Infirmary in Düren

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The infirmary in Düren was about 2 km away from the district town of Düren in North Rhine-Westphalia .

An infirmary, also known as the Leprosorium or Leprosenhaus , was a special quarantine house in which "sick people" were deposited, as they feared that the population would be infected and wanted to be isolated from the rest of society. It was also a kind of death house.

On the left bank not far from the Rur, about 2 km north of Düren and 0.5 km south of Mariaweiler, was the Dürener Sichenheim. This home consisted of a few houses and a small one, St. Church consecrated to Lazarus , in which the pastor of Mariaweiler performed services . In the immediate vicinity of the Siechenheim was the oldest driving bridge, which led from Düren over the Rur , in the course of an ancient military and Roman road .

The hereditary administrators of the infirmary were the mayor and the city council of Düren. The Düren Siechenheim is first mentioned in a document on October 7th, 1558 and later (1562) in the administrative reports (invoices). 1582, there was one for the lepers Regulation adopted. This order united all ailments of the Duchy of Jülich into a brotherhood of the “S. Mariae et S. Lazari ”and regulated among other things the intercourse between the lepers and the healthy.

The lepers were allowed to gather at designated places in the city on certain days and times, usually in front of the churches. Otherwise the sick took care of themselves. The stronger among them were active in the infirmary. As craftsmen, they looked after the needs of the house or cultivated the fields. Some women took care of the seriously ill. In some houses a bath came weekly to supply the sick with ointments and to bathe them. There was no further therapy .

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