Bert Hellinger facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bert Hellinger
Born	16 December 1925 Leimen, Baden, Germany
Died	19 September 2019 (aged 93)
Spouse(s)	Maria Sophie Hellinger

Anton Hellinger (born 16 December 1925 – died 19 September 2019), known as Bert Hellinger, was a German therapist. He is famous for a special method called Family Constellations and Systemic Constellations. This method helps people understand problems in their families. Later in his life, his work changed into something he called "Movements of the Spirit-Mind." Today, many people around the world use and adapt his ideas to help with personal, group, and even political issues.

Bert Hellinger's Early Life

Anton Hellinger was born in 1925 in Leimen, Baden, Germany. His family was Catholic. Hellinger said that their strong Catholic faith helped his family avoid believing the wrong ideas of the Nazis. When he was 10, he went to a Catholic school run by the Jesuits. He later became a priest in this order and was sent to South Africa as a missionary.

The local Hitler Youth group tried to get Bert Hellinger to join them when he was a teenager, but he refused. Because of this, he was seen as an 'Enemy of the People'. In 1942, Hellinger had to join the German army. He fought in World War II on the Western front. In 1945, he was captured and became a P.O.W. (prisoner of war) in Belgium.

After escaping from the camp, Hellinger returned to Germany. He joined the Jesuits, a Catholic religious group. He took the religious name Suitbert, which is where his first name "Bert" comes from. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Würzburg to become a priest.

Missionary Work in South Africa

In the early 1950s, Bert Hellinger was sent to South Africa. He worked there as a missionary with the Zulus. He continued his studies at the University of Pietermaritzburg and the University of South Africa. He earned degrees that allowed him to teach in public high schools.

Hellinger lived in South Africa for 16 years. During this time, he was a priest, a teacher, and later the headmaster of a large school. He was also in charge of 150 schools in his church district. He learned to speak the Zulu language very well. He also learned to appreciate the Zulu way of life and took part in some of their traditions.

New Ideas and Leaving the Priesthood

In the early 1960s, Hellinger took part in training sessions in South Africa. These sessions brought together people from different races and religions. They focused on how groups of people interact. These experiences helped him decide to leave the Catholic priesthood. He was very impressed by how these methods showed that people with different views could find ways to get along.

His interest in understanding things as they appear, without judgment, grew. This happened at the same time he was thinking about leaving the priesthood. Hellinger remembered one trainer asking the group, "What is more important to you, your ideals or people?" He said this question changed his life. He realized that helping people was the most important thing.

After leaving the priesthood, he met his first wife, Herta. They got married soon after he returned to Germany. In the early 1970s, he spent several years in Vienna, Austria. He studied psychoanalysis, a type of therapy that explores deep thoughts and feelings. He completed his training in Munich and became a professional therapist.

Developing His Method

In 1973, Hellinger went to the United States for nine months. He trained with another therapist named Arthur Janov. Many important ideas influenced Hellinger's own approach to therapy. One big influence was Eric Berne and his ideas about Transactional Analysis, which looks at how people communicate.

When he was almost 70 years old, Hellinger had not written down his ideas or trained many students. A German psychiatrist named Gunthard Weber helped him. Weber recorded and edited Hellinger's workshop talks. In 1993, Weber published a book called Zweierlei Glück (which means "Capricious Good Fortune"). This book became very popular.

By 2018, Hellinger had published more than 90 books. About half of his books were recordings of his Family Constellation workshops. The other half shared his ideas about life and people.

Hellinger traveled a lot, giving talks and workshops in many countries. He visited places like Europe, the United States, Central and South America, Russia, China, and Japan. Some people found his way of speaking a bit strong or direct. Because of this, some therapists who used his methods preferred to work independently. However, many others continued to work with him and use his evolving ideas.

Bert Hellinger passed away on 19 September 2019. Until his death, he ran the Hellinger School with his second wife, Maria Sophie Hellinger.

See also

In Spanish: Bert Hellinger para niños

• Family Constellations