History

The supporting society of the Goldenes Kreuz private clinic was founded in the last decade of the 19th century.

When a spa center for officers of the Imperial army was opened in Opatija (formerly Abbazia) in Croatia in 1891, plans to build a similar institution for civil servants was also considered. On 9 December 1893, the society of the Goldenes Kreuz (golden cross) was convened for a constituting meeting and soon started its activities under the auspices of the Imperial family. The property in Lazarettgasse 16 was purchased in 1913 with a financial donation from Therese Wieser and was adapted to serve as a hospital.

At the outbreak of the first world war, it was operated as a war hospital. Following the collapse of the monarchy in 1919, it was inaugurated as the Heinrich and Therese Wieser hospital for civil servants and continued its successful operation until the beginning of the second world war. On 30 May 1939, the society was dissolved and all property was transferred to the Municipality of Vienna. When the society was reestablished after the war, on 14 April 1946, it was left with nothing to build upon, and it was only due to the committed work of Dr. Josef Schlüsselberger, the president of the administrative court , that all of the expropriated assets were recovered in a series of complex court proceedings.

Since then, the interest of the society has been focused on the establishment and renovation of the present-day private clinic, in particular, on the provision assistance to needy public servants.