Vom Pesthaus zum Prestigeobjekt. Die Geschichte der Charité

The Charité - more than 300 years of hospital history in the centre of Berlin. What began as a plague hospital on the outskirts of the city is now the largest university hospital in Europe. A place of cutting-edge research within historic walls. Almost half of Charité's buildings are listed. Almost half of Charité's buildings are listed. There have always been times of growth on the site Times of destruction. Charité experienced two world wars, revolutions and the division of Germany. The traces can still be seen today. In the GDR era it was became a renowned clinic, which also made the GDR famous worldwide. In the course of its history, the Charité was constantly remodelled and extended. A spaceship was rumoured to have landed here in Lichterfelde. The Charité now has four sites in Berlin. The former plague hospital has become a prestigious institution. And the development continues. The Charité is planning major new buildings. We can already see that a lighthouse project is being built here. Today the Charité is a brand - and Berlin is proud of it. No matter who was in power. Whether there was war or peace. The Charité was always needed and used. Come with us into historic lecture theatres, the Sauerbruch bunker and secret places that otherwise remain closed. Hello and welcome. My name is Christoph Rauhut and I am the director of the Berlin Heritage Authority. We are here in the nucleus of the Charité. Where it all began more than 300 years ago in 1710. Back then, this site was outside the city gates. Today it is in the centre of Berlin. King Frederick the First had a plague hospital built there, where sick people could be isolated. At the beginning of the 18th century, the plague had broken out in Eastern Europe and the king expected the highly contagious disease to reach Berlin. But the city was spared and the building initially stood empty. It was used as a shelter for the homeless, until 1727, when it became a military hospital and a training centre for military doctors. In the margin of a letter, the king wrote: ‘The house shall be called the Charité‘. This created a brand that has endured to this day. The former Pesthaus was a two-story half-timbered building with four corner towers. It was surrounded by meadows and gardens, had stables and its own brewery. In the course of its history, the Charité was demolished, rebuilt and extended several times. And all this during ongoing operations. The oldest surviving building on the Charité Campus in Mitte is the Aschheim Zondek House. It dates back to 1836 and was built as a so-called smallpox house. Hard to believe today: when it was completed, it stood outside the city walls. People suffering from smallpox were housed here. The predecessor building of the Charité was like this listed building. The so-called round arch style is typical. It is characteristic of important utility buildings in the first half of the 19th century. Incidentally, the smallpox house later achieved worldwide scientific fame: The first hormone-based pregnancy test was developed here. The impressive brick buildings that today characterise the historic campus in Mitte were built from 1896 onwards. At that time, the architect Georg Distel was commissioned to draw up an overall plan for the site. He had the old Charité buildings almost completely demolished and designed a uniform complex, that looks like a small town. Spacious, attractively designed green areas were also created, offering the patients the opportunity to spend time outdoors. Sybille Haseley ensures that this character is preserved. The regional officer of the Berlin Heritage Authority looks after the Charité's Mitte campus. She looks after it together with her colleagues from the Lower Heritage Protection Authority, that the structure of the entire complex is protected. Because you can still recognise it: The typical pavilion style of the time. Mrs Haseley, we're in the middle of the city on the Charité campus. Yet it's very quiet and green here. What is this special facility where we are? This is a self-contained complex from the 19th century, developed in one piece. At that time, functions were still separated, i.e. there were separate buildings for each function, for the surgical clinic, the medical clinic and the mental hospital. They tried to organise this by axes. There were main axes and cross axes. According to their importance, the Surgical Clinic and the Medical Clinic were now naturally on the two main axes and then neighbouring the Pathological Institute, the Dermatological Clinic and the Psychiatric Neurological Clinic at the head end. These pavilions are standing very loosely arranged, embedded in such a splendid green area. What strikes me are these wonderful balconies or loggias that face south-west. most of the time. I think almost always. What's their function? That was part of the recovery process, of course. There were recovery beds there. You typically find that in hospital sites from that time. So, light, air and sun was a very important issue. I think you can see from the buildings and the architecture what value was attached to this hospital site. That it really was a prestigious building even back then, which wanted to attract scientists. They didn't just build functional buildings here with facades and windows, but it's really very prestigious architecture with these ornamental gables, with ornaments, with plaster surfaces, with art on the building. And that makes you realise how important this building project was back then. And great interiors, staircases, ribbed vaults. Wonderfully designed staircases, colourful, exactly. So, it was also a goal here to present ourselves. Between 1868 and 1906, four other large municipal hospitals were built in Berlin in addition to the