Model design for the extension of the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg by Hermann Distel and August Grubitz, 1928

    Model design: Front view

    Model design: Rear view

    With the kind permission of State Archive Hamburg.

    Source Description

    The model design (fig.) for the extension of the Israelite Hospital (IK) in Hamburg in 1928 reflected the results and apex of a highly successful development since the hospital’s opening in 1843. In the founding and planning phase that had begun in 1839, Salomon Heine, in addition to the hospital commission, had consulted doctors who had gathered experience in hospitals in Paris and London in order to be able to take the latest findings in medicine into account for its construction and the hospital concept. The result was a hospital that was progressive by the standards of its time. 88 years after its inauguration, the design for the large extension of the hospital still illustrates the willingness to innovate among the decision-makers at the time, in particular the crucial hospital board of trustees. In addition to the chairman, Dr. Fritz Warburg, members of the Jewish community of Hamburg, the leading physicians of the surgical and medical clinic, and the hospital matron were all represented in this board. In the 1920s, the quality of medical and nursing care at the Israelite Hospital led to a steady increase in the number of patients, so that its capacity was fully utilized. In addition, rapidly progressing medical developments and necessary updates demanded a modernization and restructuring within the hospital. The photographs of the model design for the extension building were discovered by chance during research on the 175-year history of this Jewish hospital in the files of the Hamburg Medical College in the Hamburg State Archives.
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    Recommended Citation

    Model design for the extension of the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg by Hermann Distel and August Grubitz, 1928, edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, <https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-198.en.v1> [March 28, 2024].