Heilanstalten Milbitz
THE ABANDONED HOSPITAL IN GERMANY
‘Heilanstalten Milbitz’ is an abandoned hospital site in Gera, Germany. It was used as a district hospital, a military hospital and as a Soviet sanatorium.
In 1894, the Louis Schlutter foundation, built this ‘Landesbezirks Krankenhaus’. Five years later in November 1899, it opened as a provincial district hospital with doctor Clemens Weisker as the first chief. After disputes with the founder and some doctors, Weisker’s contract was terminated after only two years. Founder Louis Schlutter died in 1904, you can still find his name on the building facade.
The hospital was closed between 1923 and 1924. In contrast the site was enlarged in 1927, several service buildings were added. Several years later in 1930, the hospital was expanded again and renamed ‘Allgemeine Städtische Krankenhaus’. As a result the number of beds were doubled from 100 to 200. The hospital served as a military hospital during the Second World War. At the end of the war the hospital was damaged by Allied bombings. As a result patients were moved to other buildings in the city. Later that year the hospital closed and was reconverted into a sanatorium for Soviet officers.
Since 1991, after the Soviets left Germany, the buildings became abandoned. I visited ‘Heilanstalten Milbitz’ in 2011.
