Margarete Gutöhrlein

Margarete Gutöhrlein (* 1884 in Berlin ; † June 15, 1958 ) founded the first Albert Schweitzer Children's Village in Germany.

biography

Margarete Gutöhrlein was born in Berlin to Christian-Jewish parents. She learned acting from Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin . Gutöhrlein learned English during a stay in Scotland. During the First World War, she trained as a nurse . Two of her three daughters also took up the profession of actress and began an international vaudeville career as "Sister G." and starred in American films. Gutöhrlein accompanied her daughters on tours through Europe and the USA. With her third husband, Georg Gutöhrlein, she and two daughters from her first marriage moved from Berlin to Schwäbisch Hall in 1927 . There she survived the National Socialist rule with the help of friends who hid her. In 1945 Margarete Gutöhrlein took over the management of the Red Cross in Schwäbisch Hall on behalf of the American military government because of her training and her knowledge of English . Among other things, she took care of the accommodation and care of released soldiers and numerous refugees, including numerous children.

After Gutöhrlein met Hermann Gmeiner , from 1956 she devoted herself to the idea of founding a children's village based on the model of Robert Corti and Gmeiner in Waldenburg , Baden-Württemberg . Abandoned and orphaned children should be able to live there regardless of their parents' origin or religious affiliation.

On October 31, 1956 Gutöhrlein founded the association “ SOS Children's Village Schwäbisch Hall” with other private individuals, including Clara von Arnim . She won the Waldenburg mayor Franz Gehweiler as a cooperation partner, who together with the local council gave the association a piece of land for the children's village.

Gutöhrlein's idea of ​​a non-denominational institution turned out to be incompatible with the principles of the SOS Children's Villages. She therefore developed her own project, for whose idea she was able to win over the tropical doctor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer for a sponsorship. On December 11, 1957, the association was renamed "Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf eV".

Margarete Gutöhrlein did not live to see the completion of her work. After Gutöhrlein’s death in 1958, her husband Georg Gutöhrlein continued her work. In September 1960 the first children moved into the Waldenburg Children's Village with their house parents .

Further Albert Schweitzer Children's Villages and Family Organizations were later set up in Germany .

literature

• Elke Däuber, Doris Müller: A woman who dared to do something. The active and extraordinary life of Margarete Gutöhrlein. in: Württembergisch Franken, yearbook of the Association for Württembergisch Franken. Vol. 88, 2004
• Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf eV: 50 years of Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf Waldenburg. Waldenburg 2007.