Eichberg

Eichberg is the name of the historic psychiatric hospital estate southeast of Kloster Eberbach in Eltville am Rhein, in the Rheingau region of Hesse, Germany. The institution traces its origins to the 'Irrenhaus Eberbach', an asylum opened on 16 August 1815 in part of Eberbach Abbey under an edict of the Duchy of Nassau. Because the abbey premises soon became too small, a purpose-built 'Heil- und Pflegeanstalt' was erected on the Eichberg and opened on 18 October 1849 as the 'Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Eichberg', designed by the architect Eduard Zais; 160 patients moved into the new buildings. The site gave the institution its enduring name, Eichberg. Over the following decades the Eichberg grew into one of the larger psychiatric institutions in the region, with further buildings by Karl Hofmann completed in 1884 and a hospital chapel. Its history includes the darkest chapter of German psychiatry: under National Socialism the Eichberg served both as a transit station for the 'Aktion T4' killing programme and as a killing site itself. At least 430 children were murdered in its Kinderfachabteilung, and more than 3,600 people are documented as having been killed there between 1942 and 1945. After 1945 the institution continued as a psychiatric hospital and was later renamed 'Zentrum für Soziale Psychiatrie Rheinblick'. Today the Eichberg site is operated by Vitos Rheingau, a non-profit company of the Vitos group, which is owned by the Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen (LWV Hessen). Vitos Rheingau runs four clinics — for psychiatry and psychotherapy, psychosomatics, child and adolescent psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry — together with a community-psychiatric services division and a school for nursing professionals. It employs around 1,000 staff at locations including Eltville and Bad Homburg. The Vitos group as a whole, headquartered in Kassel, comprises 17 non-profit companies with about 12,200 employees at 115 locations and an annual total income of around one billion euros. The Eichberg name thus denotes both a historic psychiatric institution and the present-day Vitos Rheingau site that continues its work.

The institution that became Eichberg was founded as the 'Irrenhaus Eberbach' in 1815, when an edict of the Duchy of Nassau assigned part of Eberbach Abbey for the care of the mentally ill. It opened on 16 August 1815 with four patients. Its proximity to a 'Korrektionshaus' (a correctional institution for socially deviant people) reflected the era's understanding of mental illness as deviance, but a more medical conception gradually emerged, expressed for instance in an aid association for discharged psychiatric patients that was supported by more than 1,200 paying members in the region and helped with reintegration into work and housing. The abbey rooms soon proved too small, and a purpose-built asylum was planned. On 18 October 1849 the new ducal Nassau 'Heil- und Pflegeanstalt' opened on land southeast of the abbey as the 'Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Eichberg', designed by the architect Baurat Eduard Zais; 160 patients moved there. The first director was chosen through a selection process in which candidates were sent on a tour of Germany to study improvements in the treatment of the mentally ill; the choice fell on the then 29-year-old Ludwig Snell, a 'somaticist' with early social-psychiatric approaches. The buildings were reportedly counted among the most beautiful institutions in Germany, and the clinic was deliberately placed in a highly visible spot so as not to appear to be hiding the sick. As the new buildings again became insufficient, some patients were temporarily housed in the abbey buildings until further buildings were ready in 1884, designed by Karl Hofmann, along with the hospital chapel. Around this time the aid association was revived as the 'Eichberger Hilfsverein für entlassene Geisteskranke' under director Schroeter. Later, internal improvements gave way to cost savings and a reduction of the originally humanitarian approaches, as institutions increasingly competed to be economically self-sufficient — achievable only through excessive use of patients' labour. Toward the end of the 19th century Social Darwinism gained ground, its doctrine of good and bad hereditary material ultimately providing the basis for the later murder of thousands of psychiatric patients. By the First World War there were 750 beds, a number that fell by three quarters during the war because of poor nutrition and hygiene; from 1932 to 1937 the number of beds was raised again to 900. With the rise of National Socialism, psychiatric patients, especially those with schizophrenic psychoses and people with intellectual disabilities, were classified as cases of 'hereditary disease' under Nazi racial hygiene, forcibly sterilised in their thousands and later murdered in the mass killings known after 1945 as Aktion T4. The Eichberg served both as a transit station to other killing facilities and as a killing site. As early as 1939 the Nazis had 178 patients of the Eichberg clinic forcibly sterilised. Friedrich Mennecke became director of the Eichberg in January 1939. From 1941 the institution, like those in Andernach, Herborn, Scheuern, Weilmünster and the Kalmenhof in Idstein, was a transit station during Aktion T4 for about 2,200 people who were killed in the gas chambers of the Hadamar killing facility; the victims were transported in grey buses of the Gemeinnützige Krankentransportgesellschaft (GeKraT) with curtained windows to the railway station in Hattenheim to conceal their fate. In an institution designed for 900 patients, up to 1,800 people were accommodated, sometimes in three-tiered beds. From 1941 people were also killed on the Eichberg itself during the Second World War. In the children's ward alone, headed by Mennecke's deputy Walter Schmidt, at least 430 children were murdered, partly in cooperation with the Heidelberg university psychiatric clinic. From 1942 until Germany's liberation in 1945 adults were also killed; according to clinic records this amounted to more than 3,600 people, including 600 of the institution's own patients and 2,000 people brought there. After 1945 the institution continued as a psychiatric hospital and was later renamed 'Zentrum für Soziale Psychiatrie Rheinblick'. On 1 January 2008 the holding company Vitos GmbH — initially named LWV-Gesundheitsmanagement GmbH — was founded, and the Eichberg institution became part of it as Vitos Rheingau. Vitos Rheingau today is the operator of four clinics (psychiatry and psychotherapy, psychosomatics, child and adolescent psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry), a community-psychiatric services division, a school for nursing professionals, a vineyard, and an open art studio for patients and clients. It employs around 1,000 staff at sites including Eltville and Bad Homburg. The wider Vitos group, headquartered in Kassel, comprises 17 non-profit companies with about 12,200 employees at 115 locations and an annual total income of around one billion euros, treating 44,000 inpatients/part-inpatients and providing about 300,000 outpatient treatments per year.

