The famous case of Dieter Hülsmann

The next day we were in Herford again, and Lanzenrath suggested to Fischer that he take a look at the case of Dieter Hülsmann. It involved the nine-year-old son of the engineer Hülsmann, whose alleged healing had brought Gröning out of seclusion. For the first time, we entered the house from which Gröning's fame had gone out and in which he had stayed until just a short time before. Dieter Hülsmann had never learned to walk properly. But they had not recognized the true character of his ailment. For a long time, he was forced into plaster casts. Finally, they determined at the university clinic in Münster that he had progressive muscular dystrophy, which is advanced muscular atrophy.

After the almost one-year stay in Bethel that followed, one of the physicians there declared, "You can leave the boy here. You can also take the boy home. No one can help him." After all, the child could no longer sit, and his legs were ice-cold. Heated blankets, hot-water bottles and electric pads could not get rid of the incessant coldness and numbness. Gröning had carried out a one-time treatment while he was in this condition. Shortly thereafter, the boy felt an intense burning in his back and a sudden warming of his legs. It persisted, and thus the boy was able to walk again, although in a wobbly fashion.

The case of Dieter Hülsmann was drawn with vehemence into the controversy of opinion, and both sides indulged in untenable exaggeration. It could surely not be called a "healing." But in the same way, the assertion that nothing had changed through Gröning's treatment was a malicious distortion. After a careful examination, Professor Fischer was of the opinion that it was indeed a neurotic, progressive muscular atrophy, that is, a degeneration of the nerve that runs from the spinal cord to the muscles and obviously influences their nourishment and development. The starting point of the degeneration is probably located in the cells of the anterior horn. The nerve fibers coming from the cerebrum come together here. A transfer or commutation of the impulses coming from the brain takes place here, without these fibers coming into immediate contact with the nerves leading to the muscles. It could not be denied that the degenerated nerves had experienced an unusual stimulation, which was then passed on to the leg muscles. What astonished us the most, however, was the fact that Gröning had made a diagnosis which had been uncannily close to the anatomic reality.

Kargesmeyer had already maintained that Gröning had told him, unsolicited, that he suffered from facial pain, and that this had tormented him since the age of two. We had regarded this as the exaggeration of a grateful patient. With Dieter Hülsmann, however, there was a definite report on Gröning's diagnosis, confirmed by witnesses. Gröning had spoken of a torn nerve in the spinal cord, defining the place in which the diseased cells of the anterior horn are located. This is where the boy had then experienced the previously-mentioned burning and thereafter, a strange fluttering, which Gröning called a beginning regeneration and which he compared with the flickering of a light bulb into which electricity slowly "flows." This explanation sounded primitive. But it came so close to reality, that this experience moved us profoundly.

On the verge of the uncanny

The last decision in favor of Gröning came about, however, through an experience that we had shortly after Professor Fischer's examination of Dieter Hülsmann. We were led into a living room, without suspecting that Gröning had worked here. Professor Fischer sat down wearily on one of the arm chairs that were there. At almost the same moment, his face became deathly pale. He gasped for breath, but quickly got control of himself. Then he looked at us through narrowed eyes, as if a mysterious power, whose origin he could not explain, had just touched him. He told us that at the moment he sat down, he had felt a violent pain in the area of his right kidney and, simultaneously, palpitations of the heart and shortness of breath. His right kidney had been inflamed several times in the past. It was his body’s weakest organ. As we further puzzled over the strange phenomenon, Lanzenrath came into the room and said that the professor was sitting in the very chair in which Gröning had treated his sick people.

Prof. Dr. Fischer’s unusual healing success by means of the arm chair, in which Gröning healed numerous sick people in Herford. When Prof. Fischer sat down in this chair, he felt touched by a mysterious energy and got the idea to use the energy active in this chair for a treatment of a young woman suffering from paralysis for years. The treatment forms the highlight of our report today.

