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The “House of German Doctors” in Berlin

Expropriated for the Doctors’ Organizations: Berliner Strasse 15–21

Two men in doctor’s coats stand before the already gutted premises of Dr Karl Edel’s former hospital. Picture taken 1 November 1938. Photographer unknown | <span class=prov>Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Asset Issues (BADV), Berlin, Special Assets and Buildings Administration of the Berlin Finance Senator/Chief Finance Directorate (OFD) of Berlin, 8-1307/51</span>
Two men in doctor’s coats stand before the already gutted premises of Dr Karl Edel’s former hospital. Picture taken 1 November 1938. Photographer unknown | Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Asset Issues (BADV), Berlin, Special Assets and Buildings Administration of the Berlin Finance Senator/Chief Finance Directorate (OFD) of Berlin, 8-1307/51

It was in 1936 that the KVD began planning for a central “House of German Doctors” in Berlin. This monumental building would be built across from the Technical College as part of Berlin’s envisioned redesign as the “Reich Capital Germania”. It would be the seat of the KVD and Reich Medical Association, among others. Plans included a large auditorium as well as accommodations for official guests.

The intended building site, located on today’s Strasse des 17. Juni, was where the German-Jewish psychiatrist Karl Edel had operated a private hospital until 1921. It was only after much pressure from Willi Senft, head of the Statutory Health Insurance Physician Association of Berlin, that Edel’s heirs agreed to sell the property to the KVD on 6 October 1937. The KVD had Edel’s hospital demolished by 1939. But because of the long planning process, as well as the shifting priorities of the Second World War, the “House of German Doctors” was ultimately never built. In 1951, the heirs of Karl Edel sued for restitution of the family property. This was granted in 1960, following a verdict by the Supreme Restitution Court for Berlin. The State of Berlin then purchased the land that same year, before erecting new buildings for the city’s Technical University.

Photo of Karl Edel, photographer unknown, frontispiece of Max Edel, <i>Festschrift zum 40 jährigen Bestehen der Edel’schen Heilanstalt für Gemüts- und Nervenkranke zu Charlottenburg 1869–1909</i>, Berlin 1909<span class=prov></span>
Photo of Karl Edel, photographer unknown, frontispiece of Max Edel, Festschrift zum 40 jährigen Bestehen der Edel’schen Heilanstalt für Gemüts- und Nervenkranke zu Charlottenburg 1869–1909, Berlin 1909
Under the headline “The New House of Doctors on the East-West Axis”, plans by Albert Speer, General Construction Inspector for the Reich Capital, for a stately new building to house the KVD and other doctors’ organizations were presented in the <i>Berliner Beobachter</i> supplement to the <i>Völkischer Beobachter</i> (Berlin edition), no. 171, dated 20 June 1939.<span class=prov></span>
Under the headline “The New House of Doctors on the East-West Axis”, plans by Albert Speer, General Construction Inspector for the Reich Capital, for a stately new building to house the KVD and other doctors’ organizations were presented in the Berliner Beobachter supplement to the Völkischer Beobachter (Berlin edition), no. 171, dated 20 June 1939.

Building for the Profession

In establishing the new regime, the Nazis placed extra political importance on the medical profession. One reflection of this was in the construction boom launched by the profession’s organizations. In Hamburg, Dortmund, Cologne, Munich, Weimar, and Stettin (today Szczecin), they built imposing local headquarters to showcase “German” doctorhood. In Berlin, there were plans to build a national headquarters for all medical associations. However, the creation of a “House of German Doctors” never went beyond the planning stage.

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