Press kit about the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends

A short overview

In the spring of 1949 Bruno Groening gained worldwide fame as the "miracle doctor" of Herford. Tens of thousands flocked to see him wherever he spoke. Incredible healings occurred. All the major newspapers and magazines reported on them, and radio, newsreel and film also dealt with the phenomenon. The high point was seen at the Traberhof in Rosenheim, where tens of thousands gathered daily in the autumn of 1949. Incredible scenes took place - the lame could walk again, the blind see again.

The Bruno Groening Circle of Friends carries on the work of Bruno Groening. Grete Häusler, the Director, met Bruno Groening in 1950 and during her first encounter with him experienced healing from three incurable diseases. She afterward became a close associate of his and established the Communities in Austria. She has been living in Germany since 1957. After the death of Bruno Groening she noticed that healings continued to occur just as Bruno Groening had predicted, and as a result she founded the Bruno Bruno Groening Circle of Friends. Since then over 10,000 people worldwide have become members. Many who have taken the teachings of Bruno Groening into their lives have experienced the healing in themselves.

Founded in 1992, The Medical Science Group (MWF) is made up of health professionals, including many doctors who verify and document healings, gather initial findings and arrange for follow-up examinations by independent doctors. In this way an archives containing several thousand pages has been built up containing reports of healing from cancer, Parkinson's disease, angina pectoris, rheumatism and atrophy of the bone, but also from drug and alcohol addiction, depression and much more.

All helpers, whether the Director of the Circle of Friends, the Community Leaders, the Publisher's workers, translators or doctors, work on a voluntary basis in their free time. The work of Bruno Groening is financed entirely on the basis of voluntary donations, and there are no financial or legal obligations. The Circle of Friends is interdenominational and has no religious connection. It does not diagnose, provide therapy, examine or treat. No medication is recommended, prescribed or distributed. In the same way, no one is advised against visiting doctors, taking medication or undergoing therapies or operations. According to Bruno Groening every healing is an act of the grace of God. Therefore no promise of healing is given in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends.

Bruno Groening

His life. Bruno Groening is born in 1906 in Danzig and grows up under modest circumstances. He works at various jobs. After the Second World War he flees as a refugee to West Germany, gaining worldwide fame in the spring of 1949 as the "miracle doctor" of Herford. Tens of thousands flock to him wherever he goes. Incredible healings take place that are reported in all the major newspapers and magazines, and radio and newsreel deal with the phenomenon. A film is produced and even foreign film companies send their camera teams. The high point comes with the happenings at the Traberhof in Rosenheim, where in the spring of 1949 tens of thousands assemble daily. Incredible scenes take place. The lame walk, the blind can see. The sick even come from the U.S.A. The authorities have a sceptical attitude toward the whole thing, and Bruno Groening is prohibited numerous times from healing and taken to court. The charge is always "violation of the Healing Practitioner Law". A final judgement is never pronounced, and Bruno Groening dies in Paris in January, 1959.

His work. Groening always rejected the title of "miracle doctor". But how was one to describe happenings that go beyond the limits of the imagination? Even critics such as Lord Mayor Wömann of Herford said, "It goes beyond my imagination". A member of the Bavarian State Parliament who "took a very skeptical view of the Groening affair" said at the Traberhof, "I have experienced such shocking things today that I can't find the words to describe them. I implore all of you to believe in the calling of Mr. Groening!" Dr. Hermann Kunst, later Protestant bishop and Plenipotentiary of the Council of the Protestant Church, explained, "It was for me unquestionable that he emitted energies that caused healing in people." Helmut Kindler, one of the most distinguished publishers of the post-war period, referred to Groening as a "unique phenomenon that can't be assigned to any psychotherapeutic school. I think he was a deeply religious person." Bruno Groening always emphasized that it wasn't he who brought about the healings, but God. He was only a "transformer". God had given him the energy in order to pass it on to the sick.

His teachings. Knowledge of the Heilstrom*, the divine energy, forms the core of the teachings of Bruno Groening. Groening taught his audiences how to consciously absorb this energy into themselves again and use it to promote their own wellness. The healing then takes place entirely by spiritual means through absorption of this energy. He said, "Trust and believe - the divine energy helps and heals." "There is no such thing as 'incurable'." "God is the greatest physician." Bruno Groening called on the people to make a "great reversal" to belief in the goodness of man and faith in God. He said, "Love your neighbours as yourself! Don't be spiteful or false; don't treat anyone badly! You should all be good, good to one another! You should realize that you belong together, whether poor or rich". "You should love your neighbour as yourself. It is my wish and my intention for this to happen. As soon as it happens that the people get together again they will all be given the possibility of help". "Love life - God! God is everywhere!"