Gröning had always maintained that he could leave special power behind in a chair. Had the professor perhaps perceived some of that? "Certainly," said Fischer, in the somewhat oppressive stillness that emanated from us. But he was already occupied with some kind of plan. He suddenly asked Lanzenrath to come with him and went into the garden where, just as on the day we’d arrived in Herford, the sick people were waiting patiently or desperately. He looked for a paralyzed person and found a young girl, who lay helpless in an arbor, her legs immobile. With Lanzenrath's help, he carried her into the living room, where she was put onto the mysterious chair. Then he began to treat her in his usual way, as a psychotherapist. He quickly determined the cause of her paralysis.

The girl, Anni Schwedler, 21 years old, came from Darmstadt, and had experienced a heavy air-strike on the city in the autumn of 1944. Anni was buried with her mother and around 20 other people in the air-raid shelter of a brewery. All of the others, including her mother, were able to escape through an emergency exit that they had been able to open wide enough for a person to get through. Somehow, however, the girl’s body got stuck in the opening in the wall. The house was ablaze. The girl's hair had already caught fire. At the very last moment, the air-raid warden was able to pull Anni out and extinguish her burning clothing with a jet of water. Even as she was describing it, her horrified facial expression showed the inner process that must have taken place within her back then. Shortly after her rescue, she already had felt insecure when walking. A few days later, she began to stumble. Her walking became more and more unsteady, until her legs were completely paralyzed. All medical treatment proved unsuccessful. And now the girl sat in the strange chair that had given Professor Fischer such a severe shock.

As the girl finished her description, the professor reached the following conclusion: if Gröning had left mysterious healing powers in his chair, then these powers should still have an effect on the sick people in his absence. He briefly told the girl about Gröning and that he had already helped many paralyzed people in this room. And he did something else – he showed the girl a picture of Gröning. Then, charged with inner tension, he very abruptly commanded, "Stand up!" He thought that Gröning would act in a similar manner. The girl's face all of a sudden shone, and Anni got up from the arm chair almost boldly, and was so astonished and overcome from her ability to stand up, that she at first didn't dare to take a step. The professor commanded again, "Now walk!" Lanzenrath, who stood nearby, had to take the girl lightly by the hand, and then she walked with still insecure steps and with tears of joy across the whole room to the chair where Anni's completely overwhelmed mother sat. But here, Anni Schwedler collapsed. The experiment had to be carried out a second time. In this second attempt, Fischer also showed the patient Gröning's picture, and as he did so, noticed signs of a stronger circulation of blood in the previously paralyzed legs, redness and a developing warmth. The girl got up again. The professor commanded her to stand up and sit down again a few times. Standing up got better and better. Finally, the girl was able to go out of the room and all the way over the courtyard to a nearby street. From there she was then taken in a car to a relative in Herford.

We had all watched the experiment in breathless suspense. On that same evening, we notified the Revue that we had to extend our stay in northern Germany. There was no longer any doubt that Gröning was a phenomenon that had to be clarified through the planned clinical experiments. We wanted to try to make contact with Gröning the next day, in order to pave the way for him to the physicians of the Heidelberg University Clinic, so that he could prove his abilities in their presence.

Sequence of events surrounding Bruno Gröning from March 1949 onwards

The confusion of these events is so great, that only with great trouble were we able to half-way bring them in order for the outside observer.

March 18, 1949
Bruno Gröning's star is suddenly rising in Herford. The alleged or actual healing of Dieter, the son of the Herford engineer Hülsmann, who was suffering from muscular atrophy, has become known to the public. News of further healings follows. Rumors and reports spread like the wind. Great crowds of the sick gather before the Hülsmann home at 7 Wilhelmsplatz in Herford, where Gröning is staying.

April 4, 1949
The beginning of Gröning's public healing activity in Herford. A huge response. Gröning becomes the Miracle Worker of Herford. He is elevated by some to the status of a kind of messiah, all the more since he himself attributes his effect to divine powers.

April 27, 1949
As a result of the huge crowds of people, the authorities, in particular the health authorities, intervene. Gröning and Hülsmann are asked to meet with the director of the health department in Herford, Senior Medical Officer Dr. Siebert. Siebert explains that he had tolerated Gröning's activity up to then, but must now step in because of the great number of sick people and his responsibility to the public health system. He attempts to determine the details of Gröning's work in a rather tactless, provocative manner. Gröning says he has no right to do this and instead invites him to convince himself of his methods and successes at his place of work. Siebert rejects this on the grounds that he couldn't make a fool of himself.

