Military Hospital 4/637

Military Hospital 4/637 (German: Kriegslazarett 4/637) was a large German military general hospital in Minsk operated by the Army Medical Service from 1941 to 1942 during World War II. The hospital was located in the former House of the Red Army building (now called the Officer's House or Army Palace), a monumental Stalinist building inaugurated in 1936 and designed by Iosif Langbard. The hospital reached a capacity of around 1,000 beds. The hospital mainly treated German soldiers, but also civilians and enemy soldiers to some extent.[1]

Military Hospital 4/637
German Army Medical Service
The former hospital building, now known as the Officer's House
Geography
LocationMinsk, Belarus
Coordinates53.903135°N 27.564291°E / 53.903135; 27.564291
Organisation
TypeMilitary hospital
Services
Beds1,000
History
Opened1941
Closed1942
Links
ListsHospitals in Belarus

History

The hospital employed a number of Jews from the nearby Minsk ghetto as auxiliary workers in a variety of capacities, thereby shielding them from the SS, and on at least one occasion the hospital's physicians risked their lives by allowing Jews to hide from the SS in the hospital. The Holocaust survivor Heinz Rosenberg recounts in his memoirs how he and other Jews were treated with a humanity and kindness which "seemed like a miracle" by the hospital's staff and leadership. This protection of Jews in the Minsk area came to an end when the hospital was ordered to relocate to Crimea.[2]

References
  1. "Sanitätsversorgung," in Bertrand Michael Buchmann, Österreicher in der Deutschen Wehrmacht: Soldatenalltag im Zweiten Weltkrieg (p. 175), Böhlau Verlag, Vienna, 2009
  2. "Lazarett 4/637," in Heinz Rosenberg: Jahre des Schreckens. "…und ich blieb übrig, daß ich Dir’s ansage" (pp. 40–41), Steidl, Göttingen, 1985, ISBN 3-88243-238-1
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