Dr. Fritz Kühr and the Institute for Families

With Father Kentenich and the collaboration of Dr. Fritz Kühr the Institute for Families was born almost 80 years ago, on July 16, 1942. With this foundation the Schoenstatt Family Work was completed.

The founding took place while they were still in the concentration camp of Dachau, with a celebration held in the secrecy of the prison and under the protection of the Blessed Mother. From this daring beginning, the Family Work was born.

Dachau represented the opposite of a family home, but it was exactly the place chosen by Father Kentenich and Fritz Kühr to begin the international struggle for the family.

Father Joseph Kentenich conceived this work so that the institution of the family and marriage would become the pillars of a new Christian social order throughout the world. Today, the Family Work is present in the five continents, carrying out a work that is not always recognized but extremely effective in the defense of the institution of the family.

Dr. Kühr was sent to Dachau as a political prisoner. Divine Providence wanted him to meet Father Kentenich. The two immediately forged a relationship. The founding father saw in Dr. Kühr the right person to start the Institute of Families. This was possible given that Fritz was a married man. His wife’s name was Helene.

Fritz and Helene Kühr

Fritz and Helene Kühr were married on November 8, 1922, in the German town of Bad Lippspringe, in the parish of St. Martin. He was a politician and economist; she was a teacher and poet. Fritz and Helene’s decision to get married is also part of our history, because, from their commitment, it was possible to found the Institute of Families and the Schoenstatt Family Work.

As a couple they experienced many happy moments as well as many difficulties.  During the Second World War, they were forced to remain physically separated for ten years. He was in the Dachau concentration camp, while she had to emigrate alone to Brazil, to the city of Rolandia, where she lived a precarious life in the middle of the jungle. They suffered from illnesses and, a few years after their reunion in Brazil, they were separated again by the untimely death of Dr. Fritz Kuhr. Despite all the difficulties, they never lost their faith in God and their love for each other. Therefore, their married life is an example for us. Their remains are buried together in the Heroes’ Monument next to the Schoenstatt Shrine in Londrina, Brazil.

Centenary of the marriage of Fritz and Helene Kühr

A jubilee year commemorating the centenary of the marriage of Fritz and Helene Kühr will be celebrated from November 2021 to November

2022. During this year there will be celebrations, which will take place in different places related to the Kührs. It will be a special moment for the Institute of Families and the Family Work as a whole, as well as for the Schoenstatt Family worldwide.

The opening celebration of the Jubilee Year will take place on November 6, 2021, to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the marriage of Fritz and Helene. It will take place precisely in the church where they were married, in Bad Lippspringe. There will be a mass and the couples present will renew their wedding vows. Participation in this event can be in person or online.

Program on Saturday, November 6, 2021

1.00 pm: Possibility of lunch at the
St. Martin Parish Center, Martinstraße 5,33175 Bad Lippspringe

3:00 p.m.: Festive Mass with the possibility of the renewal of vows and individual blessing
Parish Church of St. Martin, Bad Lippspringe

Transmission by schoenstatt-tv.de: at youtube.de (see below: on 6.11.2021 live from 3 p.m.)
followed by: meeting and evening snack

You can also read: 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Family Shrine in Schoenstatt

Family Shrine in Schoenstatt: 50 YEARS OF MISSION