“A working organism.” In 1968 the Benjamin Franklin University Hospital was opened in Berlin-Steglitz. Based on the American model, it combines clinics, medical care facilities, lecture halls, and scientific institutes under one roof. The idea: short distances and flat hierarchies to promote cooperation between departments.

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In 1958 Willy Brandt, then Governing Mayor of West Berlin, took the opportunity during a trip to Washington, DC, to promote the construction of a university hospital at Freie Universität Berlin. At the time the United States had already generously supported several construction projects in West Berlin and at Freie Universität Berlin. Brandt’s plea brought results. The Benjamin Franklin Foundation contributed 20 percent of the 304 million German marks required for the costs for the construction of a new university hospital. Two conditions needed to be met: Architects from the United States were supposed to design the building, and it was supposed to be patterned after the American system that includes clinics, medical care facilities, lecture halls, and scientific institutes under one roof. Finally, after eleven years of planning and construction and six months of trial operations, the Benjamin Franklin University Hospital in Berlin-Steglitz was officially turned over to Freie Universität on October 9, 1968.

• Article “Endlich ein eigenes Klinikum,” published on December 3, 2018, in the science magazine fundiert for the 70th anniversary of Freie Universität Berlin (in German)