The second volume of the novel series about the Adventist hospital Waldfriede, in Berlin-Zehlendorf, has been published. The four-part series, published by Penguin, is entitled Die Schwestern vom Waldfriede (The Nurses of Waldfriede) and recounts stories from the history of this medical institution, founded in 1920.
After the first volume of the saga made it onto the bestseller list of DER SPIEGEL magazine at the first attempt, the second volume entered the SPIEGEL bestseller list, already at number 8 in the first week, and has meanwhile moved up to number 3.
Waldfriede is the second oldest hospital in Berlin after the Charité. With her series of novels, the author, Corina Bomann, has created a special memorial to Waldfriede Hospital. The idea for this series came to her during a stay there, where she discovered historical documents and photos. This aroused her interest in the history of the hospital, and she contacted the hospital management, who then sent her the journal of nurse Hanna Rinder. This journal inspired Bomann in her series of novels: The courageous children's nurse, Lilly, fights for her little patients and her own happiness. Her fate is also used to tell the story of the progressive development of Waldfriede Hospital.
What Leuchfeuer is about
The second volume, Leuchtfeuer, describes the period from 1933 onwards: just as Waldfriede Hospital has made a name for itself and hospital director Conradi is accepted into the Berlin Surgical Society, dark clouds gather on the horizon as the Nazis seize power. Suddenly, Waldfriede and its staff are under surveillance. But the young children's nurse, Lilly, is less concerned about herself than about her small patients in need of protection and the people close to her. She has also long since realised that her feelings for the doctor, Rudolph Kirsch, go beyond a purely professional relationship. She suspects that she is not the only one hiding a secret. Times are becoming more and more threatening, and Lilly more and more desperate: should she risk everything - and perhaps lose everything she holds dear in the end? ...
Author Corina Bomann lives in Berlin-Zehlendorf - in the direct vicinity of the Waldfriede Hospital.
Waldfriede Hospital
Waldfriede Hospital is located in the Berlin district of Zehlendorf and is an academic teaching hospital of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin. It has been certified several times according to statutory quality parameters and has already received numerous awards for its medical and nursing quality. About 15,000 inpatients and 120,000 outpatients are treated here every year. The supporting organisation is the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which maintains about 900 medical facilities worldwide. Waldfriede is, among other things, a cooperation partner of the Adventist hospital network, Advent Health, in the USA.
The hospital is part of the Waldfriede health network, which also includes a day clinic, a social station, an academy for health and nursing care, a service company, a senior citizens' home, the PrimaVita health centre, the Nikolassee private clinic, and the Desert Flower Center.
Anniversary celebration on September 10
On September 10, Krankenhaus Waldfriede will celebrate its anniversary (102 years as a hospital and 100 years as a state-recognised nursing school) with a festive anniversary service in the Audimax of Freie Universität Berlin. Among others, the Berlin Senator for Health and Care, Ulrike Gote, as well as the members of the Bundestag Renate Künast, Thomas Heilmann and Ruppert Stüwe, are expected to attend.
To learn more about Waldfriede Hospital, please go here.
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