Kalmenhof
The Kalmenhof is a social pedagogical institution dedicated to youth and disability care, including training and educational facilities, located in the regional hub of Idstein, Hesse, a former Nassau residence town. Several buildings within the Kalmenhof complex are protected under heritage designation. The institution is managed by a subsidiary of Vitos GmbH.
Established in 1888 as a care and treatment facility, Kalmenhof has a multifaceted history tracing back to the Middle Ages. During the Nazi era, it functioned as an intermediate facility for the Hadamar Euthanasia Centre, where hundreds of euthanasia murders took place in its children's ward. The involvement of certain Kalmenhof staff in Nazi racial hygiene crimes was examined during the 1947 Kalmenhof trial. After the Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen assumed control, severe cases of abuse against resident children were documented in the 1950s and 1960s. Reforms and restructuring commenced in the 1970s, with a thorough reckoning of the institution's Nazi past beginning in the early 1980s.
Location and description
Kalmenhof is located just south of Idstein's historic old town, at the base of Taubenberg hill, on an approximately three-hectare site bordered by Veitenmühlweg, Schulze-Delitzsch-Straße, and Seelbacher Straße/Frölenberg. The Veitenmühlberg road runs through the site. The facility, situated at the foot of a slope with extensive green areas such as the Directors' Meadow, comprises multiple buildings.Residential buildings include the Rudolph-Ehlers-Haus, Rosenhaus, Loni-Franz-Haus, and Buchenhaus, which houses the central kitchen. Additional structures include the Sternenhaus operational building with the Sternensaal, storage facilities, a staff residence, an outdoor swimming pool, workshops, the former hospital, a laundry, and the main building at the entrance. The buildings vary significantly in architectural style due to their different construction periods.
The nursery at Grunerstraße 41, the country house at Hofgut Gassenbach, and the Charles Hallgarten Youth Home are located outside the main site. The nursery features 3,500 square meters of greenhouse space and 8 hectares of land.
Organization
The Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen, as the owner of Vitos GmbH, operates Vitos Teilhabe gGmbH and the Max-Kirmsse-Schule, which evolved from Kalmenhof.Kalmenhof provides specialized facilities for disability and youth care, including a workshop for people with disabilities and residential units for adults and children with intellectual disabilities. Youth services offer various living arrangements, as well as inpatient and outpatient educational support. The former Social Pedagogical Center Kalmenhof now operates as Vitos Teilhabe gGmbH. As of early 2011, Vitos Kalmenhof, Idstein's largest employer, had approximately 350 staff members working in youth and disability care.
Vitos Jugendhilfe Idstein supports around 200 children and adolescents, supplemented by outreach family assistance provided by trained social pedagogues and support for foster families for children needing long-term stable homes. Vitos Behindertenhilfe für Kinder und Jugendliche offers 45 inpatient places for school-age children, housed in the Rosenhaus and Loni-Franz-Haus.
Vitos Behindertenhilfe für Erwachsene Idstein provides up to 74 places with living and working opportunities for individuals with intellectual and multiple disabilities. The country house accommodates individuals with intellectual, behavioral, and multiple disabilities. Smaller residential groups are also located in surrounding communities. In 2010, 38 individuals with intellectual disabilities worked at the nursery on Grunerstraße.
History
Origins of Kalmenhof
The origins of Kalmenhof lie with the Stockheimer Hof. The associated estate was established in 1350. The Lords of Stockheim, burgmann of the Counts of Nassau-Wiesbaden, built the still-existing main house of the estate in 1599. In 1661, much of the Stockheim estate was sold and merged with Hofgut Gassenbach. During the Thirty Years' War, the Stockheimer Hof served as a refuge for displaced persons. The Stockheim family line ended in 1702. A series of owners followed, including Privy Councilor Johann Henrich von Kalm, who acquired the estate in 1768, giving rise to the name Kalmenhof.From 1849 to 1877, Kalmenhof was associated with a pedagogical institution when Georg Philipp Weldert's preschool was located there. It later moved to a building on Zuckerberg.