The Bruno Groening Circle of Friends

Origin. Today the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends continues the work of Bruno Groening. The Director, Grete Häusler, met. Bruno Groening in 1950 and at that first encounter experienced healing from three incurable diseases. Later she became a close associate of his and established the Communities in Austria. After 1959 she noticed that healings were still continuing to occur. In 1979 she founded the Circle of Friends. She wants to preserve the heritage of Bruno Groening for posterity and offer suffering people the possibility of help and healing. At first there were only a handful of like-minded people, but at the end of the 1980s a rapid growth began. Today the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends is one of the largest associations for spiritual healing in the world.

Expansion. There are local Communities in all European countries and on all continents of the earth. The member Friends meet at three week intervals for Community Hours. The Community Leaders and their helpers meet together in Working Circles to coordinate the tasks. In addition to the local Communities for adults, youth and children there are also special Communities providing an escape from drug addiction. Here, too, healings occur. For doctors, healing practitioners and persons in other therapeutic professions there are the Medical Science Group (MWF) and the Physicians' Communities. All helpers work on a voluntary basis in their free time. The work of Bruno Groening is financed exclusively on the basis of voluntary donations. There are no financial or legal obligations The Circle of Friends is non-denominational and has no religious connection. Members include people from all the great world religions. In accordance with Bruno Groening's example, there is no diagnosis, therapy, examination or treatment in the Circle of Friends. .Medication is neither recommended, prescribed nor distributed. In the same way, no one is advised against visiting doctors, taking medication or undergoing therapies or operations. According to Groening every healing is an act of the grace of God. Therefore no promise of healing of given in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends.

Worldwide. Today the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends has spread all over the world. There are Communities on all the continents, and healings take place everywhere. Thus, the words of Bruno Groening are becoming ever more true: "It can't be stopped. Healing will take place all over the world."

The Medical Science Group

Origin. Until the mid-eighties there were hardly any doctors who were seriously interested in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends. Then interest rapidly grew, so that by 1992 the Medical Science Group (MEW) could be founded.

Documentation. One of the main tasks of the MWF is the verification and documentation of reported healings. The course of the healing is supposed to be objectively understandable, and initial findings are gathered and arrangements for follow-up examinations made. In this way an archives of several thousand pages has been built up which includes reports of healing from cancer, Parkinson's disease, angina pectoris, rheumatism and osteoporosis as well as from drug and alcohol addiction and depression. Animal and plant healings are also documented.

Lecture work. The many doctors and healing practitioners of the MWF consider it their duty to pass on their experiences with the teachings of Bruno Groening to colleagues and seekers of help. To this end public lectures have been held worldwide for some time now at congresses, and at universities and other conference venues. More and more members of the medical profession are joining the MWF, and the specialist organization now has branches all over the world.

Here is what some doctors have to say: Carl Simonton, M. D., Director of the Simonton Cancer Centre in the USA, says, "It is an enormously great and important task. Therefore I am very taken with what the Medical Science Group is doing." Prof. Jakov G. Galperin, M.D., Ph.D., President of the Russian Medical Federation of Folk-Healers, says, "As president of our centre for scientific research in alternative and traditional medicine I attend various international congresses and seminars in Western Europe and the United States. As a participant in these congresses I have often heard of spiritual healing through the teachings of Bruno Groening. If I hadn't seen and convinced myself of such things myself I wouldn't be dealing with this subject."

The healings

Healing from Osteoporosis. Gertraud Fischer, 67 , Businesswoman: "After I had had about a year of constant pain in the centre of my back, finger joints and knees I went to the doctor in 1995. He diagnosed osteoporosis in an advanced stage. Therapies and medication didn't help. Outside of the house I could only walk with a cane. In April, 1996 I heard of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends. Since then I have absorbed the Heilstrom* twice a day. Since then I have been better, and after some months the pain disappeared. Since then I can move about freely again. Later examinations confirmed that the osteoporisis had disappeared. I have been healed."

