Dr. Ludwig Guttmann

 

Doctor Ludwig Guttmann was the Founding Father of the International Paralympic Games.  

He was born to a German-Jewish Family on July 3, 1899 in Tost, Prussia, German Empire (now Toszek, Poland.)

He started his medical studies in April 1918 at the University of Breslau.

He transferred to the University of Freiburg in 1919 and received his Doctorate of Medicine in 1924.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933 Guttmann, who was working in Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland) was expelled from his University Appointment for being Jewish.

In 1937 the Nazis demoted him from being a Doctor to being Krankenbehandler (One Who Treats the Sick) and he was forbidden to treat Non-Jewish Patients.

He went to work at the Breslau Jewish Hospital.

On November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht (an Anti-Jewish Pogrom in Germany and Austria) Guttmann saved 60 Jews from arrest by the Nazis by hiding them in the Hospital.

In 1939 Guttmann was given a Portuguese Visa to travel to Portugal and treat a Friend of the Portuguese Dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar.

He was scheduled to return to Nazi Germany via London, but was able to stay in the UK.

His Wife and 2 Children were able to stay with him and they settled in Oxford in March 1939.

Guttmann continued his Spinal Injury Research at the Nuffield Department of Neurosurgery in the Radcliffe Infirmary where he was when World War 2 broke out in September 1939.

In September 1943, the British Government asked Guttmann to establish the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

The initiative came from the Royal Air Force to improve the treatment and rehabilitation of Pilots with Spine Injuries.

Guttmann became a naturalized British Citizen in 1945.

He organized the First Stoke Mandeville Games for Disabled War Veterans, which was held at the hospital on July 29, 1948, the same day as the opening of the London Olympics.

All Participants had Spinal Cord Injuries and competed in wheelchairs.

 In an effort to encourage his Patients to take part in national events, Guttmann used the term Paraplegic Games.

These came to be known as the "Paralympic Games", which grew to include other Disabilities.

By 1952, more than 130 International Competitors had entered the Stoke Mandeville Games.

At the 1956 Stoke Mandeville Games, Guttmann was awarded the Sir Thomas Fearnley Cup by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for his meritorious achievement in service to the Olympic movement through the social and human value derived from wheelchair sports.

His vision of an International Games, the equivalent of the Olympic Games themselves, was realized in 1960 when the International Stoke Mandeville Games were held alongside the official 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

In 1961, Guttmann founded the British Sports Association for the Disabled, which would later become known as the English Federation of Disability Sport.

Guttmann was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1950 King's Birthday Honours, as "Neurological Surgeon in charge of the Spinal Injuries Centre at the Ministry of Pensions Hospital, Stoke Mandeville".

On June 28, 1957, he was made an Associate Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John.

He was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960, and he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.

In 1961, Guttmann founded the International Medical Society of Paraplegia, now the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS); he was the inaugural president of the society, a position that he held until 1970

He retired from Clinical Work in 1966 but continued his involvement with sport.

Guttmann died on 18 March 18, 1980 at the age of 80.

He is buried at the Bushey Jewish Cemetery.

A 2012 Movie called “The Best of Men” tells his story and is how I learned of him.