The Birthday

Good Friday 2020 marked the 265th birthday of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, one of the most historic citizens of Meissen and Torgau. In the previous post, you learned how he caused a stir with his self-developed and successful healing method during the cholera epidemic of 1831. I had originally planned to report here on Hahnemann’s birthday celebration, which featured many international guests at the International Hahnemann Center in Torgau. However, this celebration had to be canceled for understandable reasons, so here you will read various stories associated with the famous physician’s birthday.

On April 10, 1805, Hahnemann had been in Torgau for less than four months when he celebrated his 50th birthday. Unfortunately, no details of the festivities have been preserved. He seemed to quickly fall in love with Torgau, as he settled down for the first time in his life. Before that, he had moved around 20 times. Now he was very happy in what he wrote was his “dear, comfortable free house” in Torgau’s Pfarrgasse (today Pfarrstraße). He continued: “I live surrounded by a family dear to me – a wife of rare kindness and seven almost grown, cheerful, well-educated, obedient, and innocent daughters, who look after me and sweeten my life (even with music). Moreover, I can cure almost without exception the sick who entrust themselves to me quickly, easily, and permanently, thus making many people happy – thanks to the One who created the miraculous remedies and placed them in my hands. Aren’t I almost to be envied?”

The security of having found a home in Torgau caused Hahnemann’s already considerable creative power to explode. In the few years he spent there until 1811, he ran a steadily growing medical practice. He also developed his healing method of homeopathy in theory, writing, and practice.

1855: The 100th birthday of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann

50 years later in Meissen: Hahnemann had died in Paris in 1843, but he had not been forgotten in his hometown of Meissen. In 1855, large 100th birthday celebrations were held here and in Vienna, where he was remembered with great effort.
Samuel’s birthplace, which had been owned by the family from 1753 to 1782, still stood in Meissen.

On April 11, 1855, a Hahnemann memorial plaque was unveiled there. The ceremony was originally planned for April 10, because that is the date Hahnemann gives as his birthday in his autobiography. However, the organizers discovered that the baptismal register of the Frauenkirche in Meissen lists “April 11, early in the morning.” In fact, it was probably close to midnight when the boy was born.

On the day of the celebration, activities began at 10:30 a.m. at the Gasthof Hirsch with the medical meeting of the Central Association of Homeopathic Doctors.

Around 12:30 p.m., the main event of the festival took place with the festivities in the ballroom of the Meissen State School, where Hahnemann had received his first scientific education. The school’s principal, Dr. Francke, delivered a speech, followed by Dr. Hirschel’s lecture on the life and work of Samuel Hahnemann. Following this, senior Lemaistre gave a lecture on the topic “How is it that we so gladly celebrate the memory of great men who emerged from this school?”

While this part of the festival was a scientific event, the subsequent unveiling of the memorial plaque at the Hahnemann House can be described as a more popular one.