Sanatorium - Dr. Pick

Dr. Arthur Pick was born in Vienna on December 6, 1871. His parents were the businessman Dr. Sigismund Pick and Ottilie Pick, née Bernstein. Arthur Pick's childhood/youth was characterized by several moves with the family. He spent the first six years in Vienna, then attended elementary school in Sandbach (Cheshire), England, and finally grammar school in Gliwice, before going on to study medicine at the universities of Breslau, Berlin, Munich and Heidelberg. In 1897 he received his German doctorate at the University of Wroclaw, an Austrian degree at the University of Krakow, an English degree at the University of London in 1903 and an Italian degree in Genoa in 1901, which enabled him to practise his profession in each of the four countries. Before Dr. Arthur Pick settled as a spa physician in Karlovy Vary in 1903, he travelled the world's oceans as a ship's doctor. In 1905 he married Bertha Hammerstein. In 1909, he was granted a license to run a sanatorium in Bad Kissingen at Kurhausstrasse 6, which soon developed into an internationally recognized sanatorium for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, nervous disorders as well as metabolic and eating disorders. As head physician, Dr. Pick was responsible for the medical management of the sanatorium, Bertha Pick for the management of the house and the kitchen. During the First World War, the sanatorium served as a reserve military hospital. After the war, the sanatorium experienced an upswing. During the winter months, the sanatorium was closed and Dr. Pick occasionally practised as a ship's doctor or as a hotel doctor in San Remo during this time. With the Great Depression of 1929, visitor numbers fell dramatically. This led to financial difficulties. In 1932, the property went into receivership and was subsequently foreclosed in 1934. In the summer of 1934, the Pick couple moved to Berlin. In 1938/39, Dr. Arthur and Bertha Pick emigrated to England.