Theodor Binder

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theodor Binder (2001)

Theodor Binder (born July 24, 1919 in Lörrach ; † June 26, 2011 in Schwoben ) was a German doctor . Even as a boy he decided to build something similar to Albert Schweitzer in the African Lambarene for South American Indians .

life and work

Theodor Binder's parents were familiar with the Schweitzers and supported their work. At the age of eleven, Theodor Binder met Albert Schweitzer at an organ concert - they later became close friends (the surgeon and organist Ernst Kern also belonged to Binder's circle of friends ).

As a student at the humanistic Hebel Gymnasium in Lörrach, Theodor Binder established relationships with the philosophers Ludwig Klages and Martin Heidegger . He studied philosophy, medicine and ethnology in Freiburg im Breisgau , Strasbourg and Basel , where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1947, and also learned to play the organ. After his resistance activity against the National Socialist regime was discovered, he fled to Switzerland .

In 1948 he emigrated to Peru with his wife and son . First he worked as a government doctor in the mountain jungle and later as a camp doctor in an oil camp in the Amazon region , then at the university hospital in Lima . After eight years he left the well-to-do, opened a practice for the poor and Indians in Pucallpa in the Amazon jungle and began building a hospital, which was opened as Hospital Amazónico Albert Schweitzer after visiting his friend in Lambarene with his consent . Together with the Indians, he built livestock - cooperatives on.

In 1965, “ Der Spiegel ” reported on irregularities in connection with Binder's work in Peru, which led to renowned institutions (including the Volkswagenwerk and Misereor Foundation ) refusing to provide him with further financial support. In 1966, Der Spiegel distanced itself from its article at the time , particularly due to a decision by the Supreme Court in Lima in November 1965.

In the 1970s, Binder had to leave Peru for political reasons. In Mexico and Paraguay he founded further "Albert Schweitzer" projects. In 1973 he received the Humanitarian Prize of the German Freemasons. In 1975 he and Mother Teresa were awarded the International Albert Schweitzer Prize for Medicine in the USA . In 1977 the Lörrach Lever Association honored him with the “Lever Thanks”.

In 1987 yatun papa (father of all), as Binder is called by the Indians, had to return to Europe for health reasons. In 1988 he opened a practice for biological medicine in Lörrach. His Indian aid Dr. Binder continues to work in various countries and has its own outpatient clinic in Asunción , Paraguay, where free medical help is provided to the poor. The organization is also active in the protection of tropical forests and maintains its own reserve of 18,357 hectares. Many projects have been initiated and are active in Peru. For years, training grants have been awarded to B. awarded to medical students and trainee nurses who primarily come from indigenous populations, and agricultural and water projects are carried out.

Since 1988, Binder has lived with his wife Carmen alternately in his birthplace Lörrach and in Schwoben , Alsace , where he died on June 26, 2011 at the age of almost 92.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernst Kern: Seeing - Thinking - Acting of a surgeon in the 20th century. ecomed, Landsberg am Lech 2000, ISBN 3-609-20149-5 , p. 328.
  2. ↑ Donations blocked . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1965 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Der SPIEGEL reported ... In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1966 ( online ).
  4. ↑ Theodor Binder, "docteur Schweitzer de l'Amazonie" , lalsass.fr of June 28, 2011 (accessed on June 29, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Binder, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Loerrach
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2011
Place of death Floated