Zurich Open Repository andArchiveUniversity of ZurichMain LibraryStrickhofstrasse 39CH-8057 Zurichwww.zora.uzh.ch

Year: 2008

Alfred Vogel (1902-1996) as an example of the development of non-physiciannaturopathy - especially phytotherapy - in Switzerland

Melzer, J; Kleemann, C; Saller, R

Abstract: Based on biographic research on the Swiss Alfred Vogel, this article focusses on some socio-cultural aspects, which form part of the background to his career as a naturopath. Due to socialisation inhis family, he became aware of the use of herbs in folk medicine. After business training, he worked as asalesman in a grocer’s shop near Basel which, after becoming its owner, he turned into a health food shop.The success of this business laid the financial ground for a new professional orientation. Vogel popularizedlife reform ideas by publishing books and his own magazine; he passed training courses in naturopathy,got officially registered as a naturopath and ran a small spa hotel close to St. Gallen. His deep religiosityformed his worldview as well as his therapeutic orientation. In a small laboratory which he graduallyenlarged due to increasing demand, he produced extracts from fresh plants. Besides his therapeuticand journalistic activities, he travelled to various countries, sometimes in the manner of ethno-botanicexcursions, and brought back new knowledge, plants and fruits which he used for his herbal preparationsand products. Finally, from 1963 on, he concentrated on the production of herbal preparations in hisown company (Bioforce AG) and he became an important protagonist of herbal medicine in Switzerland.

Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of ZurichZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-13500Published Version

Originally published at:Melzer, J; Kleemann, C; Saller, R (2008). Alfred Vogel (1902-1996) as an example of the developmentof non-physician naturopathy - especially phytotherapy - in Switzerland. Schweizerische Zeitschrift fürGanzheitsmedizin / Swiss Journal of Integrative Medicine, 20(1):41-48.

Alfred Vogel (1902–1996) as an example of the development of non-physician naturopathy – especially phytotherapy – in Switzerland

Jörg Melzer, Christian Kleemann, Reinhard Saller

Institute of Complementary Medicine, Dept. of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland

On the background of the results ofbiographic and historical research

about ALFRED VOGEL [1,2], the collecteddata are being put in context withaspects of his personal and professionalsocialisation as well as social move-ments which seem to have influencedhis professional career from being asalesman to become a well-knownnon-physician therapist (i.e. naturopath)in Switzerland in the 20th century.

Family Socialisation

Born in 1902 into modest circum-stances in Aesch near Basel, AlfredMax Vogel became aware of medicinalherbs already in his childhood. Theknowledge of folk medicine was passeddown to him by his father (Fig. 1)1 andhis grandmother who showed thelocally growing medicinal plants tohim on walks through the countryside,let him taste them and explained theirhealing character [3]. He said laterthat the collection of plants in the atticof his parents’ house was like a “phar-macy of medicinal herbs” which “cap-tured (his) complete and unshakeabletrust” in the “healing power of herbs”that never had been disappointed [4].From this retrospective but clearstatement it can be deduced that it wasa rather informal pattern of familysocialisation in terms of oral traditionthat arose the interest in herbal medi-cine in the young Vogel. However, afterhis school education in Therwil, hereceived a business training and since1923 he had been working in the“Kolonialhaus Helios” in Basel [1] of

which he became the owner soon after.Beside classic colonial goods such ascane sugar and Ceylon tea, his rangeof goods also included herbal cosmeticand health products like arnica soap,birch and melissa balsam, essences ofjuniper, peppermint or camomile,essential oils (e.g. Oleum menthae jap.)

and medicinal teas (e.g. Alpine plan-tine, rose hip seeds, Icelandic moss,and white clover flowers). This orien-tation towards “health products” isalso expressed in the name he finallychose for his store [1]: “ReformhausVogel” (Reform Shop Vogel; Fig. 2).2

Based on biographic research on the Swiss Alfred Vogel, this article focusses on some socio-cul-tural aspects, which form part of the background to his career as a naturopath. Due to socialisa-tion in his family, he became aware of the use of herbs in folk medicine. After business training,he worked as a salesman in a grocer’s shop near Basel which, after becoming its owner, he tur-ned into a health food shop. The success of this business laid the financial ground for a new pro-fessional orientation. Vogel popularized life reform ideas by publishing books and his own maga-zine; he passed training courses in naturopathy, got officially registered as a naturopath and rana small spa hotel close to St. Gallen. His deep religiosity formed his worldview as well as his the-rapeutic orientation. In a small laboratory which he gradually enlarged due to increasing demand,he produced extracts from fresh plants. Besides his therapeutic and journalistic activities, he tra-velled to various countries, sometimes in the manner of ethno-botanic excursions, and broughtback new knowledge, plants and fruits which he used for his herbal preparations and products.Finally, from 1963 on, he concentrated on the production of herbal preparations in his own com-pany (Bioforce AG) and he became an important protagonist of herbal medicine in Switzerland.