Charité, Friedrichshain, Urban, Moabit and Virchow. They were also all built in the so-called pavilion style. One of them has belonged to the Charité since 1997: The Virchow Clinic in Wedding. When it opened in 1906, it was considered the most modern hospital in Europe and with its huge dimensions surpassed all previous facilities. The so-called garden city for the sick comprised more than 2,000 beds with its well-designed pavilions, which were arranged in a park-like area. The buildings were flooded with light and air and each department had its own pavilion. This was intended to prevent diseases from spreading. This architecture was intended to actively promote the recovery of the sick. Today, only this small section is a reminder of what the entire site looked like more than 100 years ago. The facility was planned by city planning officer Ludwig Hoffmann. But the initiative goes back to Rudolf Virchow - after whom the clinic is named. He was a professor at the Charité and politician and was committed throughout his life to in favour of basic medical care for the broad sections of the population. The original Virchow Clinic was largely destroyed during the Second World War. However, the former main building on Augustenburger Platz has been preserved, some historical buildings like the boiler house and the 500 metre long green central avenue. This axis will be retained in the future if the site is further developed. Of all the Charité sites, this is where there is the greatest development potential. Nadine Mauritz knows exactly what that means. She is currently head of the construction department at Charité. Mrs Mauritz, Hello, Mr Rauhut. Mrs Mauritz, they're digging and drilling behind us. What is being built here? The German Heart Centre of the Charité is being built here. It will be around 60 metres high with 15 floors above ground and a helipad on top and, of course, underground floors for the technology. A total of around 30,000 square metres of floor space. Now this is a building that is being rebuilt. But we are on a historic campus. How do you develop a campus in such a way that you come to the conclusion that a new building will be constructed here? Of course, we looked at the entire campus. We don't want to locate individual buildings somewhere, we basically need an overall plan. This urban development masterplan, where we have defined construction sites where new buildings can be built and where buildings can remain. We also want to strengthen these historical elements of the existing campus, for example the central avenue and the greenery, in the masterplan because we really believe that this is a great quality. Not just one building should have a healing effect, but the whole campus should have a healing effect. How do you go about it? What typically happens to a listed Charité building? Of course, they are also used, just like the new buildings that we construct. In the future, of course, we want to the high-tech topics in new buildings. So that we don't have to make too many unsightly interventions in the existing historical buildings. We also have enough other functions that need to be located that are not high-tech operation theaters. Topics such as teaching, research, administration, which are also very well and very sensibly accommodated in existing historical buildings. We are also in the process of renovating some of the listed buildings we have. So, of course, the historic buildings will also be taken into the future. A lot of history, but it still works: Monument protection and ongoing hospital operations. Something always happens somewhere. Yes, of course. We are building in many places at the Charité. At the moment with a total volume of around 900 million euros. With a volume of over 500 million euros, the heart centre is of course a large part of this. Mrs Mauritz, thank you very much for the interview and I look forward to continuing to work with you. With pleasure. Me too. Back on the Mitte campus. Here, somewhat hidden between the historic brick buildings, there is a place that is the subject of many legends: the Sauerbruch bunker. It is a reminder of the darkest chapter of the Charité, the Third Reich. And of a famous, but also controversial doctor, the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch. In the last days of the Second World War the Charité was in the middle of the front line. While the fighting was going on outside, Ferdinand Sauerbruch was operating down here - in a bunker that had been built in 1942. Operations were carried out here day and night, even though medicines, anaesthetics, electricity and water were in short supply. Today, there are plans to make the bunker accessible to the public. As part of the Charité Memorial Site project. At the end of the Second World War, almost 90% of the Charité buildings were destroyed or damaged. Despite this, the hospital continued to operate, because the Soviet occupiers wanted the Charité to function. It became the most important and largest building site in Berlin. And there are still big plans for the site. Sybille Haseley from the Berlin Heritage Authority is in charge of the Campus Mitte and is committed to preserving as much of the historic building fabric as possible. For example, the refurbishment of this old lecture theatre in keeping with its listed status. You're actually in a time capsule when you come in here. What happened here? Yes, it really is like that, time really has stood still here. I suppose so, shortly after the last utilisation phase in the 50s. So, this is the preserved corner pavilion of the former tumour clinic. It was built in 1907 and in here is the old radiological lecture theatre with the cloakrooms at the back, with all the historical equipment, the old cupboards, the old washbasins the old blackboard. Time has