Hensoltshöhe Foundation

Stiftung Hensoltshöhe (the Hensoltshöhe Foundation) is a Protestant diaconal work and spiritual center headquartered in Gunzenhausen, Middle Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It traces its origins to 1909, when the Deaconess Mother House Hensoltshöhe was officially founded, building on a Christian recreation home established in 1905 by Ernest Mehl, technical director of the Augsburg worsted spinning mill. The name comes from a former excursion restaurant named after Leonhard Hensolt, a 19th-century mayor of Gunzenhausen, whose building became the institution's first premises. The foundation describes its mission as bringing people into contact with the love of God. It operates across several fields: education, hospitality, health, and as a spiritual center. Its facilities include a rehabilitation clinic, educational institutions, senior homes, and conference and guest houses. Around 550 employees work together in service to people. The spiritual center is integrated into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Historically, the Hensoltshöhe was carried by its deaconess sisterhood, whose members committed to a celibate and simple life in community and to service without personal income. At its peak the sisterhood numbered hundreds, and the mother house took on a wide range of tasks: nursing, kindergarten work, school teaching, seminars for social pedagogy, mission work (including in China from 1925), and agricultural self-sufficiency. As the number of deaconesses declined sharply, many of their former duties were taken over by employed staff and volunteers. The foundation remains active, publishing a free magazine called "Mittendrin" and a newsletter, and hosting regular events such as Sunday services, Bible study groups, flea markets, and the annual "Tag der Hensoltshöhe." It is a significant work of missionary diakonia in the Franconia region and beyond.

The history of Stiftung Hensoltshöhe is intertwined with the Protestant diaconal movement and the Gemeinschaftsbewegung (community movement) of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Comparable institutions had already emerged, such as the mother houses at Kaiserswerth and Neuendettelsau, and the Deaconess Mother House in Vandsburg (then West Prussia), the original mother house of the Deutscher Gemeinschafts-Diakonieverband. The name "Hensoltshöhe" comes from an excursion restaurant on the former eastern edge of Gunzenhausen, named after Leonhard Hensolt, a former mayor who promoted the establishment of the garden restaurant in the mid-19th century. After its repurposing, the restaurant building became the first building of the present institution and gave it its name. In 1903, Ernest Mehl, technical director of the Augsburg worsted spinning mill, acquired the Hensoltshöhe excursion restaurant, which was for sale. Mehl was shaped by evangelical Christianity and had already created progressive social facilities for workers and employees in his division of the spinning mill. He acquired the property with the goal of founding a Christian recreation home and a Christian center in Middle Franconia. Besides the restaurant, he built a three-story new building, used as a recreation house from 1905. From summer 1905, Mehl invited people to faith conferences and Bible courses in the former restaurant rooms. In 1909, a separate diaconal institution named "Hensoltshöhe" was founded, which independently accepted and trained deaconess candidates. The first deaconess was admitted in May 1909. By 1910 the Hensoltshöhe already had 24 candidates of its own. The deaconesses initially worked in local and supra-local nursing, but from the start also sought to work missionally in their surroundings, organizing Christian girls' and women's circles. From 1914, kindergarten work was added, along with care for the war wounded of World War I. The first superior of the mother house was Sister Anna Kolitz from the Vandsburg mother house, who held the position from 1909 to 1954. In 1919, the Hensoltshöhe received its first rector, Pastor Ernst Keupp. Corresponding to rapid personnel growth (750 deaconesses by 1929), the mother house took on further tasks in quick succession: in 1919, the beginning of school activity and the takeover of the Haus Immanuel Hutschdorf drinkers' sanatorium (today a specialist clinic for women with addiction); in 1920, the beginning of Christian leisure work and the founding of the Blättermissionsarbeit in Nuremberg, predecessor of today's Stiftung Marburger Medien; in 1921, the merger of Pietist community circles into the Hensoltshöher Gemeinschaftsverband (HGV e.V.), since 2006 part of the Bund evangelischer Gemeinschaften; in 1925, the sending of the first Hensoltshöhe deaconess for mission work in China; and in 1927, the founding of various seminars (e.g., for business teachers and handicraft teachers) and a kindergarten and after-school care seminar, today the Fachakademie für Sozialpädagogik. In the 1920s, the Hensoltshöhe acquired several farms and used them for self-sufficiency. In Gunzenhausen and elsewhere, it constantly expanded its properties. The mother house operated a large kitchen and, for its own needs, its own butcher shop, bakery, and laundry. It employed its own craftsmen (shoemakers, locksmiths, electricians, masons, carpenters) in partly own workshops, where apprentices were also trained. During the Nazi period (1933–1945), the Hensoltshöhe tried to continue its religious life and its school and care institutions in a Christian spirit against the pressure of the Nazi regime, especially media propaganda and institutionalized Gleichschaltung. In many respects this succeeded, but not completely. At times an uncritical closeness to the regime was sought to secure the work's survival. Although church-political neutrality... [text truncated in source]. Over the decades, the deaconess sisterhood was the essential and supporting element of the Hensoltshöhe. Members committed individually to a celibate and simple life in community with other deaconesses and to service to the community. They provided this service renouncing personal income within the framework of their professional activity, sometimes into old age. They largely lived in the Hensoltshöhe properties and were deployed there in various functions and institutions. Besides practical duties, the sisterhood also gave itself a faith-proclaiming and missionary mandate. Deaconesses in need of support and care in old age live in the so-called "Feierabendheim" in Büchelberg, five kilometers north of Gunzenhausen. As the number of deaconesses has declined sharply, many of their former tasks are now performed by employees and volunteers. The foundation continues as an active diaconal work and spiritual center, integrated into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.