Healing from hemiplegia with loss of speech after a stroke. Nikolaj Ivanowitsch Gontschar, 61, of Koktschetaw, Kasachstan: "in 1987 I had a stroke and as a result was paralysed on my right side. I could no longer speak normally and had to be fed. I wasn't able to leave the house. After a cancer operation on my right lung in 1992 there remained an open wound. It didn't heal and caused a continual, tormenting pain. I was given morphine to be able to stand the pain. The doctors gave up on me and a Russian healer, too, was unable to help. At the height of my misery, when the morphine, too, didn't help, I learned in August, 1997 of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends and was introduced to the teachings of Bruno Groening. Since then I have regularly absorbed the Heilstrom* and have perceived a strong tingling in my arms and legs. It got better from week to week and since March, 1998 I have been able to walk again without a cane, and even walk long distances. I can even do gymnastics and climb stairs without help. Since March, 1998 I have been able to speak entirely normally again. The wound, too, gradually healed up. The pain had gradually decreased after the introduction. The wound has been closed since November, 1997 and the pain has disappeared. I have no more complaints and have become a new person."

The documentary film, "The Bruno Groening Phenomenon"

Origin. As early as 1994 preparations were being made for a costly film project on the life of Bruno Groening. The preparation and research took up the entire year. Archival materials were viewed, eyewitness accounts were studied and more and more data were collected. Then in February, 1995 initial shooting began. A journey of many years on the trail of a phenomenon had begun. Over 80 eyewitness interviews were held, original venues from Danzig to Paris were visited. Scenes were shot and original photographs from film archives were gathered. Copies of hundreds of photos, slides and documents were made. The final interviews were filmed in early 2000, while the last documents were still being filmed in 2002. The film has been running in the cinemas since 2003 and is now even being shown in the USA.

Content. The film follows the trail of Bruno Groening, illuminating the individual stations of his life and work openly, objectively and sensitively. In all, Seventy hours of film were shot. It soon became clear that the original concept of producing a film to fill a single evening was untenable. The subject couldn't be covered in only two hours; the life of Bruno Groening couldn't be compressed into a conventional format. It became a three-part film with a running time of five hours.

Effect. Many viewers report how they have suddenly perceived an energy, a tingling, or a streaming in their body when watching the film. For most of them it was a completely new experience. Some even tell of the disappearance of pain, handicaps and other ailments. Here are a few examples: M.B.: "during the film I felt a tingling throughout my body along with a pressure and pain between the eyes." G.F.: "during the second and third parts of the film I was overcome by an energy that filled up my entire body. Before the film I had been in hospital with asthma. Yesterday I saw my family doctor and he informed me that he can't understand why I no longer have chronic sounds in my lungs. If he hadn't known my medical history and hadn't had the medical report he would have said I was completely healthy. The energy is still there." C.E.: "I have been severely handicapped from birthparalysed and spastic, confined to a wheelchair and able to move my left hand only with difficulty. It is also somewhat shortened. During the film I was able to stretch out my hand and my fingers loosened. That had never before been possible. After the film, I had a feeling of great release. I felt much lighter." 

Successes through the documentary film, "The Bruno Groening Phenomenon"

The first Success concerning people who were freed from their complaints while at the cinema watching the film have been verified by MWF doctors and are now available.

Free from hip pain with chronic tendonitis. Silke Maydt, 33, suffered for about a year and a half from severe pain in her left hip that radiated to the knee. An orthopaedic surgeon diagnosed an inflammation of the tendon insertions. On January 11, 2004 she saw the documentary film on Bruno Groening. During the drive home the pain in her hip was more severe than ever. On the next day it was gone, never to return. The doctor's commentary: "Considering its 1½ year progressive (continually worsening) course and the failure of previous attempts at therapy, this healing is inexplicable from a medical point of view."

Spastic bronchitis disappeared after over 39 years. Horst Höck ,68, had suffered for over 30 years from bronchitis followed by asthma attacks. Two or three times a night he would have attacks with feelings of suffocation and constriction. On February 7, 2004 he attended the documentary film. During the second part he had a severe asthma attack that lasted around 15 minutes. Since then the complaints have disappeared. A doctor's commentary: "Experience has shown that healing is not to be expected in a longterm illness of 30 years duration. The sudden disappearance of the chronic complaints is therefore unusual. From a medical point of view there is no doubt a connection between the healing and attendance at the showing of the documentary film."

Healed after 38 years of chronic back pain. Helga Maria Arend, 58, suffered for 38 years from back pain in the lumbar regionlumbar spine syndrome with malposition. She had pain when lying, standing or walking. The area of the lumbar spine became stiff and she had the feeling as if her back were going to break in two. In the autumn of 2003 she went to a showing of the documentary film. She was feeling very bad on that day. She was able to make it through the five hours only with pain. But when the film had ended she was a "new person". From that moment on she has had no more back pain. As a doctor said, "the spontaneous healing of a chronic disease lasting many decades after seeing the documentary film is for me inexplicable from a medical point of view."