As of: February 15, 2024, 6:13 a.m
By: Katrin Woitsch
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Oberstaufen in the Allgäu has a beautiful mountain panorama to offer - but also a special detoxification treatment.
© IMAGO/Alexander Rochau
All year long in Oberstaufen everything revolves around fasting and detoxification.
The place is known for its Schroth cure - a 200-year-old idea, but in great demand.
Oberstaufen – Hardly any holidaymaker sleeps in in Oberstaufen.
Most people can be woken up - and packed up - at three in the morning.
For example by Barbara Geißler.
The 23-year-old is a professional packer.
When she knocks on the doors of guests at her parents' hotel before sunrise, she brings wet, cold towels with her.
The holidaymakers are wrapped tightly in them for around two hours.
First the body has to produce heat, then the muscles relax and fever-like sweats occur.
It doesn't sound like the best way to wake up - but the so-called Schroth cure is the main prize for the immune system.
Geissler knows what she's talking about.
Not just because she does the treatment herself twice a year.
“You can see an effect on the guests after just a few days,” she reports.
The body excretes acids, metabolic residues and pollutants - this makes the skin cleaner, the healing and defense forces are activated and stress is reduced.
And of course the pounds will fall off with this treatment.
Rest, exercise, diet – everything is part of the cure
However, the cold compresses are only part of the procedure.
This also includes drinking and dry days, as well as alternating between rest and exercise and a diet that avoids meat, fat, animal protein and salt.
Caffeine and nicotine are also taboo.
The Bohemian carter Johann Schroth invented this cure in 1820 because of his stiff knee, but was once called a quack for it.
Some doctors and nutritionists also reject the original cure.
Spa doctor Hermann Brosig was convinced of this and brought her to Oberstaufen in the Allgäu in the 1950s.
More people want to do something for their health and live more consciously.
Tourism director Constanze Höfinghoff
And the place cleverly used the Schroth cure for self-marketing.
Holidaymakers have been coming there for decades to fast, detoxify and escape the stress of everyday life.
Not just during Lent.
“But the spa treatments are of course particularly in demand at this time of year,” says tourism director Constanze Höfinghoff.
She only moved to Oberstaufen from the far north four years ago - but since then she has been a “Schrotherin”, as the locals affectionately call their spa guests, three times.
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The applications are in great demand among young people
Sure, Schroth cure doesn't sound as appealing as detox or Ayurveda, admits Höfinghoff.
Nevertheless, the applications are also in high demand among young people, she reports.
Especially since the Corona years.
“More people want to do something for their health and live more consciously.” These are mostly women, but men are often “dragged along” and are just as quickly enthusiastic.
The cures are accompanied by doctors who also have a few tricks up their sleeve if, for example, nicotine withdrawal becomes particularly noticeable.
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During the Schroth cure, guests are wrapped in cold, wet towels for around two hours.
This causes the body to enter a fever-like state.
© Bjoern Haenssler
Of course, there are also guests who break off the treatment or struggle at first, reports Barbara Geißler.
Wrapping up is a very intimate thing.
In these moments, guests often confide in her a lot - the stories behind scars, for example.
“A lot happens mentally during the treatment,” says the 23-year-old.
For many people it is a challenge to just relax for two hours without a cell phone, book or headphones.
But it's worth it, she emphasizes.
“The thoughts are organized.”
A special form of fasting is “like changing the oil” in a car
Geißler is not only a packer – but also a Bayern ambassador.
She not only wants to promote the cures, but also the Bavarian attitude to life.
Because Oberstaufen has even more to offer than Schrothen, she emphasizes.
The mountains, the lively town center, the offers for families.
“But the cure is our unique selling point, something like the soul of the place,” says Geißler.
That's why many guests come back year after year.
Petra Siefenhofer, for example – she has been a passionate Schrotherer since autumn 2022.
Even if she initially had to get used to the special form of fasting.
Now she doesn't want to do without it anymore.
She says: “The packs are like an oil change, which you do regularly on your car to keep it roadworthy.”
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