Rothschild Hospital

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The Rothschild Hospital in 1873
Memorial plaque for the former Rothschild hospital

The so-called Rothschild Spital opened in 1873 , actually: Spital of the Israelite religious community , in Vienna , named after its founder Baron Anselm Salomon von Rothschild , was one of the most modern hospitals in the city at the time. It served the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKGW) as a hospital for the members of the community from 1873 to 1938; during the Nazi era it remained open from 1938 to 1943 and was the only hospital in Vienna where Jewish patients were treated and Jewish doctors were active could. After the end of the Second World War it was used as a camp for Jewish displaced persons and later as a reception camp for Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. The building, built according to plans by the Viennese architect Wilhelm Stiassny , was demolished in 1960.

history

Foundation, endowment

The hospital with 100 beds was donated by Baron Anselm Salomon von Rothschild in memory of his late father Salomon Freiherr von Rothschild and donated to the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien. The agreement with the IKG Vienna was signed on January 17, 1869. The new hospital served as a replacement for the 40-bed Jewish hospital at Seegasse 9 in the 9th district of Vienna, which was founded by Samuel Oppenheimer in 1698 and no longer sufficient for the increasing number of Viennese Jews .

planning

The latest findings in hospital construction should be taken into account when building the hospital . For this purpose, the doctors Albert Matzel , a board member of the IKG Vienna, and Bernhard Wölfler (1816–1895), the director of the hospital in Seegasse, were sent on a study trip through Europe. The 40-day journey began on June 19, 1869 in Vienna and passed through 19 cities and 61 hospitals. In a memorandum summarizing the trip results, Matzel and Wölfler demanded the following essential features for the hospital to be built: pavilion system ; six wards for every 20 patients (l / w / h in meters: 22.8 / 9.5 / 4.7); Air heating and lighting by gas ; Ventilation according to the pulsation principle. And the installation of was the rooms should be bright and well ventilated, decided water flush toilets and steam cooking appliances for kitchen and laundry facilities. The Jewish Viennese architect Wilhelm Stiassny was commissioned to plan the building .

construction

The hospital was built on the newly laid out Währinger Gürtelstraße (today: Währinger Gürtel ) on a property that once housed an imperial tree nursery. It was bordered by Herrengasse (today Gentzgasse) in the south and Döblingerstraße (since 1894 Semperstraße) in the west.

The excavation work began on July 19, 1870, and the same height was reached on June 2, 1871 . In the autumn of 1872 the construction and installation work had progressed so far that the laying of the keystone was set for March 9, 1873 and the opening of the hospital for April 1 of the same year. The actual opening took place on April 10, 1873. The patients from the old hospital in Seegasse had been transferred to the new hospital the day before. At the opening ceremony, a marble plaque was unveiled in the entrance hall in memory of the donor's father, who was also immortalized on the facade of the building.

business

The operation of the hospital was financed from donations, foundations, payments from patients and grants from the IKG Vienna.

As primary doctors were Leopold Oser (1839-1910) and later Otto Zuckerkandl (1861-1921) worked. In 1902, the Zuckerkandl Community and Laboratory Director Artur Katz allowed lectures for doctors and students to be held in the hospital.

Originally, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, children under eight years of age, the mentally ill and the terminally ill were excluded from admission in the last two months. On January 1, 1903, however, a surgical-gynecological pavilion with 50 beds and an outpatient clinic was opened. Then several outpatient clinics were opened. On December 1, 1906 the one for eye diseases, on April 9, 1907 for nervous patients, on December 1, 1912 for dermatology and then another one for ear, nose and throat diseases.

From 1908 the “Kaiserin Elisabeth Institute for Israelite Nurses” was also attached to the hospital, in which Jewish women and girls were trained to be nurses. After twelve years in which only 35 nurses had been trained, the training center was closed.

The reputation of the Vienna Medical School and the hospital “acts like a magnet that draws sick people from all over the world. Mostly poor sick people who are not only cured, but also want and have to be supported ”, especially Jews from Galicia who were“ half starved ”, complained the Jewish magazine Ost und West in 1913. The hospital had to provide food for the sick to spend more than other hospitals and was known for its good food.

Monthly seminar evenings were introduced in 1932. Interesting special cases that had occurred during the past month were discussed with general practitioners.

