Allenberg Provincial Sanatorium and Nursing Home

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Floor plan of the Allenberg nursing home (1854)
Seal of the Allenberg nursing home

The Provincial Sanatorium and Nursing Institution Allenberg was a psychiatric hospital in Allenberg near Wehlau in East Prussia (Snamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast, incorporated today). It operated from 1852 to 1940.

history

In the province of East Prussia, only the “insane asylum” in Königsberg, as part of the Löbenicht Hospital, was entrusted with the care of mentally ill patients until the mid-19th century . After several flood damage and fires, care was no longer possible to an appropriate extent, even by the standards of the time. In 1841 the East Prussian assembly of estates therefore decided to set up a psychiatric clinic in East and West Prussia . However, no agreement could be found on the location. After another fire in 1845 it was finally decided in 1848 to build a new “insane asylum” in Allenberg near Wehlau.

This was opened on September 1, 1852. The facility covered an area of ​​15 ha with a capacity of 250 patients and had modern gas lighting and warm air heating as well as its own asylum church . The founding director was the district physician Reinhold Bernhardi, who previously worked in Königsberg. The existing capacity was fully used 10 years after the opening, so that in 1865 it was expanded to 300 beds and in 1873 to 500 beds. The extensions were built according to plans by the architects Heino Schmieden and Martin Gropius . In 1900, 890 patients were accommodated in Allenberg. In the course of the expansion, additional areas were purchased for agricultural use as part of occupational therapy. From 1891 onwards, 11 patients were also cared for in family care, i. H. outside the institution premises, by 1913 this number rose to 89 patients.

The founding director Bernhardi was replaced by Hermann Wendt (1832–1896) in 1869, while Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum (1828–1899), who also gave lectures at Königsberg University , was the second doctor . Julius Jensen (1841-1891), who became director of the clinic in 1875, was also employed as the second prison doctor . Eugen Hallervorden worked as an assistant doctor in Allenberg until 1885. Wilhelm Dubbers (1863–1929) was appointed director of the institution in 1900.

In 1912 it was decided to further expand the building, but this did not take place as a result of the First World War . When the war broke out, 42 out of 61 male nurses were drafted into military service. From August 25, 1914 to September 10, Allenberg was occupied by Russian troops. As a result of the poor supply situation and rampant infectious diseases, there was an increased mortality, so in 1917 alone 47.1% of the patients died.

In 1918 Allenberg was still occupied with 586 patients, in 1924 this number had increased to 934 again. In 1929 Ernst Bufe became director, and from 1934 compulsory sterilizations were carried out in Allenberg in accordance with the law for the prevention of genetically ill offspring . In 1936, 1257 patients were cared for in Allenberg.

In May 1940 "by order of the Higher SS and Police Leader" Wilhelm Koppe or "by order of the Oberpräsident" [from East Prussia, Erich Koch ] the approximately 1400 Allenberg patients were transferred to the Provincial Sanatorium and Nursing Home Tapiau and the Provincial Kortau sanatorium and nursing home relocated, 207 of them were deported to the Soldau concentration camp on May 22, 1940 in the course of the "Aktion Lange" and murdered in a group of 1,558 inmates of East Prussian psychiatric institutions. The patients were selected by the prison doctors based on the patient's ability to work and adapt, as well as the assumed chance of recovery. Patients who had been housed for more than 5 years were considered incurable.

On June 8, 1940, the Allenberg sanatorium was dissolved, and the remaining patients were transferred to the Kortau Provincial Sanatorium. On June 15, the clinic premises were taken over by the SS . a. maintained an agricultural business of the " German Research Institute for Food and Meals ".

After the Second World War and the displacement of the local population, the clinic premises were used as barracks by the Soviet and Russian armies .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Boris Böhm, Hagen Markwardt, Ulrich Rottleb: "Will be transferred to a state sanatorium and nursing home in Saxony today" - the murder of East Prussian patients in the National Socialist killing center in Pirna-Sonnenstein in 1941 . Ed .: Leipziger Universitätsverlag. 2015, ISBN 978-3-86583-976-3 , pp. 23 ff .
  2. ^ Oleg Peters: Heino Schmieden - life and work of the master builder 1835–1913 . 2016, ISBN 978-3-86732-169-3 , pp. 353 ff . ( google.de ).
  3. ^ A b Arnold Körte: Martin Gropius - Life and Work of a Berlin Architect 1924–1880 . 2013, ISBN 978-3-86732-080-1 , pp. 296 ( google.de ).
  4. ^ A b Alma Kreuter: German-speaking neurologists and psychiatrists . Ed .: KG Saur. 1996, ISBN 978-3-11-096165-2 , pp. 263 ( google.de ).
  5. ^ A b Ernst Klee : "Euthanasia" in the Third Reich . Frankfurt / M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-18674-7 , pp. 169, 170 .
  6. ^ Sascha Topp, Christoph Mundt, Wolfgang U. Eckart, Maike Rotzoll, Gerrit Hohendorf, Petra Fuchs, Paul Richter: Sick killings in East Prussia - A comparison of "Aktion Lange" and "Aktion T4" in: The National Socialist "Euthanasia" campaign "T 4" and its victims . Ed .: Ferdinand Schöningh. 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76543-7 , pp. 169 ff .
  7. ^ Sascha Topp, Petra Fuchs, Gerrit Hohendorf, Paul Richter, Maike Rotzoll: The Province of East Prussia and the National Socialist "euthanasia": SS - "Aktion Lange" and "Aktion T4" . In: Medizinhistorisches Journal 43 . 2008, p. 28.
  8. ↑ Enno Georg, The economic enterprises of the SS , Volume 7 of the series of the quarterly books for contemporary history , Walter de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-70376-4 , p. 64

Coordinates: 54 ° 36 ′ 14 ″  N , 21 ° 13 ′ 20 ″  E