In the days that follow, Hülsmann, Senior Medical Officer Dr. Siebert, and the Herford Detective Investigator Auer meet three times. Hülsmann insists - as an enthusiastic follower of Gröning, also not in a very clever way - that the gentlemen should convince themselves of Gröning's successes. Siebert declines. Auer behaves objectively.

April 30, 1949
In the face of the growing crowd of people seeking healing and the growing difficulties with the authorities, Gröning holds a kind of press conference at the Hülsmann home. The press had meanwhile seized upon the Gröning case, sensationalized it and published numerous false reports and distortions of the case. The Herford Chief Municipal Director Meister comes to the conference along with Superintendent Kunst. Gröning corrects the false reports. However, no real relationship is established between the somewhat insecure and inhibited Gröning, who has had no experience negotiating with physicians or in dealing with people from the press, and the others who are present. The authorities' fear of a disturbance of public order by the huge crowds of sick people, mistrust or open rejection of the physicians and lack of objectivity by the press prevail.

May 3, 1949
Chief Municipal Director Meister makes a visit to Gröning in the Hülsmann home. He personally chooses a woman with signs of paralysis from the crowd of those waiting and leads her to Gröning. Gröning achieves an obvious success, and Meister leaves greatly impressed.

May 3, afternoon
Nevertheless, in the afternoon, the Chief Municipal Director sends Gröning a prohibition against any further healing activity. It allows for an appeal period of three weeks. The relationship between the authorities, Gröning and the waiting masses, among whom numerous remarkable healings have taken place during the previous weeks, becomes ever more complex.

May 13, 1949
Just ten days after the prohibition, which is superficially based on the Non-Medical Practitioners Act of the Third Reich, a medical commission appears in the Hülsmann home. It consists of the director of the city hospitals of Bielefeld, Prof. Dr. Wolf, the director of the healing institutions in Bethel, Prof. Dr. Schorsch; and the Senior Medical Officer of Bielefeld, Dr. Rainer. Also present are Chief Municipal Director Meister and Superintendent Kunst. Kunst and Wolf try to remain objective. Dr. Rainer is completely negative. He declares, "Gentlemen! Nothing which will be shown to you here is new to medical science. We can treat these kinds of cases with the same success. If I come here, I want to see miracles." The alliance between Gröning’s medical opponents and the helplessness of the authorities in the face of the phenomenon of Gröning and his ability to move the masses, solidifies. However, Gröning receives the offer to prove his healing ability in clinically verifiable cases by a deadline of June 28 in any university clinic of the British zone of Germany, in the Bielefeld city hospitals, or the Bethel clinic, following arrangement with the senior physicians.

In the next days:
Despite verbal and written notices by Gröning and his assistants of the healing prohibition and the uselessness of waiting, the seekers of healing persist in staying in front of the Hülsmann home. Healings which are difficult to verify also occur. These are only explicable as occurring through a distance effect by Gröning on those waiting.

May 20, 1949
Gröning declares himself ready to prove his healing ability in the city hospitals of Bielefeld, but aborts the trip to Prof. Wolf out of an instinctive distrust, a fear of a possible trap on the part of the physicians. A Mr. Klemme, whom Gröning had healed, plays a role here. Klemme suggests to Gröning that he give up the battle with the Herford authorities and instead negotiate with the district president in Detmold, Drake, whom he knows well.

