Walter Günther (SPD)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Günther (born March 24, 1923 in Gottesgab, today Boží Dar ; † unknown) was a German medic, politician ( SPD ) and impostor . His work as a doctor, without ever having completed the associated degree, was more often referred to as the Köpenickiade . He was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives from 1963 until his fraud became known in 1965. Rudi Schade moved up for him .

Life

Günther attended a convent school, which he graduated with a secondary school leaving certificate. After his parents divorced, he was raised by his grandmother. He was a full-time leader in the Hitler Youth and in the Waffen-SS during World War II , he belonged to the Panzer Grenadier Regiment 4 "Der Führer" . During his first (and ultimately only) night assignment during the so-called Russian winter of 1942, he suffered severe frostbite, which meant that his left lower leg and right foot had to be amputated and he was dependent on prostheses. In 1945 he became a prisoner of war in Czechoslovakia , where he acted as a medical assistant for fellow prisoners with the help of his experience in the hospital.

After his release, with the help of a fellow prisoner and her friends, he took a job in a private clinic for obstetrics and gynecology not far from Bad Oeynhausen , where he carried out deliveries and operations. He later switched to the Oldenburg State Hospital as a doctor .

In 1949 he moved to Frankfurt (Oder) and thus to the Soviet occupation zone. There he was appointed school doctor and a little later became a hospital doctor. The following year he moved to West Berlin . There he took on a position as an assistant doctor in the Belziger Strasse hospital , where he made a name for himself through his work during a scarlet fever epidemic.

A professor at the Auguste Viktoria Hospital noticed him and recommended him as chief physician for the Neukölln Municipal Hospital , a position he took up at the end of 1951. He expanded the clinic, which was geared towards the chronically ill and until then sparsely equipped, into a rehabilitation center and made further improvements, which also reduced the death rate. He was then appointed a lifelong civil servant. In his work he concentrated on rehabilitation, but did not make any diagnoses himself and did not undertake any major interventions.

In addition to his work, Günther studied at home, mainly dealing with geriatric therapy. He wrote a number of articles, gave lectures, acted as a reviewer and also appeared in television spots for the old people's welfare, Together for each other . He was also an honorary sports doctor for Tasmania Berlin .

In 1964 Günther ran for the chairmanship of the Berliner Arbeiterwohlfahrt , but his application was rejected by the members for formal reasons (not being a member of the AWO long enough). Ultimately, Eleonore Lipschitz was elected to succeed Ida Wolff . A little later, the AWO built a new hospital in Neukölln, today's Ida Wolff Hospital , which Günther helped to plan. He was appointed chief physician of the new hospital, which was inaugurated by Wilhelmine Lübke in February 1965 .

After his retirement from medicine, Günther became a managing advisor of the Central Society for the Management of Retirement and Residential Homes .

Günther lived in the Berlin district of Zehlendorf . He was married to the pop singer Erika Brüning for the third time .

politics

Günther belonged to the SED during his stay in Frankfurt (Oder) . In 1956 he joined the SPD. In the 1963 election , he succeeded in entering the Berlin House of Representatives . In the meantime he was even under discussion for the office of health senator. After the fraud became known, he resigned his mandate on October 26, 1965, and was succeeded by Rudi Schade .

Fraud case

Günther initially practiced without official papers or evidence of medical training or studies. After initially stating that these papers had been lost, he happened upon a person named Walter Heinz Günther , who had passed the medical examination at the Charles University in Prague in 1943 . Walter Günther received his documents through a dean. However, a different date of birth was given in these documents. Walter Günther took over this and since then has given 1916 as his year of birth, in addition to which he received a replacement from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs . In addition, he now had a false doctorate, although he was often referred to as "doctor" in the prison hospital. Since no doctoral certificate was available, Günther was prohibited from using the doctorate by the health authorities. Günther stated that he had passed the examination in accordance with the Austrian regulations, whereby he would have obtained the doctorate directly. As early as 1954, a specialist noted doubts about his qualifications, but the investigations into this case were discontinued five years later because they were convinced of the authenticity.

In 1951 Günther applied for a basic pension for the severely disabled, which he named “Dr. med. Günther ”signed. In 1958 he also submitted an application for pension capitalization. The Wehrmacht Information Center noticed contradictions regarding his date of birth. The Berlin social welfare authority spoke of a file error. A specialist from the Berlin Medical Association, on the other hand, noted that Günther had gotten wrong with an expert opinion. Health Senator Gerhart habenicht then suggested in a personal conversation with Günther that an investigation be carried out. Information from the birth register in Sankt Joachimsthal and Prague confirmed the suspicion that Walter Günther is not identical with Walter Heinz Günther , who graduated in 1943.

After he was confronted with the results of the investigation in mid-October 1965, Walter Günther resigned his office as chief physician and his mandate in the House of Representatives. At the beginning of November 1965, his lawyer Paul Ronge confessed the truth to press representatives. Despite the allegations, Günther received many expressions of praise after his resignation from all offices, mainly from his patients.

The case was heard before the 2nd Large Criminal Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court . He was accused of fivefold fraud, threefold indirect false certification and the unauthorized use of an academic degree. On June 3, 1967, Günther was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. An appeal was filed against this judgment. On November 4, 1967, the higher court reduced his sentence to seven months on probation, plus a fine of 4,500 German marks.

publication

Trivia

  • A similar case occurred in 1967 with the doctor Karl-Heinz Müller, who resided in Unterlüß , and who appeared at the Lengede miracle .
  • Günther took on a position in Frankfurt (Oder) whose predecessor had to be dismissed because he only had a training as a paramedic.
  • Walter Günther is distantly related to the local poet Anton Günther (1876–1937).

literature

  • Werner Breunig, Andreas Herbst (ed.): Biographical handbook of the Berlin parliamentarians 1963–1995 and city councilors 1990/1991 (= series of publications of the Berlin State Archives. Volume 19). Landesarchiv Berlin, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-9803303-5-0 , p. 165.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography about Franz Neumann of the Hedwig-Wachenheim-Gesellschaft eV (PDF)
  2. ↑ Chronicle of the 15th anniversary of Vivantes 2016 (PDF)
  3. ↑ Marie-Luise Scherer: Only as a person - The new profession of the false head doctor Walter Günther Article from: The time of December 13, 1968
  4. ↑ Andreas Kater: The wrong doctor from Lengede: The village parallel to the Berlin case Günther Article from: The time of November 22, 1967
personal data
SURNAME Günther, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctors, politicians (SPD) and impostors
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH God gave, today Boží Dar
DATE OF DEATH 20th century or 21st century