Key words: naturopath, life reform, complementary and alternative medicine, fresh plant extract,herbal medicine, history of medicine

Alfred Vogel (1902–1996) als Beispiel für die Entwicklung der nicht-ärzt-lichen Naturheilkunde – besonders der Phytotherapie – in der Schweiz

Basierend auf biographischen Daten über den Schweizer Alfred Vogel werden sozial-kulturelleAspekte beleuchtet, die einen Teil des Hintergrunds seines Werdegangs zum Naturarzt bilden. ImRahmen der Familiensozialisation wird er als Kind auf den volksheilkundlichen Gebrauch von Heil-pflanzen aufmerksam. Nach einer kaufmännischen Ausbildung arbeitet er als Verkäufer in einemKolonialwarengeschäft bei Basel, das er in ein Reformhaus umwandelt, nachdem er der Besitzerwird. Der Geschäftserfolg bildet die finanzielle Grundlage für eine neue berufliche Orientierung.Er popularisiert lebensreformerische Ideen in eigenen Büchern und Zeitschriften, besucht Ausbil-dungskurse in Naturheilkunde, lässt sich als Naturarzt registrieren und betreibt ein Kurhaus bei St.Gallen. Seine tiefe Religiosität formt sein Weltbild und seine therapeutische Ausrichtung. Er be-ginnt Frischpflanzenpräparate in einem kleinen Labor herzustellen, welches er entsprechend derNachfrage fortlaufend vergrössert. Neben seiner therapeutischen und journalistischenTätigkeitbereist er verschiedene Länder, was teilweise den Charakter von ethnobotanischen Exkursionenannimmt, und kommt mit neuen Erkenntnissen, Pflanzen oder Früchten zurück, die er für seinePflanzenzubereitungen oder Produkte verwendet. Schliesslich konzentriert er sich ab 1963 in ei-ner modernen Firma (Bioforce AG) auf die Herstellung von pflanzlichen Arznei- und Heilmittelnund wird einer der wichtigen Protagonisten der Phytotherapie in der Schweiz.

Schlüsselwörter: Naturarzt, Lebensreform, Naturheilkunde, Frischpflanzenextrakt, Phytotherapie,Medizingeschichte

Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008 41

Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 2008;20(1):41–48 © Verlag für GanzheitsMedizin, Basel. www.ganzheitsmedizin.ch

Essay

Commercial basis and life reform movement

Vogel did not restrict his range ofgoods to those named above. Alreadysince 1924, he had been developpingand selling products under his ownbrand name “AVOBA” (A. Vogel, Basel;e.g. ‘Avoba Porridge Oats’, ‘Avoba FigSyrup’, ‘Avoba Raw Rice’, ‘Avoba Ba-nana Cacao’ but also ‘Avoba Coffee’ or‘Avoba Shampoo’; Fig 3)3.

At this time, Vogel’s main interestwas in the field of nutrition as can be

seen from these products as well asfrom his first publication, (i.e. “KleinerWegweiser für Lebensreform”, A SmallGuide To Life Reform, 1926; Fig. 4) [5].In the guide, he described himself as a“nutritional therapist” and warned ofthe “modern food industry”, in whichhe saw the “ghost of the 20th century”who claims its “victims” everywhere[ibid., page 5]. He explained that the“chemical-mechanical preparationprocesses” used in this industry robsthe food its “vitamins and ... complete-ness”. He therefore advised to “go backto nature”. Yet, Vogel’s own interpreta-tion of this pragmatic phrase wasabove all the return “to pure, unadul-terated natural products [that is forexample] ... to wholemeal bread, whole-meal pasta products, whole rice ..., unre-fined brown cane sugar containing cal-cium and iron” [ibid., page 7]. His con-viction of the necessity of “naturalnutrition” was based on eating “natur-al products in a form as close to theiroriginal state as possible” and in thiscontext he also spoke of “wholesome-ness” [ibid., page 15, 20] or “whole-

some food” [6] and even referred tovitamins. Vogel assured his readers thathe did not offer products from “grasp-ing money-minded people” and that hehad convinced himself of the qualityand credibility of his own Avoba pro-duction and of the reform manufactur-ers whose general agency in Switzerlandhe had got (e.g. Sanitas Bread, EdenTea, Frugella Strength Soup) [5].

