LIBRARY

Mutterhaus der Diakonissen, Kaiserswerth am Rhein (NRW). One of the World's first School of Nurses
Kaiserswerth am Rhein Diakonissenmutterhaus postcard

Germany, 20 C. 1 half

Postcard titled “Kaiserswerth a. Rh. Diakonissenmutterhaus,” with a message on the back, bearing a “German Empire” postally used stamp, cancelled on November 25, 1918. 

MUSEUM

Mutterhaus in Kaiserswerth Diakonie. Postcard, 1910s. Source: EuroMedSim Museum
Kaiserswerther Diakonie Pflegemuseum (Museum of Nursing)

Germany, Kaiserswerth

Kaiserswerther Diakonie is an Evangelical community of deaconesses founded in 1836 by Pastor Theodor Fliedner. Here women received training in caregiving and child-rearing and lived a life of discipline and prayer. The institution included a hospital, a school, and a shelter. In 1851, Florence Nightingale, who later established the modern system of nursing in Great Britain, completed an internship here. The Kaiserswerth model spread throughout Europe, America and Russia. Today, the Diakonie remains an active institution, and its building houses a Pflegemuseum (Museum of Nursing) and a hotel in the Mutterhaus.