stood still here. Now you can come in here and you are totally thrilled and is it even possible to get something like this? Here we have great luck, that the Charité here wants to house an external site of the Museum of Medical History here. So, basically, this lecture theatre itself will be an exhibition object and will be preserved in this design, so it will really only be cleaned and treated in a conservational manner. And that's a great stroke of luck that we're really here history of the Charité up close and very authentically. How do you go about reactivating a hall like this? What are the steps involved? Well, you have to record the inventory first, of course, must realise that this is important for the room. Then, of course, it's first about structural interventions. Fire protection, accessibility, building services. Then, of course, there are aesthetic issues. How do you present surfaces? We have here, you can see that, had sample surfaces created. You can see that the colour is peeling off very badly here. It won't be left like this, because you can't use the room like this. But we don't want to restore this room to its former splendour, as is sometimes said, but instead... It's really exciting here, what this room is called is also a little morbid. For a hospital like this, it's somehow a special project, an auditorium, like this to repair. In any case this is one of the simpler and nicer projects. I'm thinking of the recently completed pathology, there are hygiene requirements, these are ultra-clean laboratories. Of course, we also had intensive consultations: How do we deal with the historic doors? We were able to find good solutions to preserve the doors and install small viewing windows. And I think that's how you have to approach it. Well, good projects in heritage conservation come about when everyone sits down at the same table and works together according to solutions for the various requirements. Exactly like this. Mrs Haseley, I am very enthusiastic about this project. Thank you very much for showing me the room. It was my pleasure. During the Cold War, the Charité was the leading hospital in Eastern Europe and a model institution, but also had to struggle with major problems. Until the Wall was built, many Charité employees fled to the West. There was an acute shortage of skilled labour at the hospital. After the Wall was built, the site bordered directly on the death strip. This has also left its mark. As here in the lecture theatre, the windows facing west were bricked up and entrances blocked. The Charité was of particular interest to the Stasi because of its location right next to the border. Many inofficial stasi employees were smuggled in here, conspiratorial meetings were held and desks were searched at night. But West Berlin also had a problem. Both the university and the Charité hospital were located in the eastern part of the city. Not only Berlin's economy and politics were divided, but also science. That's why the Free University was founded in Dahlem in 1948. A university hospital was also needed to train medical specialists. This was the birth of today's Campus Benjamin Franklin. The hospital was opened in 1968 after ten years of construction and was then called "Klinikum Steglitz". The building was designed by the American architect duo Curtis and Davis. The USA covered a fifth of the construction costs. After Willy Brandt, then mayor of Berlin, appealed for support for the new hospital building. But the financial injection from the United States was much more than that. It was seen as proof of American interest in Berlin's future. The Steglitz Clinic was the largest hospital complex in Europe at the time. A compact building that united all the institutes, clinics and lecture theatres under one roof. Andreas Jüttemann knows the history of this building inside out. He is a medical historian and has studied the hospital in depth. Mr Jüttemann, we are now standing here in front of the Benjamin Franklin Hospital. The name is very special and tells us a lot about the history. Yes, one of the parties involved in the construction was the Benjamin Franklin Foundation, not only as a funding organisation, but also as an institution that was directly affiliated with the US State Department. In other words, there was a close political relationship and a few wishes that the Americans absolutely wanted to install here. In addition to design wishes, above all the fact that there should be a place where American medicine is presented for visitors from East Berlin, for visitors from the Eastern Bloc. To show how advanced American technology is. What characterises a modern hospital in this day and age? In the history of hospitals, there are two important building types. One is the pavilion style and the other is the department system. When the Americans came up with the idea of the department system, it meant: All departments under one roof, all departments on different levels, short distances. Patients no longer had to go from place to place and could stay in the building. A lot of interdisciplinary collaboration. And the chief physicians no longer had large palaces. No, they had small rooms that were just as big as those of their employees and administrative staff. So, they wanted more collaboration, networking, teamwork was the model. And also more bedside teaching, for example. That was trialled for many years. That was also relatively new in America. It was started about 30 years earlier and in Germany, the Steglitz Clinical Centre was the first building to use the new principle. How was this hospital building, which also directly adjoins a residential area here, received at the time? Criticised by the residents at first. It was always said that a spaceship had landed here in Lichterfelde. Well, the peripheral development