German Red Cross Nursing Association Munich

The Schwesternschaft München vom Bayerischen Roten Kreuz e. V. — rendered in English as the German Red Cross Nursing Association Munich — is a non-profit registered association (eingetragener Verein) based in Munich, Bavaria, and one of 31 German Red Cross nursing associations (DRK-Schwesternschaften) nationwide. Its members are professional nurses, midwives and nursing trainees, and it is organized as a women's professional network with a democratic association structure. The association traces its origins to 1869, when the "Bayerischer Frauenverein vom Rothen Kreuz" was founded; the founding assembly of what is now known as the Schwesternschaft took place in Munich on 15 April 1872. It has therefore been active for around 150 years. The association's central mission is independent help for people in need and the promotion of health care, guided by the fundamental principles of the Red Cross and the professional-ethical principles of Red Cross nurses. It operates its own social institutions and also deploys Red Cross nurses to cooperation partners under secondment (Gestellungsverträge). Its portfolio has historically included four hospital companies with roughly 900 beds, around 2,000 employees, and tens of thousands of inpatient and outpatient cases per year, as well as five vocational schools for nursing professions and a senior care facility. The Rotkreuzklinikum München, an academic teaching hospital of the Technical University of Munich, is among its best-known institutions. As a membership organization, the Schwesternschaft München admits women who work in nursing or are training in nursing; they have voting rights at the annual general meeting and elect the board and advisory council. Supporting members may participate in an advisory capacity without voting rights. The executive board is led by a full-time chairwoman, titled Generaloberin; Edith Dürr has held this role. The association is one of three Bavarian and 31 German DRK nursing associations, and it belongs to the nationwide Verband der Schwesternschaften vom DRK e. V. (VdS) in Berlin, which represents the professional-political interests of Red Cross nurses at federal level. In recent years the association has faced significant financial and structural challenges. Insolvency proceedings were opened in 2023 for three of its four hospitals — Lindenberg, Wertheim and Munich — with Wertheim and Lindenberg ending in liquidation; proceedings for the Würzburg site followed in 2025. Despite these difficulties, the association continues to describe itself as active in nursing care, training, senior care and child care, and it remains a major provider of nursing education and services in Bavaria.

The history of the Schwesternschaft München reaches back more than 150 years. In 1869, the "Bayerischer Frauenverein vom Rothen Kreuz" (Bavarian Women's Association of the Red Cross) was founded. Under the impression of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the conference of German Red Cross women's and men's associations held in Nuremberg in October 1871 defined peacetime tasks. The Bavarian Women's Association agreed to the Nuremberg proposals at a meeting in Munich on 18 March 1872, and on 15 April 1872 the founding assembly of what is now known as the Schwesternschaft took place. At the Bremen Conference in 1882, the various associations from across Germany joined together into a federation of nursing associations to improve coordination. The federation's main concerns were the education and further training of Red Cross nurses as well as their welfare and provision. Red Cross nursing associations were also obliged to make at least half of their members available for wartime medical service, and to plan the wartime deployments of Red Cross nurses. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the professionalization of nursing. The nursing associations took on the task of shaping both the personality and the technical training of nurses, and nursing began to be understood as a profession. Over the following decades the Schwesternschaft München developed into a major provider of nursing care in Bavaria, operating its own hospitals, nursing schools and senior facilities, and seconding nurses to external institutions. By the 2010s the association owned and operated four hospital companies with a total of around 900 beds and around 2,000 employees, treating roughly 42,000 inpatient and 56,000 outpatient cases annually. These included the Rotkreuzklinikum München (with geriatric rehabilitation and its own women's clinic, an academic teaching hospital of the Technical University of Munich), the Rotkreuzklinik Würzburg, the Rotkreuzklinik Wertheim and the Rotkreuzklinik Lindenberg. It also ran five vocational schools for nursing professions and a senior facility for 140 people in Grünwald. In 2012 the Schlossbergklinik Oberstaufen was taken over by HELIOS; that clinic closed on 31 March 2016. The association also held the Rotkreuzklinikum München and a 100-bed hospital in Würzburg fully in its ownership, and seconded nursing staff to institutions such as the Klinikum der Universität München, the Deutsches Herzzentrum München, the Kreiskrankenhaus Erding, Asklepios Kliniken Lindau and the Ilmtalklinik Pfaffenhofen. In 2023, insolvency proceedings were opened for three of the four hospitals — Lindenberg, Wertheim and Munich. For Wertheim, the insolvency administrator could not secure a municipal takeover because Generaloberin Dürr declined to give a binding answer to the city's letter of intent submitted in November 2023; liquidation of the hospital was announced on 19 June. Wertheim's mayor Markus Herrera Torrez commented that the damage left by the Schwesternschaft in Wertheim could not be greater. The Lindenberg site also went through insolvency proceedings. In 2025, insolvency proceedings were opened for the Würzburg location. Despite these setbacks, the association continues to operate nursing schools, senior care and other social services, and remains part of the nationwide network of 31 German Red Cross nursing associations.

• 2025

  Insolvency proceedings opened for the Würzburg hospital site.

• 2023

  Insolvency proceedings opened for three of four hospitals (Lindenberg, Wertheim, Munich); Wertheim and Lindenberg end in liquidation.

• 2016

  Schlossbergklinik Oberstaufen closes on 31 March.

• 2012

  Schlossbergklinik Oberstaufen taken over by HELIOS.

• 1882

  Bremen Conference: German nursing associations join into a nationwide federation.

• 1872

  On 15 April, the founding assembly of what is now the Schwesternschaft takes place in Munich.

• 1871

  Nuremberg conference of German Red Cross associations defines peacetime tasks.

• 1869

  Founding of the "Bayerischer Frauenverein vom Rothen Kreuz" (Bavarian Women's Association of the Red Cross).

Non-profit Red Cross nursing association providing high-quality nursing care, training and senior services in Bavaria, with a strong women's professional network and charitable mission.

• Rotkreuzklinikum München

  Academic teaching hospital of the Technical University of Munich, with geriatric rehabilitation and its own women's clinic.

• Rotkreuzklinik Würzburg

  Hospital in Würzburg; insolvency proceedings opened in 2025.

• Rotkreuzklinik Wertheim

  Hospital in Wertheim; insolvency proceedings ended in liquidation.

• Rotkreuzklinik Lindenberg

  Hospital in Lindenberg im Allgäu; insolvency proceedings ended in liquidation.

• Berufsfachschulen für Pflegeberufe

  Five vocational schools for nursing professions in Munich, Würzburg, Lindenberg and Erding.

• Parkresidenz Helmine Held

  Senior care facility for 140 people in Grünwald.

1. 1Herzlich Willkommen - Schwesternschaft Münchenschwesternschaft-muenchen.de
2. 2Geschichte - Schwesternschaft Münchenschwesternschaft-muenchen.de
3. 3Leitbild - Schwesternschaft Münchenschwesternschaft-muenchen.de
4. 4Netzwerk - Schwesternschaft Münchenschwesternschaft-muenchen.de
5. 5Schwesternschaft München - Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
6. 6German Red Cross Nursing Association Munich - Wikidatawikidata.org