"I became aware of the Johanna-Helenen-Heim through a visit to the village church of Volmarstein and the Evangelical Forest Cemetery in Wetter-Volmarstein. The cemetery and the building, which is beautiful in its structure, are located directly next to the clinic complex of today's Volmarstein Orthopedic Clinic at Von der Recke-Straße 16.
The building dates back to the Volmarstein pastor Franz Arndt. Arndt was born on August 6, 1848 in the Ruppin district of Brandenburg. His father was already a pastor in Sieversdorf. His son Franz studied theology at his mother's instigation, although he himself was inclined to study law. He came to Volmarstein in 1875 as an assistant preacher to relieve the sick pastor Wiegemann, who died in 1876. Shortly before, Arndt had become engaged to his daughter Johanna. After the wedding, Johanna and Franz Arndt had eight children. The eldest daughter Margarete was physically disabled. He was a passionate pastor here and provided important impulses in the community and worked there for 41 years as a pastor and preacher. Arndt was sympathetic to the workers' movement, but was also able to win over companies and politicians to his plans. He founded a rectory school, a house for the sick and the elderly (Haus Bethanien), a club house, a women's home and, in 1886, a workers' association. As a forerunner of today's Evangelical Volmarstein Foundation, he built the first so-called "cripple home" in Westphalia. (At that time, the word "cripple" was the common term for people with disabilities.) In 1903, the foundation stone for the first Westphalian home for physically disabled people was laid here in a former quarry. Arndt died on July 19, 1917 on a trip to Rostock.
Arndt's comrades-in-arms were the district administrator of the Hagen district, Paul Hartmann, who took over the chairmanship of the board. A memorial plaque in front of the building commemorates Hartmann. The Hartmann family strongly supported the foundation. Paul Eduard Hartmann was born on September 26, 1863 in Neubrandenburg. He died on December 7, 1914 in Limanova as a result of a war injury. On April 24, 1899, he was appointed provisional administrator of the Hagen District Office. On November 13, 1899, he was permanently appointed district administrator (Hagen District). Among other things, he was a member of the supervisory board of the "Mark" power plant in Hagen. ...
... In the first house of these institutions, the Johanna-Helenen-Haus, there was a floor for disabled children. This floor was divided into three zones: a wing for disabled girls, a wing for disabled boys and a wing for disabled toddlers of mixed gender. Between 1947 and 1967, violence and crimes against disabled toddlers and schoolchildren took place in what was then the Volmarstein Orthopedic Institution. Around forty to sixty children experienced all facets of violence. They were subjected to physical, but also psychological and, as it later turned out, sexual violence. With the Königsberg deaconesses in 1947, fear and terror moved into the Johanna-Helenen-Heim. With their departure, a new era began. The period of terror thus lasted almost exactly 20 years and has had an impact for more than half a century.
The legal successor, the Volmarstein Evangelical Foundation, is not guilty! A book reports on the suffering of the children in the Johanna-Helenen home in the post-war period. The book "Violence in the care of the physically disabled - The Johanna-Helenen home in Volmarstein from 1947 to 1967" is also available from the Volmarstein Evangelical Foundation." kdwupper.de/johanna-helenen-heim_volmarstein.html
Translated by Google •
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