20th Century History
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The Landesklinikum Mauer in the course of time

The National Hospice was planned from 1898 to 1902 as an Art Nouveau pavilion by Carlo von Boog according to the most up-to-date medical principles and the latest psychological insights, and was the model for the later-developed hospital Am Steinhof near Vienna. While the name of Boog as state building director remained closely linked to the sanatorium, the name of the architect Erich Gschöpf is widely unknown today.

The architectural design is remarkable, as the plans were made before 1898. Because in addition to the extensive use of iron or cast concrete, there are also early applications of rich decorative forms of Art Nouveau. In part, the architect Erich Gschöpf used floral Art Nouveau forms, but also took on typical motifs of the school of Otto Wagner, such as laurel wreaths or angel heads. The far-flung, flat roofs also point to Otto Wagner.

The complex of the clinical wall was inaugurated in 1902 by Emperor Franz Joseph. The monarch is said to have said the following sentence: "It must be nice to be a fool in the wall."

And indeed the open construction of the institution with 19 pavilions in the midst of a huge park represented a quantum leap in the care of the mentally ill, compared with baroque asylums like the Narrenturm in Vienna. The traffic-favorable location at the Westbahn and the enormous capacity of about 1000 patients not only ensured the care of Lower Austria but also the care of patients from Vienna.

In 1907, Georg Rothschild, the son of Baron Albert Rothschild, suffering from bipolar disorder, was brought to the Wall. Immediately behind the Pflegerdorf had Rothschild build his own villa for his son, which is stylistically strongly based on Otto Wagner's Art Nouveau villas and also attributed to architect Erich Gschöpf. It had a hall with veranda, a living room, a parlor, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, two nursing rooms and a large veranda.
The choice fell not least because of the location wall, because he is halfway from Vienna to Waidhofen, where Rothschild owned extensive possessions and was easily accessible by train. Georg Rothschild spent more than 30 years there, constantly looked after by a doctor and three guards, which caused more and more displeasure at the end of the twenties, as the province of Lower Austria had to bear most of the costs. Georg Rothschild died of dementia in 1934, and in 1975 the villa was demolished.

With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, Mauer-Öhling soon became a place of Nazi war and medical crime. Between June 1940 and August 1941, up to 1,600 patients were murdered by gas in the killing center Schloss Hartheim near Linz. Even after that was further murdered. It is estimated that a total of 2700 patients in the clinic were murdered by gassing, electric shocks, poisoning and systematic starvation.

Today, the state hospital houses not only the psychiatric department but also facilities for addiction, forensic psychiatry, neurology and child and adolescent psychology.

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