Erding: The Nurses of the Josefi Institution

Created: 12/29/2022, 08:00

By: Friedbert Holz

The grave of the Sisters of Charity is located in the St. Paul Cemetery - here still with snow.

Clarissa Höschel researched their history.

© Friedbert Holz

Hearty food and a liter of beer a day: This was what the Sisters of Mercy who looked after the sick in the Josefi Asylum in Erding in the 19th century received to strengthen themselves.

Erding – She has always been interested in history, language and languages, writing and writings: Dr.

Clarissa Höschel studied German, Romance and Medieval Studies and has now received the Researcher Award from the Erding Historical Association (we reported).

In her award-winning specialist essay, the trained interpreter and translator focuses in particular on the life and work of the Sisters of Mercy and patient care in Erding in the 19th century.

And she's already working on a sequel to this exciting piece of social history.

Born in Düsseldorf, she came to Bavaria as a young girl. The 59-year-old has lived in Sonnendorf since 2012.

By then she had already seen a lot of the world, studied in Erlangen and Munich and lived in Spain and Australia for a long time.

In her free time, Höschel likes to explore the history of the ducal city on walks.

And so she discovered the grave of the Sisters of Mercy while walking through the St. Paul Cemetery.

“I quickly noticed that the 18 names do not give a complete picture.

I had a lot of questions,” says Höschel.

And so, following her instinct for research, she first researched on the Internet and in the city library – without any result.

So she asked the city archivist Markus Hiermer in the town hall - and found what he was looking for.

He had documents, mostly old letters from the history of the hospital, mostly in Sütterlin script.

"It was very tedious until I had read myself in," recalls Höschel.

In addition, she had to mentally put herself in the 19th century and its circumstances,

Further help came from the congregational archives of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent von Braun, as the order with motherhouses in Munich and Augsburg is called.

But its origin lies in Alsace.

"It was all so exciting to read that I soon decided to first only examine the 19th century in detail, the level of detail of the processes and events was too great," says Höschel.

This is how she found out that Bavaria's King Ludwig I had first brought two sisters to Munich.

The order soon established itself there, and with it specialist training in nursing, which was by no means a matter of course at the time.

So two sisters came to what was then the Josefi Institute in Erding - on March 19, 1847 under the aegis of the district and hospital doctor Dr.

Nicholas Henkel.

They took over the care in the hospital.

"The sisters' so-called provision contract stated that they were to take care of an average of ten patients in three rooms," explains Höschel.

And not only that: They were also responsible for cooking and washing, stocking up and managing the small hospital, and they also had to fulfill spiritual duties as part of their religious rule.

"They also lived in the building and were paid 50 guilders a year," Höschel researched.

That corresponds to around 1,500 euros today: "And they received hearty food and a liter of beer each day."

This drink served as a kind of substitute for drinking water, which was often polluted at the time.

Because in those times, as one could see from the patients, pulmonary consumption, scabies and diarrhea were rampant, but also syphilis, typhoid, cholera and scarlet fever.

Many young women died in childbirth.

Hygiene was often completely unknown in the houses, so great importance was attached to cleanliness in the Josefi asylum.

And the hospital rules were strict.

Admission was only possible with a so-called health card, which mainly servants, journeymen and workers had to get from their employers.

Alcohol, smoking and playing cards were strictly forbidden in the hospital, patients had to "behave decently", were only allowed to leave their bed or room with permission, "enjoy no food or drink other than that prescribed by the doctor" and had daily prayers "with the to perform devotion due to a Christian".

also read

Suitcase chaos at the airport: those affected search on their own – and report “scandalous” circumstances

READ

Family father (44) dies in an accident with Tesla

READ

Accident near Notzing: Toddler (2) seriously injured

READ

"Cold structural adjustment": Clinic threatened by a Lauterbach earthquake

READ

Comment: Vaccination opponents hui, climate protectors ugh

READ

Fancy a journey of discovery?

My space

When the new hospital in Erding was completed in 1884, Dr.

Henkel did not ask his patients to move immediately.

The rooms were freshly painted.

The windows should remain closed since it was late autumn.

Thus, the official inauguration of the new facility did not take place until the spring of 1885, at the behest of its boss, who had even issued his own cleaning instructions, at the same time as the 50th anniversary of his doctorate.

Four Sisters of Mercy worked here while the Josefi Institute mutated into a poorhouse.

The annual journal of the Historical Society is 120 pages long and also contains Clarissa Höschel's essay.

It is available for twelve euros in the Museum Erding and the Museum Franz Xaver Stahl.