It is striking that Vogel combinedseveral aspects in the argumentationfor his products for the “pure and nat-ural”: aspects of the Rousseauianromanticism world-view from the 18thcentury, life reform4 ideas of the 19thand latest scientific discoveries of the20th century (e.g. vitamins have onlybeen discovered in 1912).

Above all, Vogel was in line withgoals of the informal social protest

42 Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

Fig. 3. Advertisement for “Avoba Products”1928.

Fig. 4. Title page of Vogel’s first publication of“Kleiner Wegweiser für Lebensreform” (SmallGuide To Life Reform) (1926).

Fig. 1. A. Vogel, third from the right, with his older siblings and parents(1920s).

1Alfred Vogel Museum, Teufen. 2Archive A. Vogel GmbH, Teufen (AAVGT): book

of advertisements, advertisement from thenewspaper “Baselstab” dated 26.05.1924.

3AAVGT: book of advertisements, advertisementfrom the newspaper “Volksgesundheit” (PublicHealth) dated 01.08.1928

4The term “Lebensreform” (life reform) alreadyappears in the subtitle of a magazine appearingfor the first time in Dresden in 1890, “Die Volks-gesundheit”, Monatsschrift der Arbeitervereinefür Gesundheitspflege, Lebensreform, Freikörper-kultur, Heilkunde und Kleingartenwesen im Ver-band Volksgesundheit” (The Public Health.Monthly Magazine of the Worker’s Associationsfor Health Care, Life Reform, Naturism, Medicineand Allotment Gardening in the Association forPublic Health).

Fig. 2. Advertisement for the “Reformhaus A. Vogel” (Reform ShopA. Vogel) in Basel (1924).

movements which grew in someEuropean countries from the end ofthe 19th century – called “Lebensreform-bewegung” (life reform movement) [7].The movement called for a simpler,more natural life in the face of urban-isation and its effect on daily life due toindustrialisation (e.g. food reform,earth reform) [8]. Yet, the ideologicalorientations of the movement werediverse (e.g. romantic, religious, natur-istic, health-oriented, folkish or evenracist) and the realisation of its goalsvaried broadly between its protago-nists and fellows (e.g. the rather anar-chistic reform colony at Monte Verita/Ascona in Switzerland or the rathermoderate one in Eden/Berlin in Germ-any) [9]. However, citizens who sympa-thized with single ideas of the “Lebens-reformbewegung” but were bound totraditional family or social patternscould rather become customers ofreform shops instead of actively takingpart. This enabled them to partly adoptsingle ideas and to be somehow con-nected with the movement. So everydaydomestic items could be bought alter-natively in reform shops instead of com-mon department stores and can there-fore be interpreted as one example ofa response of a complex and differen-tiated society to enable pluralism ofopinion [10]. Vogel’s reform shopturned into a commercial success. Theyearly turnover increased from aboutCHF 84,000 in 1926/27 to CHF 155,000in 1928/29. [1] One year later, this vir-tual doubling of turnover allowed himto rebuild the warehouse of the reformshop in Basel. In the 1930s, he alsoopened branches of the reform shop inZurich, Solothurn and Bern and rantwo of them until 1963 [1].

Popularisation oflife style ideas and educational aspects

From 1926 on, starting with the alreadymentioned ‘Small Guide To Life Reform’,it was one of Vogel’s declared aims toinform people in order to enable themto “self-help”, which is in part a moti-

vation in the life reform movement[5,11]. The educational aspect in hispublications was also emphasised bythe co-author and teacher SOPHIE

SOMMER (his wife from 1927–1982�)who wrote the foreword for the guide.There she expresses the wish that“this little booklet might ... light theway ... to more robust, stronger health”[12] and “fight the dark powers andtheir ascent.” This subject recursagain and again in her poems for theguide where the idea to “be victorious”in the everyday “struggle” is a centraltopic [12,13]. Although the second edi-tion of the guide never came out, prob-ably because the first was publishedon too large a scale with a run of25,000 copies, Vogel found anotherway to put his thoughts into words andto popularise life reform ideas andproducts on a broader scale.

