Michaelis pen Gefell
The Michaelis Foundation Gefell is a church foundation originally based in Gefell near Schleiz . The foundation founded in 1849 by Pastor Georg Friedrich Christian Bauerfeind supports people with disabilities, but also people in need through pastoral care, counseling, lifelong support and sponsorship. It is also the sponsor of two special schools and one community school. Furthermore, the Michaelis Foundation Gefell is a shareholder of the Diakoniestiftung Weimar Bad Lobenstein non-profit GmbH with 12.5% of the capital .
The Michaelis Foundation Gefell is responsible for the Johannes Landenberger Support Center in Weimar, the Michaelis School (special school with a focus on intellectual development) and the Free Montessori Community School in Bad Lobenstein .
history
Kingdom of Prussia
In the wake of the revolution of 1848 there were street fights between workers and self-proclaimed “vigilante groups” in Gefell. The deacon Bauerfeind succeeded in mediating in these disputes and restoring peace in the area. Later in the year 1848 in Gefell broke scarlet fever - epidemic from which many children - were victims - including three children of Deacon couple. They took this as an opportunity to take in orphaned or needy children. Friends of Bauerfeind spread his idea of founding a “rescue facility” for poor children in need of upbringing. At the suggestion of Johann Hinrich Wichern and through donations from the population as well as on the occasion of a Wittenberg church convention , the foundation sought by Bauerfeind was established on Michaelis , September 29, 1849, and an eight-year-old girl was accepted as the first child. A flag of the pen, dated 1849, shows the colors black-red-gold.
In 1850 there were already four girls as residents. King Frederick William IV. Of Prussia supported Bauer enemy social work, as well as the Cabinet Marcus Niebuhr and his wife that in Berlin an agency for the distribution of peasant enemy journal Perlenbächlein entertained and custom built by the young residents of the pen white embroidery sold. In 1868 the publication of the Perlenbächlein magazine was stopped. Bauerfeind, meanwhile promoted to pastor , had been transferred to Lützen in 1857 .
The current monastery site was acquired in 1861. After a devastating fire in 1866, the buildings were rebuilt, while the motto was written: "O Lord help, O Lord, let it succeed!" ( Psalm 118.25 LUT )
The German Imperium
The name Michaelis pen appears for the first time in 1873. On July 1, 1874, the Michaelis Foundation was granted the rights of a legal person by Kaiser Wilhelm I. 1876 the building was realized a new institution building another house with barn and stable in the Hoferstraße originated 1877. At the St. John the new building was put into use. The "sun house" was built in 1894.
Bauerfeind had meanwhile become superintendent in Gnadau . In 1892 he received a letter from his father Bodelschwingh , in which the founder of v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel in Bielefeld expressed harsh criticism of the management of the Michaelis Foundation . This resulted in an exchange of letters that testifies to Bodelschwingh's sympathy with the work of the Michaelis pen.
Georg Friedrich Christian Bauerfeind died on June 7, 1894 and was buried in Gnadau.
Weimar Republic
From 1895 to 1926, the head of the Michaelis Foundation was Pastor Rathmann. In the 1920s, liquidating the home was considered at times. On October 14, 1931, a woman, Sister Superior Elisabeth Manecke, took over the management of the Michaelis Abbey for the first time. She described the condition of the house as "terrifying". The Michaelis pen was heavily in debt and the buildings in a neglected condition. However, this may be due to the economic situation in Germany at the time. Sister Elisabeth Manecke managed to consolidate the economic situation in a short time. In addition to working with care children and mentally handicapped girls, as well as an old people's home, there was also short-term accommodation for recreational guests.
National Socialism
In the time of National Socialism, forced sterilization was carried out and residents were “moved” to other facilities. Werner Rauh, who had been a member of the Michaelis Foundation's board of trustees for more than 30 years, described Sister Superior Elisabeth Manecke as "ambitious". According to him, she should have been "a national-bourgeois leader", the pastor Schmeling was in open conflict with her, which is also said to have caused Sister Elisabeth's departure to Radeburg.
