The “Gröning Phenomenon” and science

Medical scrutiny in Heidelberg promises written certificate

In this time period in Herford medical specialist contributors of the magazine Revue, began studying Gröning’s healing success. Professor Dr. H.G. Fischer, a psychologist from Marburg, traveled to Herford with a special staff of correspondents. There he held interviews with healed people and had to confirm, much to his own astonishment, that Gröning’s “method” was truly a success. As a result, the Revue, decided to help attain a scientific explanation for the “Gröning Phenomenon.” The “healing method” of the “Miracle Doctor” was to be researched at the University Clinic of Heidelberg.

Bruno Gröning agreed to Fischer's proposals because Fischer promised to give him a positive expert testimonial, should things go well. Gröning hoped that he had found a way to work in freedom.

Healings before the doctor’s eyes - "Bruno Gröning is no charlatan"

The investigations began on July 27. The people on whom he was to prove his skills were selected from the over 80,000 sick people who had written to him for help. In addition, there were several patients from the Ludolf Krehl Clinik in Heidelberg. They were all given thorough examinations, and exact diagnoses were established. They then came to Gröning, who used his ‘method’ on them. Doctors were present the whole time. They were witnesses to the fact that some illnesses spontaneously disappeared. Afterwards, examinations in the clinic confirmed the healings. Even incurable illnesses such as ankylosing spondylitis were healed.

In a report, reproduced in the Revue, Dr. Fischer states emphatically that Bruno Gröning is no charlatan, rather a naturally gifted doctor of the soul. In so doing, he tried to explain the “Gröning Phenomenon” from his point of view, without really doing him justice.

Gröning forbids profiteering

The final certificate granting Gröning permission to heal, was to be issued after all the results were evaluated. Bruno Gröning was assured that the way would be cleared for him once and for all to continue with his work. In the meantime, Dr. Professor Fischer and Professor Weizäcker (who were responsible for the whole exercise) made Bruno Gröning the following proposal: they wanted to build healing centers, in which he would work side by side with doctors. The doctors, however, were to be responsible for managing and selecting patients.

To this Bruno Gröning responded, “The financial matters proposed to me in connection with this proposal were such that they were unacceptable to me. Naturally, there were several discussions about this, including with people who wanted to finance this work. I was not able to agree to the proposal from Dr. Professor F. and turned them down because firstly, I do not have a penny to my name, and so I cannot accept any financial commitment which I am unable to fulfill. And secondly, I have never considered making a business out of the entire undertaking. For me it was an impossible request. Besides, I wanted to do only that which belongs to my calling; to help the help seekers and therefore make myself available to doctors such as psychotherapists, but on no account to make a business out of the whole matter.”

Absence of the certificate and potential conflict with the law

Bruno Gröning’s contrary attitude led the professors to lose interest in him. The certificate they had promised was never issued. Instead of providing him with the freedom to continue his work, new obstacles were placed in his way. As a result of the research being carried out, his “healing method” was referred to using words such as “treatment,” “patient” and so on, and thus was judged to be medical practice. A conflict with the law relating to Non-Medical Practitioners Act was thereby inevitable.

1949 – In the spotlight

Bruno Gröning's work in Herford

Thousands of sick people and those seeking help besiege Gröning

Nine-year-old Dieter Hülsmann had been bedridden for some time. He was suffering from progressive muscular dystrophy, and none of the doctors or professors who had been consulted had been able to help. After Bruno Gröning began working with the boy, he was suddenly able to walk again. Mr Hülsmann, an engineer, astounded by the sudden healing of his son, asked Bruno Gröning to stay. He wanted to invite other sick people ‒ this “miracle man” should help them as well ‒ said Hülsmann.

Bruno Gröning accepted the offer, and from one day to the next, more and more help-seekers arrived. Increasing numbers of people learned of the miraculous events surrounding Gröning. It wasn't long before everyone was talking about him. The newspapers reported about the "Miracle Doctor," and in the British Zone he became the subject of daily conversation. Thousands of people poured into Wilhelmsplatz, and throngs of people besieged the house.

Manfred Lütgenhorst, from a daily newspaper, the Münchner Merkur wrote on June 24, 1949, "When I arrived in Herford at about 10.30 a.m., there were almost one thousand people standing in front of the two-story house in Wilhelmsplatz. It was an indescribable picture of suffering. Countless numbers of people in wheelchairs, others brought there by their relatives, blind, deaf and dumb, mothers with mentally and physically disabled children, old women and young men, were crowded together and groaning. Almost one hundred cars, trucks and busses were parked around the square, and all had come from far away."

Paralysis, ulcers, blindness: “Mr Gröning looked at me, and now I am totally healthy.”

Manfred Lütgenhorst continues, “‘Do you believe you’ll be healed?’ I asked one of the sick people. She nodded. One of the people said to me, ‘You should have been here yesterday. Bruno Gröning was not here, but in Viersen in the Rhineland, and here, in the square, five crippled people stood up and went home healed. Distance healing - the yard healed them.’ The other sick people confirmed what had been said.

