page_title: Bethel Foundation
hierarchical_section_title: Bethel Foundation
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bielefeld-Gadderbaum, evangelische Stiftungen Bethel. Haus Sarepta (Diakonissenmutterhaus), erbaut 1872–1875 im neugotischen Stil.
context_page_description: The Bethel Foundation, officially the Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel is a diaconal psychiatric hospital in Bethel, formerly a town, today a neighbourhood of Bielefeld, Germany.
  The healthcare foundation was established in 1867 as Evangelische Heil- und Pflegeanstalt für Epileptische in Gadderbaum, today a locality of Bielefeld. In 1872 Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Senior, a proponent of the inner mission within the then Evangelical State Church in Prussia became its director. He massively strengthened and extended the institution, with more premises also for the poor and at other locations, and renamed it after Bethel in 1874. The name Bethel was also started being used for the neighbourhood, which developed outside the hospital. Later Bodelschwingh's name was compounded to the institution's name. In 1910 Bodelschwingh, Senior, died and the leadership passed on to his son Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Junior, who led the institution until his death in 1946.
  The institution is notable for its resistance against the Nazi Germany era.
context_section_description: The Bethel Foundation, officially the Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel (German: von Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel as of 2009, previously v. Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten Bethel) is a diaconal (i.e. Protestant charitable) psychiatric hospital in Bethel, formerly a town, today a neighbourhood of Bielefeld, Germany.
  The healthcare foundation was established in 1867 as Evangelische Heil- und Pflegeanstalt für Epileptische (Protestant institute of healing and care for epileptics) in Gadderbaum, today a locality of Bielefeld. In 1872 Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Senior, a proponent of the inner mission within the then Evangelical State Church in Prussia became its director. He massively strengthened and extended the institution, with more premises also for the poor and at other locations, and renamed it after Bethel in 1874. The name Bethel was also started being used for the neighbourhood, which developed outside the hospital. Later Bodelschwingh's name was compounded to the institution's name. In 1910 Bodelschwingh, Senior, died and the leadership passed on to his son Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Junior, who led the institution until his death in 1946.
  The institution is notable for its resistance against the Nazi Germany era. In August 1933, some six months after Hitler had become Reich Chancellor, Pastor Bodelschwingh, Junior, met with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a few others to draft a new confession of faith, clarifying the grounds for resisting the Nazification of Germany. The resulting document, called the Bethel Declaration (Betheler Bekenntnis), was an early form of resistance to Hitler, a rejection of Christian anti-Judaism and racist anti-Semitism, though in practical terms it did nothing to impede the Nazis. During the course of the T-4 Euthanasia Program, which ran in 1940 and 1941 and was aimed at exterminating physically and mentally disabled people, the staff at the institution were mainly in opposition to that crime of the National Socialist party. In 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the gassing of all mental patients. The director of the hospital, pastor Bodelschwingh, Junior, resisted.
  "You can put me into a concentration camp if you want, that is your affair.  But as long as I am free, you do not touch one of my patients.  I cannot change to fit the times or the wishes of the Führer.  I stand under orders from our Lord Jesus Christ."
   - Pastor Bodelschwingh, Junior
   Parts of the hospitals were destroyed in a British Royal Air Force air raid in 1940. In religious respect the Bethel Institution is related to the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, the Westphalian regional successor of the old-Prussian Church. In 1946 Bodelschwingh, Junior, died and Friedrich von Bodelschwingh (1902–1977), nephew of Bodelschwingh, Junior, and grandson of the Senior, started managing the part of the Bethel Institution located at Gadderbaum, serving as the general director of all the Bethel Institutions between 1959 and 1969. The Bethel Institution is currently still being used as a mental hospital.
caption: Deaconesses Sarepta Mother-House, built 1872–1875
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FS62", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.1", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:23 18:43:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2320", "Image XPTitle": "[69, 0, 118, 0, 46, 0, 32, 0, 83, 0, 116, 0, 105, 0, 102, 0, 116, 0, 117, 0, ... ]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "14612", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5665", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "17/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:09:23 18:43:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:09:23 18:43:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "46/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3585", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2338", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13930", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "58", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "0"}