• 2008

  The holding company Vitos GmbH (initially LWV-Gesundheitsmanagement GmbH) is founded on 1 January; the Eichberg institution becomes part of it as Vitos Rheingau.

• 1945

  Killings at the Eichberg end with Germany's liberation; more than 3,600 people are documented as killed there from 1942, including at least 430 children.

• 1941

  The Eichberg becomes a transit station during Aktion T4 for about 2,200 people killed in the Hadamar gas chambers; killings also begin on the Eichberg itself.

• 1939

  178 patients of the Eichberg clinic are forcibly sterilised; Friedrich Mennecke becomes director in January.

• 1932

  Bed capacity is increased, reaching 900 beds by 1937.

• 1884

  Further buildings by architect Karl Hofmann, including the hospital chapel, are completed; the aid association is revived as the 'Eichberger Hilfsverein für entlassene Geisteskranke'.

• 1849

  The new ducal Nassau 'Heil- und Pflegeanstalt' opens on 18 October on the Eichberg as the 'Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Eichberg'; 160 patients move in. Architect: Eduard Zais.

• 1815

  The 'Irrenhaus Eberbach' asylum opens on 16 August in part of Eberbach Abbey under an edict of the Duchy of Nassau, with four patients.

A public-benefit, state-owned psychiatric care provider rooted in a historic 1815 institution, today part of the Vitos group serving Hesse.

• Vitos Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Eltville (Eichberg site)

• Clinic for psychosomatics

• Clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry

• Clinic for forensic psychiatry

• Community psychiatric services (Begleitende Psychiatrische Dienste)

• School for nursing professionals

• Vineyard belonging to the company

• Open art studio for patients and clients

1. 1Vitos Rheingauvitos.de
2. 2Über uns: Der Vitos Unternehmensverbund stellt sich vorvitos.de
3. 3Pressevitos.de
4. 4Kontaktvitos.de
5. 5Eichberg (Eltville)wikidata.org
6. 6Vitos Rheingaude.wikipedia.org