Jungborn
In the same year, in which Adolf Just's book "Return to Nature" (1896) appeared, the "Jungborn, climatic health resort, institute for natural healing and natural lifestyle" was opened in the Harz Mountains.
The naturopathy institution was considered the largest of its time and housed up to 350 health seekers.
Just let the sick work on their recovery by activities and joy of life. They wore air permeable clothes. Movement played a big role. The patients lived in a hut open on three sides. The nutrition was vegetarian and very natural. The menu included raw vegetables, fruits, vegetables, berries, salads, juices and especially nuts.
Among the most prominent visitors was Franz Kafka, who visited the Jungborn in 1912 for three weeks and thus cured his writing crisis. Kafka noted in his travel journal: "This old, blue-eyed Adolf, who heals everything with Earth and alerts me to the doctor who banned me from eating fruit. (...) Naked people are lying quietly in front of my door. All except for me without swimming pants. (...) This morning: washing, millers, joint gymnastics, singing some chorales. Ball game in a big circle (...).
Emanuel Felke was also a guest in Jungborn. He was so enthusiastic about the concept that he later founded his own Jungborn in Bad Sobernheim.
In 1908 Adolf Just handed over the management of the Jungborn to his brother Rudolf.
The Jungborn idyll lasted until the beginning of the 40s and was completed by the Second World War. After the war, the Jungborn became a lung sanctuary, then stood empty again and served at the end of the 50s as a retirement home. With the construction of the wall in 1961 the final out came.