Mildred Scheel
Mildred Scheel (* December 31, 1932 or 1931 in Cologne as Mildred Wirtz, † 13 May 1985 in Cologne) was a German physician and founder of the German Cancer Aid. Through their social and charitable work in time as wife of the President of the Federal Republic Walter Scheel, she became one of Germany's most famous women of the post-war period and enjoyed international prestige.
Life and work
Mildred Scheel was the third child of an X-ray the doctor and his American wife. Even as a child she was very interested in medicine and often accompanied her father in his practice. The family left in 1944, the bombed-out Cologne and went to Amberg.
After graduating from high school in 1950 in Amberg, she studied medicine in Munich, Innsbruck and Regensburg. Your state exam they took off in Munich and then came there to a position as Medizinalassistentin with the field of radiology. She then worked in various hospitals and as a representation in medical practices. 1963 their daughter Cornelia was born, they first reared alone. 1967 Mildred Scheel learned in a sanatorium, where she worked at the time, her future husband, the Solingen FDP politician Walter Scheel know. He recovered here from a kidney surgery. On 18 July 1969, the two married in Munich- Schwabing and soon moved on to Bonn - Walter Scheel was in October of that year, Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany. The couple had a daughter and adopted an orphan from Bolivia.
Public life
With the election of the Federal President Walter Scheel on May 15, 1974 began for Mildred Scheel public life with tasks and duties. According to the tradition of Elly Heuss -Knapp and Wilhelmine Lübke the doctor Mildred Scheel chose a social and health policy task: the fight against cancer. " This may be the better only succeed if all citizens to show solidarity ," Scheel said at the announcement of their plans. On September 25, 1974, she founded the German Cancer Aid She was involved with an unwavering commitment to the Cancer Aid: Even on state visits, she raised funds for the club.
The life's work
With the founding of the German Cancer Aid 1974, the foundation stone for the non-profit life's work of Mildred Scheel was laid. Your organization was characterized from the outset by the fact that no tax dollars expected and no donations from the pharmaceutical industry have been accepted. "We must be absolutely independent of politics and economic interests, but remain only committed to the people and their health," was a credo.
Mildred Scheel has broken the taboo to speak openly and freely about cancer in general and about the abdomen and prostate cancer in particular.
Shortly after founding it was Mildred Scheel managed to win the medical profession for cooperation. She initiated the first scientific medical meetings with cancer experts from Europe, USA and Asia.
Ten years after the founding of the German Cancer was diagnosed with Mildred Scheel even cancer. The grave of honor Mildred Scheel's is located at the old cemetery in Bonn.
Property artistic interest
Mildred Scheel was the object of artistic representation.
- Andy Warhol created a Farbseriagrafie with her portrait.
- The sculptor Kurt Arentz designed a bronze bust (Collection German Cancer Aid, Bonn).
- Hermann Schardt, a professor at the Folkwang School in Essen, designed a coin with the portrait of Mildred Scheel.
- Sabina Grzimek created the bronze sculpture Sculpture by Dr. Mildred Scheel for the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg (height 2.40 m, and the installation was done on May 12, 2010)
Honors and Awards
Among the honors of Mildred Scheel includes over 20 State Order. She received in 1976 the German media award Bambi. In the years 1977, 1978 and 1979, she was elected Woman of the Year. According to her Dresden were the Mildred Scheel House and Mildred Scheel street named in. A vocational school in Solingen, a vocational school in Böblingen, a secondary school in Neuss, and a station of the University Hospital in Homburg were also named after her. The University of Maryland in 1980 awarded her an honorary doctorate.
In 2008, the city of Munich honored posthumously the Cancer Aid founder by naming a street guide in Schwabing-West Mildred Scheel arc ( City Council Decision of 14 February 2008). This also reminded that the doctor lived for many years in the Bavarian capital, worked and studied.
Legacy and Success
Mildred Scheel has so far been able to be the first wife of the German President, to secure their social life's work to the benefit of all citizens to the future. The doctor built the German Cancer Aid competent and forward-looking on with the help of private donors. Since then, successful institutions are associated with her name and in the permanent memory. These include the Mildred Scheel Foundation for Cancer Research ( Bonn 1976), the internationally acting Mildred Scheel Cancer Conference ( 1977), or the Friends of Mildred Scheel district eV ( Bonn 1977).
In 1983, the German Cancer Aid founded with the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany's first palliative care unit. There followed in 1992 on the campus of the University Hospital of the Dr. Mildred Scheel - house as well as Dr. Mildred Scheel 1993, the Academy of Research and Education in Cologne.
Since 2013, the Mildred Scheel Göttingen Academy ( one of five from donations the German Cancer Aid funded academies for palliative care in Germany ) offers training opportunities by qualified speakers. In numerous hospitals and clinics there after the founder of the Cancer Aid named wards and departments.