Bruno Gröning

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Bruno Gröning
Bruno Gröning
Born
Bruno Grönkowski

(1906-05-30)May 30, 1906
Danzig, West Prussia, German Empire (now Gdańsk, Poland)
DiedJanuary 26, 1959(1959-01-26) (aged 52)
Paris, France

Bruno Bernhard Gröning (1906 in Danzig – January 26, 1959 in Paris[1]) was a German mystic who rose to fame in the late 1940s for performing faith healings. Prior to this, he was a member of the Nazi Party, serving in World War II and spending several months in a prisoner of war camp. He died of cancer at the age of 52.

Life[edit]

Gröning was born into a Catholic family in Danzig in 1906. He was the fourth of seven and grew up living in an urban housing block in the suburb of Oliva.[2] He never completed his education.[3] He trained as a carpenter for a time, but also worked variously as a waiter, an electrician, a furniture marker, a paint seller, and as a repairman of bicycles, sewing machines, and watches. In 1928 he married a woman named Gertrud with whom he would have two sons, both of whom later died, with the elder boy dying in 1939 due to a heart defect and the younger boy dying in 1949 due to pleurisy. The marriage between Bruno and Gertrud was described as unhappy and the two would ultimately divorce.[2]

In the aftermath of World War I, the Nazi Party established a significant presence in Danzig. Gröning, his father, and his brother joined the Nazi Party sometime before 1936. The family also changed its surname from Grönkowski, Grenkowski, or Grzenkowski - records are unclear - to the more German sounding Gröning in 1936.[4] In March 1943 he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht as a Panzerjäger and underwent training in Kolberg, but was later captured by the Soviets in Köslin and spent a period from March to late October of 1945 in a prisoner of war camp in Frankfurt an der Oder.[5]

In May 1949, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (where Herford is located) prohibited Gröning from acting as a healer, and he relocated to the city of Rosenheim in Bavaria, where authorities were more supportive, with the state's minister president Hans Ehard opining that legalities shouldn't impede the activities of such an "extraordinary phenomenon".[1] With intense media coverage in magazines, radio and Wochenschau newsreels, soon tens of thousands of people were filling the horse paddocks near the inn where Gröning was lodging at the outskirts of Rosenheim, hoping that his "healing rays" (Heilstrahlen) would cure them of war injuries, blindness, and other handicaps and ailments.[1] Gröning spoke to them from a balcony and had small tin foil balls (allegedly charged with his healing powers) distribute to those that he was not able to touch in person.[1] While he did not demand money, he is assumed to have received a substantial amount of donations.[1] After half a year Gröning was forced to leave Rosenheim amid charges of negligent homicide of a 17-year-old girl with lung disease; he later received several suspended prison sentences and fines.[1]

Gröning died at the age of 52 of stomach cancer; his ashes were buried in Dillenburg next to his younger son.[6]

Reception[edit]

Media coverage of Bruno Gröning tended to be negative. While some called Gröning a "miracle doctor", the popular press of the time tended to call him a "charlatan" or "crazy."[7]

In many towns Gröning was forbidden from making public appearances. Reasons for this varied. One charge brought against him was that he was practicing medicine without a license. At other times officials were concerned about the large crowds that gathered.[8]

Following[edit]

Various groups continue to promulgate Gröning's teaching, including the Circle of Information, the Bruno Groening Trust, the Bruno Groening Friends, the Association for the Advancement in Germany of Spiritual and Natural - Psychological Foundations for Living, the Association for Natural Spiritual Living, the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends, and Help and Healing Sessions.

Gröning founded the Association for the Advancement in 1958 to replace the Gröning Association. The Circle of Friends was founded in 1979 by Grete Hausler, an Austrian school teacher who worked closely with Gröning.[9] The Circle of Information was created by Thomas Busse, who has written a number of books about Gröning and directed the documentary film The Gröning Phenomena. Help and Healing Sessions is an association of independent Groening groups and hosts online meetings.

The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends was listed as a commercial cult in an official 1997 report by the Berlin Senate Committee.[8] On May 23, 2013, members of the United Nation's affiliated organization, the World Peace Prayer Society (WPPS) honored the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends with the Peace Pole Award. The presentation ceremony took place in the ecumenical Tillmann Chapel of the United Nations at the invitation of the United Nations Staff Recreation Councils (UNSRC) SaluS. In her remarks, UN representative of the WPPS, Deborah Moldow, highlighted the significance of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends and the teaching of Bruno Groening in respect to help and healing on the spiritual path. She expressed gratitude to the Circle of Friends for the altruistic work for over 30 years and noted the relationship between healing the individual and peace for the entire world. Suzanne Rois was also present for the award and spoke to media regarding the event. [10][11]

Personal life[edit]

He was a chain-smoker and a heavy coffee drinker.[12] While in Hertford, it was reported that he "he liked to take a drink; he caroused.".[13] He was known to sexually harass women at times; members of his inner circle found it necessary to control his access to them to prevent scandal.[14] In the 1940s he wore his hair unusually long and kept only one set of clothing, which he washed every evening.[15]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Kratzer, Hans (2020-05-17). "Heilstrom aus Stanniolkügelchen". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  2. ^ a b Black 2020, p. 51-52.
  3. ^ Black 2018, p. 256.
  4. ^ Black 2020, p. 52–53.
  5. ^ Black 2020, p. 52.
  6. ^ Black 2020, pp. 252, 255.
  7. ^ Black 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Circle of Friends continues teachings of faith healer". Toledo Blade. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  9. ^ "The Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends: An international society for healing by spiritual means". Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends. 2014-08-29. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  10. ^ Carlos Anaya, Carlos Mayorga (2016-12-19). "'Tuning In' To Deal With The Stresses Of Daily Life". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  11. ^ "You searched for bruno groening circle of friends". May Peace Prevail On Earth International. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  12. ^ Black 2020, pp. 49.
  13. ^ Black 2020, pp. 121.
  14. ^ Black 2020, pp. 131–32, 144.
  15. ^ Black 2020, pp. 49, 132.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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