In 1929, he took up the idea of otherlife reformers and founded a smallpublishing house in Basel as well as amagazine, both called “Das NeueLeben” (The New Life) [14]. The coverof the magazine is programmatic forthe life reform: the well-proportionedhuman – hardly clothed so that lightand air can touch his skin – has justbroken the chain of civilisation andfaces the sunrise of a new life in har-mony with nature (Fig. 5).5

Among the subscribers to the mag-azine were private persons, naturopaths,owners of reform shops, boardinghouses and hotels, the “Association forFolk Health” in Bern and the “Associa-tions of Folk Medicine” in Brünn,Zurich and Vienna [1]. During theglobal economic crisis, Vogel address-ed his readers at the beginning of 1932to let them know that the publicationof the magazine had to be ceased.Nevertheless, he referred to the maga-zine “Der Wendepunkt” (The TurningPoint) of the Swiss physician BIRCHER-BENNER [15] with which he wanted tomerge his own magazine – but thisplan was not turned into practice.

But it remained an important taskfor Vogel to disseminate his knowledge.In 1935, he published his book “Nah-rung als Heilungsfaktor” (Nutrition asHealing Factor). Then in the 1940s, hewas also journalist of “Die Naturheil-kunde. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für

naturgemässe Lebens- und Heilweise”(Naturopathy. Swiss Journal of NaturalLiving and Healing) and wrote on sub-jects like natural remedies, organicfarming or biochemical salts. [16,17]

By 1942/43, the successor magazinecame out: “Gesundheits-Nachrichten”(Health News). They were published ona monthly basis until today but sincehis death by his second wife Denise.

In 1952, he achieved his greatestsuccess with the book “Der kleine Dok-tor” (The Little Doctor) which has beentranslated in several languages and isstill published today [18]. In it, he man-aged to write in a simple, affable styleand preserved his ties with ordinarypeople. By turning directly to his read-ers, he guided them in a comprehensi-ble way through selected aspects of“Swiss folk medicine”, as he put it [19].

Guided by a sense of mission onhealth topics, Vogel additionally start-ed to give lectures. An excerpt from hiscalendar from the end of January tillthe beginning of March 1950 gives aninsight view on this engagement. Inthis period, he spoke 11 times inAustria and Switzerland about “Theway nature heals”, “The art of dining”,“How to get and stay healthy usingsimple and natural means” [20].

43Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

5Heimatmuseum Aesch (Local Heritage Museum):A. Vogel Sammlung, “Das Neue Leben” 1 (1929).

Fig. 5. Title page of the first edition of Vogel’smagazine “Das Neue Leben” (The New Life)(1929).

Religious world-view and therapeutic work

Already in Vogel’s first publications[5,15], the appearance of religiousstatements is remarkable. For example,a biblical quotation from the first Bookof Moses is the motto for the cover ofhis above mentioned ‘Guide on lifereform’: “And God said, Behold, I havegiven you every herb bearing seed,which is upon the face of all the earth,and every tree, in which is the fruit ofa tree yielding seed; to you it shall befor meat.” In further statements, hesaid that “mother nature” ensures thatfor man – “the creation’s crowningglory” – every food product would havethe constituents “in the correct pro-portion” [5, page 6]. This explains theview that for him one of the mostimportant ‘natural laws’ in the area offood was the consumption of naturalproducts “as close to their originalstate as possible” (e.g. wholemeal prod-ucts or uncooked food) [ibid., page 15].

Some years later, he sticked to thisview and mixed religious and biologi-cal aspects: For him, plants had animportant function for people becausethey would posses a “God-given breathof life”. Next to that, they would alsohave “a biological form”, absorb min-erals, process them and finally couldbe taken up by “animal bodies ... [and]humans” [21, page 16]. And again, itwould be “God to guarantee” that innatural vegetable food “everything ispresent in the right amount and in agiven complex that alone is correctfor” man. [ibid., page 20]. Almost 60years later, Vogel confirmed that already“as a young person” he had orientatedhimself by the Story of Creation andthat he continued to do so throughouthis whole life [22, page 683]. He alsoderived rules of conduct from this. Forexample, “disobedience towards theCreator (leads) to death” and “obediencetowards the divine and biological lawsis life, happiness and joy” [ibid., page682]. His life was based on the princi-ple: “…he, who knows to do good anddoes not do it, for him it is a sin.” [ibid.,page 678]. For Vogel, even “strength ...

and ... duty” [ibid., page 679] camefrom such an attitude which is com-bined with the striving to be among thepeople “Jehovah” [ibid., page 687] will“select for his kingdom” and who willlive in an “earthly paradise” freed fromall evil. But he did not believe thathumans could improve life on earththrough their own efforts and throughpolitical decisions and, therefore, hewas longing for “theocracy” to come[ibid., page 683–685]. In these state-ments, Vogel showed his affinity withthe teachings of Jehovah’s Witnessesfrom which he said to have receivedthe motivation for his path in life.