I made my way further through the throng and recorded their amazing stories. These alone are enough to fill a book. As I lit a cigarette, a young man near me said, ‘Please, sell me one!’ He was wearing a uniform jacket and looked like a serviceman who had returned from Russia. I gave him a cigarette. He lit it and said boisterously, ‘See, I can do everything myself.’ He moved his right arm, his fingers, and his right leg. ‘Did Bruno Gröning heal you, too?’ I asked him. ‘Yes, my right side was paralyzed in Russia. Bruno Gröning looked at me and now I am totally healthy. I still can't fully grasp it.’ Happily, he swung his limbs.

I headed for a group of people surrounding a white-haired woman of about 40 years of age. ‘Of course,’ I heard the woman say, ‘I have been healed by Bruno Gröning. I had huge stomach ulcers, was getting thinner and thinner and couldn't sleep any more because of the pain. There were twelve of us with Gröning. He looked at me, and it seemed to me as if the ulcers fell like a stone to the ground. Since then, I don't have any pain. I'm putting on weight, and the X-Rays I had done show indisputably that the ulcers have vanished. I put myself at the disposal of the Medical Review Commission. I can tell you, they were astonished!’

The woman continued, ‘But that's not all. Last week there was a blind man here in the square. He waited several days and nights without a break. Because I’m often here, I noticed him. I felt sorry for him, and I invited him for a meal. ‘No,’ he declined, ‘I mustn't miss the moment when Bruno Gröning comes out.’ I brought him some rolls and said to him that I would make sure that someone would take him to the railway station. ‘I don't need anyone, because I will be able to walk to the station alone.’ And then I saw it with my own eyes. Bruno Gröning came, and the young man cried out, ‘I can see again!’ Truly, the veil was wiped from his eyes. He described the handbag I was carrying. He said, ‘There goes a car, and that’s the license plate number,’ and he found his way to the station alone. Everyone who was standing nearby was weeping for joy.’

Healing prohibition by city officials and the medical community

It wasn't long before the authorities also concerned themselves with the events. A board of inquiry was formed, and Bruno Gröning was banned from healing. A few influential doctors were his declared enemies. They used every means at their disposal to prevent his activity and demanded that his healing ability be scientifically tested. The real reason for the healing prohibition, however, is clear from the following statement by influential medical people who were involved. “Gröning can prove whatever he wants, but he will not be given permission to heal.” “It offends the professional honor of the doctors to associate with Gröning.” At the end of June, he had to leave Herford permanently. All efforts to obtain permission to carry out healing had failed.

Career and decisive stations in his life

Preparation for his later activities

Compulsory and discontinued apprenticeships

After going to school until the fifth grade, Bruno Gröning started a business apprenticeship. He had to give this up after two and a half years, due to pressure from his father, a bricklayer foreman, who wanted his son to learn a trade. He apprenticed to become a carpenter, but this apprenticeship was also never completed. The business turmoil of the post-war period prevented this. Three months before the end of his apprenticeship, the firm at which he was apprenticed closed, due to lack of orders. In the ensuing period, he earned a living at various jobs. Regarding this period Egon Arthur Schmidt wrote:

“He was a success at any work he turned his hand to.”

“Various workmates of his told me that a noticeable feature was that whatever he turned his hand to, he was able to do, whether it was repairing clocks or radios, or whether he was working as a locksmith. He was especially suited to technical things. Also, he was never shy about taking on the roughest and physically most strenuous work. As a dockworker, he pulled his weight. He made no secret of the fact that doing all this was connected to the path which led him through the depths, in order to reach the heights. An old chinese proverb says, ‘He who has never been through the swamp, cannot become holy.’ There are plenty of reports from among his early compatriots, one of which reached me recently. In it the writer says plainly and simply and without reservation, that having worked with him for a year, he was the best and most decent comrad he ever had, and holds fond memories of him.”

Marriage and family misfortunes

He married at 21. However, his wife did not understand him. She wanted to confine him to the narrow role of a respectable family man and dismissed the healings as "vagaries." Both sons, Harald and Günter, born 1931 and 1939, respectively, died at the age of nine. Although countless people had already experienced healing through Bruno Gröning, Gertrud Gröning did not believe in her husband’s healing power. She entrusted the children not to him, but rather to the doctors. Traditional medicine was, however, unable to help them. Both boys died in the hospital, Harald in 1940 in Gdansk, and Günter in 1949 in Dillenburg. For Bruno Gröning, these were heavy blows of fate. Years later, when he spoke about his sons, tears still flowed.

The time between the two World Wars was thus preparation for his later work. He had to undergo these bitter experiences in order to appreciate and understand the feelings and the deep need of people in all life situations.

Helping instead of shooting – at the Russian front and as prisoner of war

In World War II, Bruno Gröning was called up to the armed forces in 1943. Here he came into conflict with his military superiors. Because of his refusal to shoot at people, he was threatened with a court martial. In the end however, he was sent to the front anyway. He was wounded, became a Russian prisoner of war and returned to West Germany in 1945 as a refugee.