• Founding of a community sister house by Pastor Carl Ferdinand Blazejewski in Borken, East Prussia, which moved to Vandsburg, West Prussia, a year later.

• Ernest Mehl, director of the Augsburg worsted spinning mill, acquires the Hensoltshöhe excursion restaurant and surrounding land.

• Ernest Mehl builds the planned recreation home; the first Vandsburg deaconesses arrive in Gunzenhausen to care for guests.

• Official founding day of the Deaconess Mother House Hensoltshöhe.

• Founding of the first external station: private nursing care in Nuremberg.

• Kindergarten work begins; care for World War I wounded is added.

• Beginning of school activity; takeover of the Haus Immanuel Hutschdorf drinkers' sanatorium; Pastor Ernst Keupp becomes first rector.

• Beginning of Christian leisure work; founding of the Blättermissionsarbeit in Nuremberg, predecessor of today's Stiftung Marburger Medien.

• Merger of Pietist community circles into the Hensoltshöher Gemeinschaftsverband (HGV e.V.).

• Sending of the first Hensoltshöhe deaconess for mission work in China.

• Founding of various seminars (e.g., for business teachers and handicraft teachers) and a kindergarten and after-school care seminar, today the Fachakademie für Sozialpädagogik.

• The mother house reaches 750 deaconesses.

• Sister Anna Kolitz ends her tenure as first superior (since 1909).

• The Hensoltshöher Gemeinschaftsverband becomes part of the Bund evangelischer Gemeinschaften.

A Protestant diaconal foundation and spiritual center with over 115 years of tradition, combining health care, education, senior care, and hospitality under a Christian mission.

• Rehaklinik (rehabilitation clinic)

  A rehabilitation clinic operated by the foundation.

• Bildungseinrichtungen (educational institutions)

  Includes the Fachakademie für Sozialpädagogik and other seminars.

• Seniorenheime (senior homes)

  Residential care for the elderly.

• Tagungs- und Gästehäuser (conference and guest houses)

  Hospitality facilities for conferences and guests.

• Geistliches Zentrum (spiritual center)

  A spiritual center integrated into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.

• Zeitschrift "Mittendrin"

  A free magazine and newsletter published by the foundation.

1. 1Stiftung Hensoltshöhe: Stiftung Hensoltshoehestiftung-hensoltshoehe.de
2. 2Stiftung Hensoltshöhe: Geschichtestiftung-hensoltshoehe.de
3. 3Stiftung Hensoltshöhewikidata.org
4. 4Stiftung Hensoltshöhede.wikipedia.org