is more like detached houses and with the additional car parks, with the car traffic. Not as critical as it would probably have been seen twenty years later. But there were still critical voices. There was the most resistance from the medical profession. The FU Medicine was located in the former municipal hospital in Westend, now the DRK Klinik. The chief physicians didn't want to move here, they didn't want to move into such a modern building. They didn't want to work together, they didn't want these small rooms. They wanted to continue to rule over their own pavilion. In other words, there was resistance. That went so far that new doctors had to be called to Berlin for the hospital, including new chief physician positions and new professorships. And of course it was relatively difficult to get doctors from West Germany, for example, who wanted to work here in these new structures when the Berlin Wall was being built. Incentives had to be created. Chief physicians were allowed to charge ten per cent of the bed capacity privately and nursing staff were allowed to move into reasonably priced, well-equipped flats close to the hospital. The current administration building, house three, for example was a nurses' residence at the time. The Steglitz Clinic consists of a compact building with a central treatment wing and two large buildings to the left and right of it, which appear to be superimposed. The patient rooms are in here, plus the base for administration, teaching and research. And the basement also follows the architectural idea of the departmental style. All the logistics are located here in the basement of the building. An exercise pool and radiotherapy. Everything is organised along a long supply route that runs through the entire building. The architects also built a control centre that was ultra-modern by the standards of the time, with which the entire hospital could be monitored. The façade design also broke new ground. This so-called screen was definitely a political issue. It was the wish of the two architects to install it here. But you have to go all the way back first. The architects built in Louisiana. And we're in the 50s, 60s, we don't have air-conditioning technology yet. And the idea was in Louisiana, through the screen which many buildings there have, to bring shade into the rooms so that they don't heat up. This model was to be adapted here as peculiarly American. We all know that Berlin doesn't have the same climate. It wasn't absolutely necessary. And many people involved in the Berlin construction were opposed to it because it was incredibly expensive to have the concrete form a spine. He had to come all the way from the Netherlands actually had to be shipped in. But the Americans wanted to implement this here. It doesn't really have any relevance. Some of the rooms are very dark as a result and as we know, the air conditioning technology is naturally better today. A hospital that is a listed building. Is that compatible? Well, of course it has some challenges for the operation. The technology has changed in the last over 50 years. This means that many conversions are necessary on the outside and inside. The fact that this hospital is a listed building is particularly important because of its prototypical role for Europe. And the more I got involved with staff, with students, with the building, I realised how many people love this building. Despite the perhaps not necessarily picturesque views from some sides. What is characteristic of this house for you? I fell in love with the screen, because this symbolism of this spine as a medical or anatomical component as a building veneer. Well, he would probably also urgently need a bit of love. It is a little bit of a poorly maintained spine. It needs a bit of exercise to get strong again. It's also the hospital of the second half of life. Thank you very much for the interview. Thank you very much. History on the outside, high-tech on the inside. The Benjamin Franklin Campus is one of the most important hospital buildings of the post-war period in Germany. But here, too, the Charité must continue to develop - as always in its history. Because the population forecast for Berlin shows that more and more people will move to the city and need medical care. Numerous new buildings are planned on the Benjamin Franklin campus and the main building itself is also being renovated. The Charité has extensively modernised five operating theatres and equipped them with high-tech equipment. Four nursing wards have also been refurbished, as what was once the most modern hospital in Europe is aging. For more than 300 years, the Charité's mission has been to offer its patients the best possible care and to gain new medical insights. The buildings must therefore move with the times. At the same time, it is our task to protect the listed architecture. There will also be new buildings at Charité's fourth site, the Berlin Buch campus. Currently, 80 per cent of the Charité buildings are in need of renovation. This makes a long-term strategy for dealing with the architectural heritage all the more important. What is certain is that medicine constantly places new demands on buildings, employees and the city. Charité has a chequered relationship with the city. When Berlin is booming, the hospital apparatus also grows. If the city is doing badly, the Charité also suffers. The hospital is something like the memory of the city. Despite all the challenges that the Charité will face in the coming decades it has a treasure. Its history and its buildings remind us of what its founders once stood up for. For the best possible medical care and for architecture that supports patients in their recovery. We wish the Charité this attitude for the next 300 years and will be happy to accompany it in this endeavour.