Bruno Gröning’s conduct during the war was dictated by his desire to help. Even at the front, he used every opportunity to help his comrades or the civilian population.

In a Russian village, he was able to arrange for the people, who were dying of starvation, to gain access to the army's food reserves. As a prisoner, he fought for better clothing, better food and better shelter for his fellow prisoners. Innumerable men suffering from starvation edema were helped back to health by Gröning. Amidst the horror of the war, he had killed no one, but helped countless numbers of people.

Marital separation and dedication to humanity

In December of 1945, he was freed and built a new life for himself in Dillenburg in Hessen, where he brought his family. After his second son died and his wife tried to prevent all his charitable activities, he separated from her. He felt compelled to allow the healing power at his disposal to flow to all people. He said, "I don't belong to individuals. I belong to humanity."

Early in 1949, his path led him to the Ruhr District. As a result of the reports of a few healed individuals, increasing numbers of people became aware of Bruno Gröning. He went from house to house, always to where he was needed, where the sick people asked him for help. And so he worked in small circles, until, in March, 1949, he accepted the invitation from an engineer in Herford to visit his son.

Childhood and Youth

Beaten, ridiculed, misunderstood, accepted – a child different from the others

Escape into nature from his hard-hearted surroundings: "Here I experienced God"

Bruno Gröning was born on 30 May 1906, in Gdansk-Oliwa, the fourth of seven children of August and Margarethe Gröning. His parents soon became aware of their son's extraordinary abilities. For example, animals normally considered shy, such as rabbits and deer, spontaneously came to him without fear, to be petted.

As Bruno Gröning grew up, his environment seemed more and more alien to him. Gröning explained that sometimes he was beaten black and blue at home. The beatings, as he said, did not hurt his body, but he felt misunderstood.

Repelled by the hard-heartedness of his surroundings, the young Bruno took refuge in nature. He felt more drawn to animals, trees and bushes, than to some people. He often disappeared into the nearby forest for hours.

"Here I experienced God, in every bush, in every tree, in every animal, yes even in the stones. I could stand and take it all in for hours – time seemed to have no meaning – and it seemed to me as if my inner being expanded into infinity."

He never participated in the wild brawls of his peers. Therefore, he was often ridiculed for being different and was beaten and punished.

Welcome healings of people and animals

With time, an aspect of Bruno Gröning which would later bring him into the limelight became known. In his presence, people and animals would become well. Especially during the first World War, he often visited the military hospitals, where people were happy to see him. The wounded felt good in his presence, and many became healthy. Also, sick people would send for his mother, requesting that she visit them with little Bruno. In the family and among acquaintances, the boy's healing ability was willingly accepted.

Striving for independence

Bruno Gröning wrote in his biography: “Even as a small child, sick people were freed of their symptoms in my presence, and when they were worked up or quarreling, children and grown-ups alike would become calm and peaceful as a result of a few words from me. Also, as a child, I noticed that animals, which normally are considered shy or even dangerous, were good-willed and tame around me. My relationship to my family home, in contrast, was strange and tense. I strove very early for complete independence, in order to free myself from this environment of ‘misunderstanding’ within my family.”

Bruno Gröning (1906-1959)

An extraordinary, yet controversial person

In 1949, the name Bruno Gröning became a household word in Germany overnight. Reports about him appeared in the press, in newsreels and on the radio. Events surrounding the “Miracle Doctor” as he soon came to be called, kept the whole country in suspense. A film was made about him, scientific investigation committees were set up and government authorities at the highest level gave the Bruno Gröning matter their attention. The Minister for Social Affairs in North-Rhine-Westphalia had him prosecuted for violating the Non-Medical Practitioners Act, while the Minister President of Bavaria declared that one could not let such an “exceptional occurrence” as Gröning be squandered because of a few legalities on paper. The Bavarian Interior Ministry described his work as “a labor of love, free of charge”.

The case was intensely and controversially debated at all levels of society. Emotions ran high. Clergymen, physicians, journalists, politicians and psychologists were all talking about Gröning. Some considered his miraculous healings a gift of grace from a Higher Power; others believed he was a charlatan. But the healings were fact, confirmed by medical examinations.

Worldwide interest in an unassuming worker

Bruno Gröning, born in 1906 in Gdansk, was an unassuming worker who relocated to Western Germany as a refugee after World War II. Before the war, he had worked in various capacities: as a carpenter, a factory and dock laborer. Then, suddenly, he was the center of public attention. The news of his miraculous healings spread all around the world. Sick people, petitions and proposals came from every country. Tens of thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the places where he was active. A revolution in medicine was on the horizon.

In the strangle-hold of prohibitions, court cases and profiteering assistants

But counter-forces were at work. They did their utmost to foil Gröning’s activities. He was dogged by court cases and healing prohibitions. All efforts to incorporate his work into the existing social structure failed. On the one hand, there was the resistance of those in authority at various levels of the social order, and on the other, the his assistants’ greed for financial profit. When he died in Paris in 1959, the last court case was well under way. The proceedings were halted and a final verdict was never pronounced. But many questions remained unanswered.