Activity as lay physician(i.e. naturopath)

In his first years as owner of reformshops, Vogel seemed to have advisedhis customers about aspects of lifereform and naturopathy. Nevertheless,his interest in a therapeutic professiongrew. Most probably this motivationtogether with his religious orientationand the financial success of his busi-ness, enabled him to move to the can-ton of Appenzell in 1932/33 where thelegal regulations for naturopathic activ-ities were liberal.

However, his bonds to his reformshops remained strong and formed thefinancial basis. In the new canton, heeven became chairman of the “ReformShop Society” [1]. Already in 1933, hebecame member of the NVS, the “SwissAssociation of Naturopaths” (Naturärzte-Vereinigung der Schweiz) (Fig. 6)6. At theNVS, he passed training courses innaturopathy, gave lectures about nutri-tional therapy and was even instructorof a course [2]. Then in 1933/34, heattended training courses in Switzer-land and Southern Germany [ibid.]

At least from 1935 onwards, Vogelstarted his therapeutic activity in theframework of cure treatments at the“Diät-Kurhaus Vogel” with a “Kinder-heim” (Dietary Spa Hotel Vogel with aChildren`s Home) in the village ofTrogen near St. Gallen [21, page 134,252]. The framework in which theguests could recover can be seen froman advertisement (Fig. 7 [21]): For Vogel,the major concern was the change indiet which, due to social reasons, wouldoften be too difficult at home. But hecombined “diet cures” with naturopathicmeasures such as rest, open-air move-ment, walking and sunbathing and, ifnecessary, with the use of “naturo-pathic medicines” [ibid., page 252].

Among the various “naturopathicmedicines”, plant-based medicinesand remedies were very important toVogel. A course on ”the practical man-ufacturing of the most-often-usednaturopathic medicines” at the NVSmust have had a substantial impact onhim to get into production of naturaland herbal remedies (Fig. 8)7. There isevidence that in 1935 he set up the“Bioforce Laboratorium” (Bioforce lab-oratory) in Trogen – probably in thespa hotel – and started to produceremedies (Fig. 9 [21]). His advertise-ments emphasised, above all, the con-trolled quality of his remedies (e.g. St.John’s Wort Oil) [ibid., page 245]. Inhis laboratory, he did not only producenaturopathic medicines but also “bio-logical cosmetics” and “organic fer-tilisers” [ibid., page 257].

Yet, at this time, herbal remediesdid not play a major role, as can beseen from his second book, this timeon nutrition, which was published inhis publishing house in the same year:

44 Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

Fig. 6. Membership certificate: “Naturopath” inthe “Swiss Association of Naturopaths” (NVS)(1933).

6AAVGT: membership document for NVS fromFebruary 1933.

“Die Nahrung als Heilfaktor” [21](Food as a Factor in Healing, 1935). Itis an example of how easily he puttogether his religious belief in divinelaws with the traditional and empiricknowledge of well-known naturopathsof his time (e.g. Berg, Bircher-Berner,Riedlin) and scientific aspects of phys-iologists at universities (e.g. Abderhal-den, Chittenden, Hindehede, Voit).

Then, in September 1937, Vogelbought the “Hätschen” [1], a plot of landwith an accompanying building. Thisproperty, at an altitude of 1000 m, islocated in Teufen, also in the Appen-zeller Land, in the immediate vicinityof St. Gallen. Here again he set up a“Kurheim Vogel” (Spa Hotel Vogel) insuch a way that it provided accommo-

dation for his family as well as 15 cureguests (Fig. 10)8. In the brochure forthe spa hotel, he explained what heunderstood as “naturopathic method”:“diet ... physical therapy and the naturalmedicines, whether that means herbalremedies, homeopathy, biochemistryor loam and water treatment!”. Accord-ing to Vogel, these methods support“the healing power, which lies hiddenin one’s own body”. But, he said, thispower would depend on the “availableresources still possessed by the sickbody” and on obeying the naturallaws. With the latter, he addressed tothe self-responsibility of man. For asuccessful cure, he also considered anambience of peace and quietness (i.e.no “jazz music or dancing”), “sleepingbefore midnight”, abstinence fromalcohol and cigarettes as important.8

On the mountain meadows adjacentto his spa hotel, Vogel himself wasactive in agriculture (Fig. 11 [2]) andgrew fruits and vegetables for his guests,

as well as medicinal plants. In doingso, he adhered to the rules of organicfarming, a subject upon which he alsowrote, and acted as a consultant [23].The decisive factor in Vogel’s choice topursue this course was that “our ownbiological farming enables us to putcomplete, vitamin-rich food on thetable”.8

45Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

Fig. 7. Advertisement for the “Diätkurhaus Vogel” (Vogel DietarySpa Hotel) (1935).