At the end of the Second World War , the Michaelis Abbey had extensive agriculture that was plowed by the residents.
Soviet occupation and the GDR era
Sister Elisabeth Manecke left the Michaelis pen in 1949 after violent accusations by the FDJ . Sister Annemarie Dannehl took over the management. From 1952 sisters of the deaconess community Aue worked in the Michaelis Abbey, in March 1986 the sisters ended their service.
After the turn
In September 1990 the Michaelis Foundation founded a school for mentally handicapped children. In 1992 the former district nursing home for psychiatry in Stelzen, built in 1842, was acquired. From January 1, 2009, a large part of the diaconal tasks of the Michaelis Foundation, the Evangelical Foundation Christopherushof and the Diakonisches Zentrum Sophienhaus Weimar gGmbH were brought together. The Diakoniestiftung Weimar Bad Lobenstein non-profit GmbH was created from this merger .
Admission of residents
Around 1870 children between the ages of 7 and 13 were enrolled, all of them girls. As a rule, they stayed in the monastery for up to six months after confirmation , i.e. until they were 15. After that, until the age of 18, the Provincial Education Association in the Province of Saxony , based in Magdeburg, continued to look after the young women and mostly placed them in domestic employment. From 1928 onwards, in addition to “welfare children”, so-called “feeble-minded” (mentally handicapped) girls and other women in need of help were accepted. Boys have also been admitted to the facility since 1984.
Number of residents
- 1849: 1 girl
- 1850: 4 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1860: 13 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1870: 9 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1880: 25 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1890: 34 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1900: 28 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1910: 36 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1920: 16 girls, compulsory schooling
- 1930: 52 girls, including 34 school-age children, 18 older women and mentally handicapped girls
- 1940: 85 welfare children, including 38 girls 2–15 years old, some debilitated, 34 girls and young women with domestic school, 14–26 years old, 13 older women and mentally handicapped girls, 15–79 years old, plus 40 temporarily admitted children and adults ( Evacuees)
- 1950: 25 young people, 20 children, 13 people in need of care
- 1976: 30 so-called children who are unable to attend school and who are eligible for support, aged 6 to 18; 28 mentally handicapped women
Head of the facility
- 1849–1857: Deacon Georg Friedrich Christian Bauerfeind
- 1857–1871: Pastor Dümmler
- 1874–1895: Pastor Rathmann (as chairman of the board of trustees)
- 1895–1926: Pastor Rathmann (head)
- 1926–1931: Mr. Wagner (?)
- 1931–1949: Sister Superior Elisabeth Manecke
- 1949–1952: Sister Annemarie Dannehl
- 1952–1962: Sister Hanna Eisenreich
- 1962–1976: Sister Hildegard Heinrich
- 1976–1989: Dietrich Berger
- 1992–2001: Monika Kelz
2019
Board
- Klaus Scholtissek , Chairman (Managing Director of the Diakoniestiftung Weimar Bad Lobenstein )
- Axel Kramme, deputy chairman
- Rainer Neumer, board member
Board of Trustees
In 2019, the Board of Trustees consists of ten honorary members who are not in the service of the Evangelical Foundation Christopherushof.
- Henrich Herbst (chairman), superintendent of the church district Weimar
- Markus Enders (Deputy Chairman), banking specialist
- Rosmarie Grunert, Head of Ev. Nursing school at the SHK Weimar
- Ulrike Köppel, managing director of Weimar GmbH
- Michael Modde, Mayor of the City of Pößneck
- Hardy Rylke, executive pastor of the Weimar parish
- Georg Schaudt, lawyer
- Friederike Spengler, regional bishop of the provost ice district Gera-Weimar
- Michael Wegner, Superintendent of the Rudolstadt-Saalfeld Church District
- Stefan Wolf, retired mayor D. the city of Weimar