LIBRARY

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

Germany, 1918

Fliedner, Theodor

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

Kaiserswerth a. Rh. Hauptkrankenhaus, Diakonissenkirche, Tabeahaus, postcard cancelled 1916
Kaiserswerth a. Rh. Hauptkrankenhaus, Diakonissenkirche, Tabeahaus

Germany, 1916

Fliedner, Theodor

Postcard titled “Kaiserswerth a. Rh. Hauptkrankenhaus, Diakonissenkirche, Tabeahaus." The postcard cancelled 26.12.1916 

PEOPLE

Theodor Fliedner (1800–1864) was a German Protestant pastor, social reformer, and founder of the first nursing school. Florence Nightingale received inspiration for her ideas there. Source: EuroMedSim
Fliedner, Theodor

Theodor Fliedner (1800–1864) was a German Protestant pastor and social reformer. In 1836, together with his wife Friederike, he founded the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute, combining nursing education, hospital practice, and religious service. Its model helped professionalise nursing, spread internationally, and influenced Florence Nightingale.

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.