7AAVGT, student certificate from NVS from 5thNovember 1934.

8AAVGT, file on: Vogel Strategy Lectures, brochu-re for the “Kurheim Vogel” (Vogel Spa Hotel):Our health hotel, its task and its goal! (Withoutplace or year [ca. 1940s]).

Fig. 8. NVS further training course for the production of naturopath-ic medicines (1934).

Fig. 9. Advertisement “Bioforce Laboratory”naturopathic medicines (1935).

Over the years, herbal medicine andthe production of herbal preparationsbecame the preferred activities of Vogel.Due to this reason and his financialindependence, he could cut down histherapeutic activity. From 1957 to 1982for example, the naturopath WilliReimelt took over the naturopathicpractice in Teufen as well as the localproduction of herbal preparations [2].

Herbal medicine

Between 1942 and 1950, Vogel wasable to set up a residential buildingand a bigger production building inTeufen [1] so that he could now extractfresh squeezed plant juices from med-icinal herbs on a greater scale. Hismanufacturing of fresh plant juices wasobviously based on two things: On theone hand his experience that squeezedjuices from fresh plants seemed to workbetter than preparations made fromthe drug (dried medicinal plants) andon the other hand his religious believethat natural things made by the Creatorwere good and could be used for ther-apy. He concluded that nature “with itsreactions, with its own healing powerand natural medicines” offers a waywhich should be used by humans tosupport healing [24]. However, theidea to produce fresh squeezed plantjuices was not unique to Vogel. Madausstated for example that, in 1832, VOGT

wrote in his ‘Textbook of Pharmodyn-amics’ about the preparation of “fresh-ly squeezed herb juices” from differentplants to be used as so-called “springcures” (e.g. dandelion and fumitoryherb to stimulate the gall bladder) [25,page 58]. Next to freshly squeezedplant juices, “full extracts” made fromfresh plants by means of extractantslike alcohol or water were well knownin pharmacopoeias in the 1930s, likethe “Homöopathisches Arzneibuch”(HAB, Homeopathic Pharmacopeia),and were also produced by companiessuch as Madaus or Schoenberger inGermany [ibid., page 304]. Vogel him-self knew at this time that “fresh-plantpreparations” were generally avail-able in Switzerland [26]. However, itwas his aim to establish his own pro-duction of fresh plant extracts. Thereis proof that since 1942 he had beenoffering “biological preparations,homeopathic tinctures and tritura-tions” as well as his “speciality: fresh-plant extracts” (Fig. 12 [1,2]).

In 1953, Vogel founded the “A. VogelBiologische Heilmittel GmbH” (A. VogelBiological Remedies plc) in Teufen/Switzerland, and “Biosan GmbH” (Bio-san plc) in Munich/Germany to produceand distribute natural, mostly herbalremedies [2]. The preparation of fresh-plant extracts became an almost iden-tifying feature of Vogel’s products likeCrataegisan (full extract from the freshplants Crataegus, Cact. grand, Stroph.,Tinct. Val., Camphora, Aurum natr.chlor; Fig. 13), Bio-Echin (full extractof the fresh medicinal plant Echinaceapurp.; Fig. 14) or Prostasan (full extractsof the fresh medicinal plants Clematisrecta, Petasitis, Visc. alb., Curcurbitaand Populus, Paseira brava, Sabalserr., Fig. 15).9 Especially the formerexample shows that Vogel not onlyused plant extracts for his remediesbut also minerals or essential oils.

Keeping step with the demand forhis herbal preparations led to the

46 Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

Fig. 10. “Kurheim Vogel” (Vogel Spa Hotel), Teufen (ca. 1950s).

Fig. 11. A. Vogel during haymaking in Teufen (ca. 1940s).

Fig. 12. Letterhead: “Speciality Fresh-Plant Extracts” (1942).

foundation of the “Bioforce GmbH” in1955 and the “Bioforce AG” (BioforceLtd.) in 1963 which then moved fromTeufen to Roggwil/Thurgau into a newand modern building (Fig. 16).

