Stephanus Foundation

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The Stephanus Foundation is an institution on the Weißen See in the Berlin district of Weißensee for the care of mentally disabled people in need of care. It is one of the oldest charitable institutions of its kind. It has been on the grounds of Albertinenstrasse 20 since the foundation was founded. There is a home for the elderly and living quarters here, which emerged from the predecessors Bethabara Foundation, Bethabara-Beth-Elim Foundation and Adolf-Stoecker Foundation for people with disabilities (children / adolescents / adults), Diakonie workshops for people with disabilities, the Friedenskirche, a day care center, a school with a focus on intellectual development and a physiotherapy practice. The ensemble, consisting of several old (and new) buildings, is a listed building .

The foundation is a signatory of the Transparent Civil Society Initiative .

founding

In 1878 the Protestant pastor Ernst Gottlieb Georg Berendt founded the Bethabara Foundation ( Jordanfurt near the baptismal site of Jesus ). He bought a piece of land with a house on Albertinenstrasse and made it available as a “refuge” to help women released from prison to regain a foothold in life.

extension

In the years from 1878 to 1919, additional facilities were built on the original and acquired neighboring properties. A maternity ward , a “supply house” for single mothers, a ward for sexually ill women and a dormitory with a teaching kitchen were built. The buildings, which were initially constructed under their own names, were run under the common name of Bethabara-Beth-Elim-Stiftung from 1902.

Pastor Ernst Berendt , son of Ernst Gottlieb Georg Berendt, who took over the management of the foundation after his death in 1919, had a home for small children built in 1931.

In 1928 the foundation set up the first homeopathic hospital in Germany. In the same year, this foundation opened a transitional home for girls with poor health and in need of care in Bad Freienwalde (Oder) .

During the National Socialism

In 1936 the foundation had to cede three houses to the NS student body . In 1938 Pastor Theodor Wenzel was appointed as the new head of the foundation by the Provincial Committee for Inner Mission of the Province of Brandenburg . In 1940 Ernst Berendt left the foundation and took over a pastor's office in Baden-Baden . In the course of the "eradication of Jewish names", the foundation was renamed the Adolf Stoecker Foundation (after Adolf Stoecker ) in 1941 . Ernst Berendt was deported to the Dachau concentration camp because he campaigned for persecuted Christians, especially Martin Niemöller , and Jews, and where he died in 1942.

After the end of the war

In April 1945, Berlin-Weißensee was captured by the Red Army . The soldiers occupied the foundation's buildings, even though almost all of the houses belonging to it were damaged. From the end of 1945, however, the maternity ward resumed its work.

In 1947, Pastor Heinz Beuster (* 1913) was head of the foundation until his death in 1949. In the same year the Soviet soldiers withdrew.

In 1948 the foundation was expanded to include a home for homeless elderly people.

With the consent of the Soviet headquarters , the foundation's premises were declared the meeting place for the general synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany .

In the DDR

In 1950 Pastor Willi Federlein was appointed the new director of the foundation. In April 1950, the Weißensee Synod of Peace took place on the foundation's premises. In the GDR , the foundation developed into an ecumenical conference and meeting place for people from East and West.

From 1951 the following other homes were taken over by the foundation:

After the city ​​was divided in 1961 , the Church Diaconal Course (KDL) was set up.

In 1963 the foundation was named Stephanus-Stiftung after the apostle Stephanus .

In the 1970s, care for the mentally handicapped was intensified. The foundation took over:

In 1979 the previous director Pastor Willi Federlein retired and was replaced by Pastor Werner Braune.

In 1984 the second central sports festival of the Diakonisches Werk in the GDR was organized for people with intellectual disabilities.

In 1985 the foundation developed and marketed the game “Naming-recognizing-arranging-playing-shaping”.

After the turn

From autumn 1989, after the fall of the Wall , the foundation expanded its activities in the field of care and support for mentally handicapped people. The following were founded:

  • Stephanus School in Parkstrasse in Berlin-Weißensee
  • Laurentius School in Bad Freienwalde (Oder)
  • Workshop for the disabled Heilbrunn in Brunn
  • Waldhof School in Templin
  • Laurentiusschule in (Cöthen near Falkenberg in the Mark )
  • Training apartment for people with intellectual disabilities in Biesenthal
  • Brüssow retirement and nursing home , Grimmer Weg
  • Old people's and nursing home Bad Freienwalde (Oder) , Beethovenstrasse
  • Early intervention and advice center in Templin
  • Second department of the workshop for the disabled in Heilbrunn in Neuruppin
  • Third department of the workshop for the disabled in Heilbrunn in Dosse-Park
  • Workshop for the disabled in Kyritz
  • Bethesda house in Rüdersdorf
  • Nursing and nursing home Daniel Vergara in Berlin-Köpenick , Salvador-Allende-Straße 91. In the 21st century, the Stephanus Seniors Center Müggelspree , which is run by the St. Elisabeth Diakonie, was added at the same address .
  • Old people's and nursing home Alberto Corvalan on Wendenschloßstraße in Berlin-Köpenick
  • Home assisted living in Altranft
  • Retirement and nursing homes Haus am Werlsee in Grünheide
  • Supervised individual living and shared apartments for people with intellectual disabilities are made possible or set up

In 2001 Pastor Werner Braune retired. His successor was Pastor Torsten Silberbach.

Foundation director

  • 1878–1919: Pastor Ernst Gottlieb Georg Berendt
  • 1919–1938: Pastor Ernst Berendt
  • 1938–1945: Pastor Theodor Wenzel
  • 1947–1949: Pastor Heinz Beuster
  • 1950–1979: Pastor Willi Federlein
  • 1979–2001: Pastor Werner Braune
  • from 2001: Pastor Torsten Silberbach

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephanus Foundation (Bethabara-Beth-Elim-Foundation), residential building, institution building with laundry, hostel building and chapel. Entry in the Berlin State Monument List. In: stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal, accessed on May 20, 2019.
  2. ↑ Signatory. In: transparency.de, accessed on May 20, 2019 (search for “Stephanus Foundation”; since October 15, 2013).
  3. ↑ See nothing inflated. Hans Zinnow has published the book 'Deacon reports'. It is an important contribution to coming to terms with GDR history. In: the church . No. 19, May 8, 2016, section BuchTipp, ISSN  0949-8664 , p. 6.
  4. ↑ Homepage of the Müggelspree House. In: stephanus.org, accessed on May 20, 2019.