Neckarau love works
The Neckarauer Liebeswerke were social institutions in Mannheim-Neckarau initiated by the pastor Erich Otto Kühn after the end of the Second World War . The basis of Kühn's charitable commitment was the deep conviction that it cannot be right to exclude the sick and handicapped from the social and communicative structure of a place of residence; rather, "society should get used to living with grief and misery in their midst". With his social "Neckarau love works" he implemented this postulate and shaped the suburb like no other for almost a century.
history
After his return from English captivity in 1945, Erich Kühn found a desert of rubble and great social hardship in Neckarau. On his initiative, the reconstruction of the Matthäus Church was tackled, which continued with the construction of an old people's home at Rheingoldstraße 28 (Wichernhaus). In 1950 it was supplemented by the Martinsstube, which offered the elderly, who were not housed in the old people's home, a place to warm up and meet in times of scarce fuel. In 1951 the association for women and children's homes Mannheim eV was founded. In 1952, a dormitory for young workers and single mothers with small children was inaugurated. At the instigation of Kühn, the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium was established in 1956 , which today has almost 1200 students and which is interlinked in many ways with the work of the Diakonie. The Johannes-Calvin-Haus followed in 1961, a dormitory for working girls, which was converted into a dormitory for the disabled in 1986. In 1966, the Margarethe-Blarer-Haus was built, a home for mothers and children that accommodated disabled children until 2012. The new Margarete-Blarer-Haus was completed and inaugurated in June 2012 in the immediate vicinity of the old building. The former nursing care school, which was established in 1968, became today's Katharina-Zell-Haus in Friedrichstrasse in 1975, a dormitory for disabled adults. In 1969 Kühn began to set up the “Protective Workshops for the Disabled”, which are considered the first facilities of this kind in Mannheim . In 1970 the "Association for Community Diaconia and Rehabilitation eV" was founded, which over the years took over the sponsorship of the newly built Wichernhaus nursing home as well as the branch workshops and the family relief service in Schulstrasse.
Matthäuskirche with rectory (2010)
Overview of diaconal institutions in 1972
- Johann Sebastian Bach High School
- School Internet Ott-Heinrich-Stift
- Martin-Bucer-Haus boarding school for girls
- Evangelical nursing school Katharina-Zell-Haus
- Wichernhaus retirement home
- Baby and toddler room
- Neckarau kindergartens
- Margarete Blarer House
- John Calvin House
- Settlements for refugees
- Land driver camp
- Community library
- Workshop for the disabled
- big kitchen
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive: Pastor Erich Otto Kühn (owned by daughter Gertraud Neitzel née Kühn)
- ^ Community diakonia in the suburb of Neckarau / information from the social system of the city of Mannheim, issue 10 (January 1972)