The engagement in herbal medicinewas not without effect on Vogel’s self-image. From the 1970s on he spokeabout “phytotherapy” [27, page 190]and later of himself as a “phytothera-pist” [28]. His engagement for herbalmedicine is also visible in the coopera-

tion on a tea lexicon with the physicianR. F. Weiss, the pioneer of modernphytotherapy in German-speakingcountries in the 20th century.

Travelling and ethno-botanic excursions

From 1958 on, that is after his activetime as a therapist in Teufen, Vogel obvi-ously felt drawn to distant places. Hisinterest in medicinal plants in othercultures and continents, the customsand traditions of “primitive peoples”and the question whether indigenouspeoples also would suffer from dis-eases of modern civilization took himto South, Central, and North America.In 1958, he actually acquired a farm in

Tarapoto (Peru) and worked for sometime as a farmer [29, page 10]. Afterhaving sold the farm, he travelledthrough Central America and gave lec-tures on topics concerning naturopa-thy. During this time, he got to know theplant Echinacea purpurea, the purpleconeflower which, so far, had beenunknown to him. He himself said thatthe plant had been shown to him bythe Sioux [2]. However, he must havereceived seeds as a gift from Indiansand finally grew the purple coneflowerin Teufen/Switzerland. Based on his

sometimes ethno-botanic excursions,he published the book “Health GuideThrough Southern Countries, Subtropics,Tropics and Desert Areas” [30] andsome years later he summarized aspectson this topic in a book chapter, e.g. theuse of Cactus grandiflorus as a “hearttonic” among the American Indians,yucca against arthritis and gout amongBrazilian Indians, Luffa purgans incase of sinusitis in Colombia, Caricapapaya for the treatment of intestinalparasites or of lapacho bark against“tumour diseases” in Uruguay [20].

Vogel continued to contribute to theadaptation of fresh-plant preparationsin his company until the early 1990salthough the development was mostlyeffected by pharmaceutical, medicinaland regulative standards. By foundingthe “A. Vogel-Stiftung” (A. Vogel Found-ation), he created a basis to supportand encourage research in herbal medi-cine, and since 1997 the “Alfred VogelPrize” has been awarded annually.

Memberships and awards

Vogel’s membership in the NVS (SwissAssociation of Naturopaths) since 1933has already been mentioned.

On an international level, he was amember of the “Internationale Gesell-schaft für Nahrungs- und Vitalstoff-Forschung” (IVG) (International Societyfor Research in Food and Vital Subs-

47Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

Fig. 13. Crataegisan – package of drops of acombination preparation from Vogel’s compa-ny Biosan (ca. 1950s, photo: C. Kleemann).

Fig. 14.Bio-Echin – label of a herbal preparation,Biosan (ca. 1950s).

Fig. 15.Prostasan – label of a herbal combinationpreparation, Biosan (ca. 1950s).

9AAVGT, Biosan.Fig. 16. New building of the Bioforce AG inRoggwil (1974).

tances). This rather right-wing conser-vative association was active in thefields of natural nutrition, protectionof life and environmental protection[32]. How Vogel was influenced by theIVG became obvious in his remarks onnutrition when he used the terms“Vitalstoffe” (vital substances) and“vollwertige Kost” (wholesome foods)[33, pages 63–277] which had beencoined by the IVG [32]. Nevertheless,he left the IVG in 1974.10

Some time thereafter, Vogel becamemember of the eclectic “InternationalAcademy of Biological Medicine” whichwas orientated towards alternativemedicine and naturopathy and guidedby the US-American physician PaavoAirola.

Vogel was well known as a non-phys-ician therapist and phytotherapist inGermany and Switzerland. Therefore the“Deutsche Heilpraktikerschaft” (GermanSociety of Naturopathic Practitioners)honoured him with the Prießnitz Medalin 1982. Then, in 1984, he becamehonorary member of the “SchweizerÄrztegesellschaft für Erfahrungsmedi-zin” (SAGEM - Swiss Society of Physiciansfor Empirical Medicine) [2].

Naturopath and charisma

Due to his activities as lecturer, writer,naturopath, phytotherapist, entrepre-neur and businessman, Alfred Vogelpreserved naturopathic traditions.Although he was active as a “lay physi-cian” he was one of those naturopathsof the 20th century, like the physiciansMAXIMILIAN BIRCHER-BENNER (1867–1939)or MAX OTTO BRUKER (1911–2001) [32],who show similar patterns of activity:� Each of them became an exponent

of naturopathic medicine, based ontheir positive experiences.

� For all of them nutrition was themain topic although they becameelective users of other naturopathictreatments and founded their owninstitutions.

