Press reviews, Austria:
"Neue" Vorarlberger Tageszeitung, dated 11.9.2006

"The Phenomenon Bruno Groening"

A documentary film about the "miracle healer" Bruno Groening will be showing at the Metro Cinema in Bregenz during the next few weeks.

Many thousands of people stand before the "Traberhof" in Rosenheim, silently looking up at the balcony and hanging on every word of the man who for many of them has become their last hope. The "miracle doctor" as they call him looks calmly at the crowd without emotion. Suddenly someone screams from below, "I can see again!" Everyone turns around to stare unbelievingly at the person who had screamed. Astonished, he kept looking at his hands, then at the others, yelling over and over, "I can see again. I can see again."

The lame can walk again

And then there are scenes the likes of which we have never seen in our time. The sick sit up on their stretchers and the lame throw away their crutches and walk. Shouts of gratitude announce new healings. Then the crowd, some with tear-filled eyes and trembling voices, sing "Almighty God we praise thee."

Thus ends the first part of the documentary film, "The Phenomenon Bruno Groening - on the Tracks of the Miracle Healer." It is surely one of the most impressive scenes in the film, but such things occurred again and again during Bruno Groening’s lifetime (1906-1959).

Thirty thousand people came

In 1949 thousands - tens of thousands - streamed daily to his places of activity. A wretched army of the sick and suffering was on the move. Beaten down by war, given up by the doctors, these people had only one wish - to become well and free from misery and pain. Bruno Groening would help them. The inconceivable occurred: the lame could walk, the blind could see again.

The film "The Phenomenon Bruno Groening" traces the happenings of the time, following the trail of this unusual man.

It is said that even as a small boy Groening was able to exert a healing influence on sick people and animals. In the year 1949 he became famous through the healing of a boy in northern Germany who had been given up by the doctors. The activities of the "miracle doctor," as he was soon named, kept the young republic in suspense. As many as 30,000 people a day came to hear Groening and be healed.

I am there for anyone who calls me

The medical profession took a very critical view of the happenings and slanderous articles appeared in the newspapers. The authorities charged him with violation of the Healing Practitioner Law. In 1952 Groening was put on trial. Although he was acquitted, he was denied any further healing activity.

After that the "miracle healer" predicted that he would burn up inwardly if he were forbidden to heal. Groening died in the year 1959. The doctors in Paris confirmed after two operations, "It looked like complete internal combustion."

During his lifetime Groening said, "Everyone must die, I too. My body will be laid in the earth, but I won’t be dead. I will be there for anyone who calls me and will go on helping."

And so it was. Even since his demise numerous healings have been documented (see also article to the right). In order to document the many healings that were - and still are - taking place, The "Medical Scientific Group" was founded in 1992. The many doctors who belong to it verify and comment on the healings. In the archive, which now contains many thousands of pages, there are reports of healing from cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, rheumatism and osteoporosis-but also from drug and alcohol addiction, depression and many other diseases.

More than 70 hours of film material about Groening were shot and more than 80 eyewitnesses interviewed. The film lasts almost five hours and is shown in three parts. Newsreel reports, original documents and excerpts from television broadcasts, as well as costly dramatic scenes with up to 2000 extras, make the film an impressive experience for the viewers.

"He healed me with divine power"

Christine, 56, from the Montafon area trusted in Bruno Groening and was quickly healed from her venous disease.

BY MARTINA KUSTER

Christine has been a member of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends since 2002. The Circle of Friends was founded in 1979 by Grete Häusler, who was healed at a lecture of Groening and felt inwardly directed to make known Groening’s teachings. This was also partly because she discovered that healings were occurring even after Groening’s death: her maid, who was blind in one eye, was suddenly able to see again after a picture of Bruno Groening fell to the floor while she was vacuuming.

Seven years of pain

The Circle of Friends is continuing Groening’s work. People in all European countries and on all continents of the world meet to absorb the healing force together. There have been meetings in Vorarlberg since 1994, and 500 Vorarlberg inhabitants are members of the Circle of Friends.

In 1995 Christine starts to suffer from a disease in her legs. Her venous system stops functioning properly. "I had severe pain in my legs from morning to night," Christine said to "Neue". She wants an operation, but the doctor says, "It’s inoperable. You’ll have to learn to live with the pain."

The woman from the Montafon area suffers the burning pain for seven long years. Christine said, "Since I always had to keep my legs moving or propped up I could hardly ever go anywhere any more. My social contacts shrivelled to a minimum."

In the year 2002 she learns of from an acquaintance of Bruno Groening. Christine grasps at this last straw. "Because I had no choice - I was standing with my back to the wall," she said. Therefore she attended an information event of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends. During the event something happens "that I couldn’t give a name to. I felt a strong tingling in my hands and feet." Since that day she sits twice a day before a photo of Groening and gives thanks for her healing. "I believed that I would be helped," Christine goes on, "After two and a half months I was fully pain-free." At a follow-up examination the doctor can hardly believe that everything is just fine. "But so it was. There was nothing more to be seen with ultrasound." Christine is certain, "Groening healed me with God’s power."

Information events of the Circle of Friends : Andelsbuch Kindergarten, 17.9.; Bregenz Berufsschule, 4.10.; Hotel Messmer, Bregenz, 15.10.; Hotel Bären, Feldkirch, 12.11. (all at 7 p.m.).

Picture captions:
1) The "miracle healer" and the sick. Tens of thousands of people flocked to him. After his death, too, many healings are attributed to him.
2) Bruno Groening: more about him and the Circle of Friends is available under www.bruno-groening-film.org