The annexation of Austria to the German Reich ended this teaching activity. On April 6, 1938, instructions were issued to all rectorates of the universities in Austria to revoke the teaching authorization of Jewish private lecturers until further notice. The Reich Citizenship Act of June 25, 1938 let the appointments of Jewish doctors expire from September 30. In addition, Jewish doctors were allowed no more than physician called and were able to only as " Krankenbehandler " Jews treat.

During the Nazi era, the Rothschild Hospital was the only hospital in Vienna that was allowed to admit Jewish patients. " Aryans " were forbidden from entering the hospital. The SA carried out checks to determine whether the patients actually needed hospital treatment or whether they wanted to avoid deportation .

After the head of neurology emigrated to England, Viktor Frankl , neurologist and psychiatrist , was appointed primary physician . He carried out this activity from 1940 until his deportation to Theresienstadt in 1942.

In the summer of 1943, the building was expropriated by the SS and used as a hospital. The Jewish hospital had to move to Malzgasse 16 in Vienna's 2nd district.

After 1945

In 1945 the hospital was badly damaged by bombs. With the help of several agencies, including the US military government, the most serious damage was repaired and the building complex was used as a DP camp for Jewish refugees. Various waves of Jewish refugees, from Poland in 1946 , from Romania in 1947 , and from Hungary in 1948/49 aggravated the situation in the damaged building. Between 1945 and 1952, around 250,000 Jewish refugees were cared for in this makeshift refugee camp. During the popular uprising in Hungary in 1956, refugees were once again accommodated here.

In 1949 the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien applied for the return of the Rothschild Hospital to their property, which also happened on March 29, 1949. A reconstruction of the hospital was planned, but this did not materialize for financial reasons. The end of the 1950s the former hospital to the Vienna Chamber of Commerce (now Commerce Vienna sold). An adaptation of the building for the needs of the Economic Development Institute (WIFI), which was previously housed in the nearby Severingasse, was considered unprofitable and inexpedient, and therefore it was demolished in 1960. The new building was completed in 1963 and later expanded. On September 16, 2012, a memorial plaque was placed in memory of the former Rothschild hospital.

literature

  • Michael Heindl, Ruth Koblizek (ed.): 125 years of the Rothschild hospital . Verein Memo, Dagobert-Verlagsgesellschaft, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-901119-03-5 .
  • Instructions for waiting staff and servants. House rule. Board resolution of February 2, 1902, approved by decree of the kkn-ö. Lieutenancy, line 62710 of June 23, 1902 . Verlag der Israelitischen Cultus-Gemeinde Wien, Vienna 1902.
  • Erich Stern: The last twelve years of the Rothschild Hospital Vienna 1931–1943 . European publisher, Vienna 1974.
  • Karl Heinz Tragl: Chronicle of the Vienna hospitals . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-205-77595-9 , pp. 754-760 .
  • Bernhard Wölfler: The old and new Viennese Israelite Hospital depicted according to authentic sources. With five autograph plates . Gerold, Vienna 1873 ( Google Books ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b E. E .: Jewish welfare institutions in Vienna. (...) The Jewish Hospital  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: East and West . Issue 8.1913 (August 1913), column 631 f.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.compactmemory.de  
  2. ^ Medical intelligence sheet. Organ for Bavaria's state and public medicine . Volume 16.1869, ZDB -ID 200459-8 . Finsterlin, Munich (inter alia) 1869, p. 511.
  3. ↑ Shoshana Duizend-Jensen: Jewish communities, associations, foundations and funds: "Aryanization" and restitution . Oldenbourg Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-486-56787-8 , pp. 27 ( Online: Google Books ).
  4. ↑ a b Karl Heinz Tragl: Chronicle of the Vienna hospitals . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-205-77595-9 , pp. 754-760 ( Online: Google Books ).
  5. ↑ Erich Stern: The last twelve years of Rothschild Hospital Vienna 1931–1943 . European publisher, Vienna 1974
  6. ↑ Waiting Room of Hope. The Rothschild Hospital in November 1947 - Photos from Henry Ries Exhibition in the Jewish Museum Vienna , October 19, 2012 to February 17, 2013
  7. ↑ Commemorative plaque to the Rothschild hospital revealed Wiener Bezirkszeitung, Vienna-18 Währing
  8. ↑ worksheet Timothy Pytell: What is not in his books - comments on Viktor Frankl's auto-biography, Werkblatt 39, 2/1997, see bibliography.

Web links

Commons : Rothschild Spital  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 13 ′ 34 ″  N , 16 ° 20 ′ 56 ″  E