The establishment of the Hygiene Institute was due to Robert Koch's swift action when he was called to Gelsenkirchen in the late summer of 1901 because of a typhus epidemic. Since politics, administration, business, and the population were united in fighting the epidemic, the supporting association began researching and combating the epidemic at the end of 1901 and the institute itself at the beginning of 1902. The intense work of numerous institutions throughout Central Europe finally took away the horrors of the epidemic. Thousands of people breathed a sigh of relief and could once again look forward to a future worth living.
The institute through the ages
The "Hygienic and Bacteriological Institute," as the institute was founded, was led by Prof. Dr. Hayo Bruns as its first director from 1902 to 1936. His specialty was worm diseases, to which he devoted numerous publications. However, due to a severe illness in 1923, he could no longer lead the institute successfully. Lack of funds almost meant the end. Fortunately, the institute was able to acquire funding from the "Ruhrverband" but could be fully repurchased as early as 1929 and from then on bore the name "Hygiene-Institut des Ruhrgebiets." Bruns died in 1951.
Brief flourishing and a time of horror
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In the years that followed, Brun's successors were able to give the institute the necessary impetus and secured the financial resources required for the institute's survival. In 1939, a state-approved teaching institute was established, where medical-technical assistants (at that time, it was actually only women!) were trained. Unfortunately, this success was cut short because the Hygiene Institute was by no means spared when World War II wreaked devastation across the globe. Towards the end of the war, the institute was almost completely destroyed, and working in a goal-oriented manner became almost impossible.
Subsidies from the state of NRW brought success
The new director of the institute, Prof. Wüstenberg, led the institute into calmer waters and consequently began with the reconstruction. The training institute for MTAs was able to continue its work. Over the following decades, new fields of work were implemented. The institute was able to build a valuable reputation.
Financial grants from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia within the framework of the Zukunftsinitiative Montanregion (ZIM) made the Hygiene Institute one of the largest independent institutions in Europe in the field of environmental hygiene in the early 1990s.
