in 1927:

“Today a lot is written, spoken and argued about eradicating life unworthy of life, and with good reason, because the number of the unsocial is swelling in such a way that it is an almost unbearable burden on the increasingly declining healthy and employable part of us Volksgemeinschaft is felt. To this bunch of the unsocial: idiots, epileptics, mentally ill, incurable drinkers, consumption addicts and some others, one now often throws cripples in a sometimes touching ignorance of our special field of work, simply out of a kind of aesthetic reluctance, which is however quite out of date must be designated and has long since been superseded by a modern conception. Nothing is more wrong than that: care for cripples is almost the only, in any case quite outstanding, form of care that is highly productive, and if one wants to eradicate crippling, the best way to do this is to make the cripple employable . "

- Biesalski (1927)

Biesalski is of the opinion that the only way to "eradicate the cripples" is to make them employable and thus classify them in the productive "national community". Stadler reports that Biesalski wrote to the Prussian interior minister in 1917 regarding “ epileptics , idiots and the like. the like ”on the other hand had spoken of“ worthless human material ”.

He differentiated the “ mentally ill and infirm” from the children who can become employable through clinics, school and craft training, which makes his concept of the “cripple” recognizable as the curable sick person.

meaning

Through his personal commitment, Biesalski achieved that the industrial couple Oskar and Helene Pintsch enabled the construction of the Oskar-Helene-Heim, named after them, which, under the direction of himself and Hans Würtz, was one of the largest private orthopedic institutions for children and young people. In the first third of the 20th century it was regarded as the center of German “cripple welfare” in Germany and gained international reputation.

Biesalski is considered to be the founder of modern care for people with disabilities ; numerous facilities and dormitories for the physically handicapped were named after him.

He also carried out the first official “cripple census” in Germany in order to determine the number of physically handicapped people according to standardized criteria.

After the First World War, Biesalski made a great contribution to the development of prostheses . In addition, the “war cripple welfare”, orthopedic treatment and the professional reintegration of “war invalids” gained in importance compared to “peace cripple welfare”. When the war broke out, the 111 clinics and counseling centers, which had been established by Biesalski's work up to that point, guaranteed the supply of “war cripples”, which earned him additional funds and reputation.

Fonts

  • Extent and type of youthful crippling and care for cripples in Germany according to the official census collected by the Federal Government . Hamburg / Leipzig 1909
  • Guide to Cripple Welfare . Leipzig 1911. 2nd edition 1922. 3rd edition 1926 under the title Plan of the Krüppelfürsorge
  • War cripple welfare. An explanatory word for consolation and a warning . Leipzig / Hamburg 1915.

Namesake

  • Konrad-Biesalski-Haus in Marburg, integrative handicapped accessible student residence
  • Konrad Biesalski Prize, awarded by the German Society for Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery
  • Konrad Biesalski School in Wört / Ostalbkreis, private home special school for students with physical disabilities
  • Biesalskistraße in Berlin-Zehlendorf
  • Biesalski School in Berlin-Dahlem with a special educational focus on physical and motor development

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Konrad Biesalski ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2014 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. on the website for the Konrad-Biesalski-Schule of Reha-Südwest Ostwürttemberg-Hohenlohe gGmbH @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.reha-suedwest.de
  2. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 57 , 220.
  3. ↑ Rolf Haaker, Michael von Grabowski: 150th birthday of Konrad Biesalski Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie 2018, Volume 8, Issue 6, page 62
  4. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 671.
  5. ↑ Honorary graves of the State of Berlin (as of November 2018) . (PDF, 413 kB) Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection, p. 7; accessed on March 16, 2019. Submission - for information - about the recognition and further preservation of graves of well-known and deserving personalities as honorary graves of Berlin . (PDF) Berlin House of Representatives, printed matter 14/1607 of November 1, 2001, p. 3; accessed on March 16, 2019.
  6. ^ A b Philipp Osten : The model institute. About the establishment of a “modern care for cripples” 1905–1933. Mabuse Frankfurt 2004, p. 40 f. Digitized table of contents
  7. ^ Konrad-Biesalski-Haus from the Marburg Student Union
  8. ↑ Konrad Biesalski Prize
  9. ↑ Konrad Biesalski School in Wört / Ostalbkreis
  10. ↑ Biesalskistraße. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  11. ^ Biesalski School in Berlin-Dahlem
personal data
SURNAME Biesalski, Konrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Biesalski, Conrad; Biesalski, Konrad Alexander Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German orthopedist
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Osterode , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1930
Place of death Berlin