May 23, 1949
The relationship is formed with Drake under unfortunate circumstances. At the insistence of a Mr. Egon-Arthur Schmidt, who has appeared in Gröning's circle and who calls himself an editor, Gröning gives a so-called "distance-diagnosis" of the condition of Drake's health on the evening before the visit with Drake. Gröning's distance-diagnoses are a very special thing that are not easily interpreted in medical terms. (In the course of the Revue report, they will be covered in detail). Convinced of Gröning's ability, Schmidt presents the distance-diagnosis to Drake. He notices some mistakes in it. The Detmold Public Health Officer, Dr. Dyes, a definite opponent of Gröning who took part in the meeting, wins the upper hand. He literally declares to Gröning that he can do and prove what he will, but the healing prohibition will not be lifted (Dr. Dyes confirms this statement himself to the Revue collaborator, Dr. Fischer). Dyes' words have a disastrous effect on further developments. Gröning's instinctive distrust of the medical profession is finally solidified and renders a reasonable collaboration impossible from his side, too. Dr. Dyes had not pointed out to Gröning the sections of the Non-Medical Practitioners Act that deal with exceptions. They state that in exceptional cases, special permission for the carrying out of a healing practice can be granted, notwithstanding the sections of the law.

May 24, 1949
A meeting takes place between Gröning and city director Wöhrmann, a representative of Chief Municipal Director Meister, who is on holiday. According to the statement of eight witnesses, Wöhrmann uses words to the following effect: If 1,000 people are waiting in front of the house at 7 Wilhelmsplatz, this crowd doesn't interest him. The healing of sick is of secondary importance. What interests him is only salvation and the forgiveness of sins. All physical suffering is small in relation to salvation. Since Gröning does not answer the question as to whether he could carry out the forgiveness of sins, Wöhrmann is completely dissatisfied with the conversation with Gröning.

June 7, 1949
Another medical commission – this time including Wöhrmann and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Siebert - visits Gröning. A five-hour confrontation. The prohibition of all healing activity is upheld. Extension of the appeal deadline until July 28. Gröning is again given the previously-known offer to prove his healing ability in clinics and hospitals. As a result of Gröning's deep-rooted mistrust, this does not come about. (As Revue representative Prof. Dr. Fischer later determines, this mistrust was not unjustified).

June 18-19, 1949
In order to calm down the thousands of sick people waiting for Gröning at the Wilhelmsplatz, Wöhrmann feels forced to temporarily relax the prohibition on healing.

June 20, 1949
Demonstration of those waiting for healing in front of the city hall and the Wöhrmann home. The police are powerless.

June 21, 1949
The prohibition is relaxed again.

24 June, 1949
Chief Municipal Director Meister returns and confirms the prohibition. Renewed demonstrations. The confusion of circumstances becomes more and more dreadful.

June 25, 1949
At the invitation of the Hamburg merchant Westphal, whose asthma had been improved by Gröning, Gröning goes to Hamburg. He hopes to be able to continue his healing activity there. However, this also proves to be impossible in Hamburg.

June 29, 1949
Gröning leaves Hamburg for an unknown destination. He is accompanied by Hülsmann and his wife. The public and the police lose trace of him.

Caption:
Sick people who had been treated by Gröning, whom Dr. Fischer visited before he met with Gröning himself.

1. Mr. Klüglich in Bielefeld, with renal disease, who lived in continual fear of an operation. Our report describes the condition he was in when the Revue's representative, Prof. Fischer, met him weeks after Gröning's treatment.
2. The little daughter of the Mendt family of Hamburg proved to Prof. Fischer that the Gröning effect must be utilized by medicine. Gröning had successfully influenced spinal poliomyelitis in a psychotherapeutic way.
3. Mrs. Wehmayer. When Prof. Fischer visited her and heard of her hospital stays, he was very impressed with Gröning's distance effect and the experience related by her husband (see the report).
4. Miss Schwerdt related the encounter with Gröning described in the report, to Prof. Fischer, about how he had led her back to the man she loved with the help of the tin foil ball, l and how he healed both of them.
5. Mrs. W., who runs bicycle shop in Bielefeld of her husband, who died in 1946. Prof. Fischer spoke with the doctor who had carried out the protracted and seemimngly hopeless treatment before Gröning.
6. The down-to-earth businessman Kargesmeier in Bad Oeynhausen, for whom no operation could stop the excruciating pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia. After Gröning's treatment, Professor Fischer found him to be healed.
7. Dr. Morters, who treated the patient before Gröning's influence, sits at the bedside of Mrs. E. This case also caused the Revue to convince the physicians of a university clinic of the necessity of a clinical test, about which the Revue reports in the next issue.