Founding of the "Idiotenanstalt Idstein"
The latter half of the 19th century saw significant social upheaval. Due to rural exodus, the population of Frankfurt grew by 355%, Wiesbaden by 207%, and Offenbach by 148% between 1871 and 1910. For working-class families living at subsistence levels, placing disabled family members in an institution was a significant relief, especially after the 1892 amendment to the Residence Relief Law, which allowed the Wiesbaden District Association to cover accommodation costs.The decisive impetus for establishing another "Idioten-Anstalt" in the Frankfurt area came from the fifth Conference for Idiot Care held from September 16–18, 1886, in Frankfurt. Although Kalmenhof was not on the agenda, its founding was likely discussed extensively on the sidelines.
The motives for establishing the facility in Idstein are unclear, but it was common to locate such institutions in rural areas, where residents' labor could be utilized more effectively, and their "confinement" was less visible to urban populations.
Key initiators were the Protestant pastor Rudolph Ehlers, the Jewish banker and philanthropist Charles Hallgarten, and Frankfurt city councilor Karl Flesch, all driven by social commitment. Ehlers had a daughter with intellectual disabilities.
Other contributors included entrepreneurs Hermann Sonnenberg and Carl Bolongaro, architect and local politician Konrad Steinbrinck, August Lotz, state director Otto Sartorius, and Frankfurt police president August von Hergenhahn. The latter is mentioned alongside Ehlers and Hallgarten on the founders' relief, though his role was less significant.
The Association for the Idiotenanstalt Idstein was founded on April 30, 1888, with the primary goal of "establishing and maintaining an institution where idiots of both sexes, all ages, and religious denominations are cared for and, as far as possible, trained for employability or appropriately occupied." The founders set high standards for educators and directors: "They should demonstrate, through their treatment of residents, that they have internalized the spirit of humane, religious, and moral education."
On May 1, the Hallgarten couple signed the purchase agreement for the Kalmenhof estate. The official opening followed on October 7, 1888, with 12 to 18 children under the direction of teacher Johann Jacob Schwenk. The manor house, the core of the institution, was in disrepair and required renovation for its new purpose. The non-profit association was established independently of state or church authorities, making Kalmenhof an interdenominational, reform-oriented institution. Until the 1930s, up to 20% of residents were Jewish and received appropriate education and care.
Expansion
The initial capacity of Kalmenhof, primarily occupied by children, quickly proved insufficient. The first expansion, the girls' house, designed and built by Konrad Steinbrinck, was inaugurated in June 1891 and was nearly fully occupied by late 1892. The boys' house, Tannenhaus, begun in 1893, was completed in September 1894. The Stockheimer Hof thereafter primarily served as the director's residence.Initially, residents were only introduced to vocational preparatory manual work. In 1894, a trained brushmaker was hired for specialized vocational training, and a special school was established in 1889. Ten years after its founding, Kalmenhof housed 114 residents. Three years later, a pension house for residents from wealthier families was inaugurated, followed by the old-age home In der Ritzbach near Idstein's train station in June 1905, located about 800 meters from the main site for non-educable adult residents. A gymnasium was built in 1907.
The year 1908 was challenging, as both Ehlers and Hallgarten died in quick succession. Hallgarten's son, Fritz Hallgarten, took over as treasurer, and Adolf Varrentrapp succeeded Ehlers as board chairman.
In 1910, Max Kirmsse joined as a special education teacher and worked at Kalmenhof until 1922, later lending his name to the Max-Kirmsse-Schule in Idstein. In 1911, Idstein's first Red Cross sanitary unit was formed, primarily consisting of Kalmenhof staff.
Expansion concluded temporarily in 1913 with the inauguration of the women's old-age home and the central operational building. By then, Kalmenhof had seven workshops where nine master craftsmen trained 41 residents.
Financially, the association relied on state care payments, self-produced goods, and donations.
World War I
During World War I, Kalmenhof lost ten staff members to conscription. The staffing shortage was exacerbated by the arrest of two South African-born employees, considered enemy nationals due to their British citizenship. They were later naturalized as Germans after proving early relocation to Germany, but were then conscripted, leaving the institution understaffed. Restructuring was necessary to maintain school and training operations, with increased hiring of female staff and the use of apprentice residents as assistant caregivers.The supply situation was problematic during the war years. While Kalmenhof's income stagnated, food costs doubled, leading to malnutrition among residents. By late 1917, 52 residents had been conscripted, ten of whom received the Iron Cross, five were killed, and many were wounded.