� In their support of naturopathy, an

intention to inform, instruct andeducate clearly showed up with allthe three, although it was partlyderived from different motivations.

� Within the scope of their efforts forinformation on health and natur-opathy, each of them founded a pu-blishing house of his own, publisheda journal with articles that werecomprehensible for laymen, andfinally wrote and published his ownbooks. In this way, their idea of edu-cating people on health problemshelped them to create circles ofinterested persons that laterbecame subscribers or customers.

These points which Vogel, Bircher-Benner and Bruker had in common ad-ded to their image as being “charisma-tic naturopaths”. Despite all commonfeatures, it would be hasty to assignthem to a certain “type” of naturopaths.It is nevertheless striking how theycombined their commitment to naturo-pathy with medicinal education andtheir own economic interests. Thisshould not belittle their success withregard to the dissemination and pas-sing on of naturopathic knowledge.However, it becomes obvious that themotivation for their activities did notspring from merely unselfish ideals butwas diverse according to the interlin-king in a complex and differentiatedsociety.

References

1 Melzer, J: Von Schweizer Kräutern zum glo-balen Pflanzenreich und individueller Anwen-dung – eine biographische Annäherung anAlfred Vogel. Forsch Komplementärmed2003;10(S1):3–8.

2 Melzer J, Saller R: Der „Naturarzt“ AlfredVogel (1902–1996), Teil 1 und 2. Sozialge-schichtliche Hintergründe seiner beruflichenTätigkeit. Schweiz Zeitschr Ganzheitsmedizin2003;15:66–72, 118–123.

3 Ullmann M: Interview mit A. Vogel. Die Liebeals Daseinsform. Naturheilpraxis 1982, No.12,1592–1594.

4 Vogel A: Der Schnee von 60 Wintern.Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1962;19:146–148.

5 Vogel A: Kleiner Wegweiser für Lebensre-form. 1. Teil: Ernährung. Avoba, Basel 1926.

6 Vogel A: Vorträge. Vollwertige Nahrung alsHeilfaktor. Die Naturheilkunde 1944;4,Nr.9:1.

7 Krabbe W: Die Lebensreformbewegung. inBuchholz K, Latocha R, Peckmann H, WolbertK (Hrsg.) Die Lebensreform. Entwürfe zur Neu-gestaltung von Leben und Kunst um 1900.Darmstadt: Häuser Verlag 2001, S. 25–29

8 Zimmermann C: Die Zeit der Metropolen. Ur-banisierung und Grossstadtentwicklung. 2. Aufl. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer Verlag 2000.

9 Schwab A, Lafranchi C: Wahrheit auf Bewäh-rung. Zürich: Limmat Verlag 2001, S. 9–18.

10 Luhmann N: Protest. Systemtheorie undsoziale Bewegung. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhr-kamp 1996.

11 Barlösius E: Naturgemässe Lebensführung.Zur Geschichte der Lebensreform um dieJahrhundertwende. Frankfurt a. M.: Campus1997, S. 224.

12 Sommer S: Vorwort. In Vogel A: Kleiner Weg-weiser für Lebensreform. Avoba, Basel 1926,S. 3.

13 Sommer S: Zum Geleite. In Vogel A: KleinerWegweiser für Lebensreform. Avoba, Basel1926, S. 4.

14 Vogel S: Neues Leben. Das neue Leben1929;1:3–4.

15 Vogel A: An unsre werten Abonnenten! DasNeue Leben 1932;3:235.

16 Vogel A: Biochemie des Lebens. Die Natur-heilkunde 1943; 40: 2–5.

17 Vogel A: Hagebutten, ein wertvolles Heilmit-tel aus der Hergottsapotheke. Die Naturheil-kunde 1943;40:7.

18 Vogel A: Der kleine Doktor. Hilfreiche Rat-schläge für die Gesundheit. 70. überarbeiteteAufl. A. Vogel, Teufen 1998.

19 Vogel A: Der kleine Doktor. Eine bunte Zu-sammenfassung hilfreicher Ratschläge ausder schweizerischen Volksheilkunde. 6. Aufl.Teufen, Bioforce, 1958.

20 Anonymous: Lecture calendar. Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1950;7:16

21 Vogel A: Die Nahrung als Heilfaktor. A. Vogel,Teufen 2000 (Faksimileausgabe von 1935).

22 Vogel A: Die Natur als biologischer Wegwei-ser. A. Vogel, Teufen 1983.

23 Vogel A: Biologischer Gartenbau. Die Natur-heilkunde 1943;40,Nr.5:1–3.

24 Vogel A: Beständigkeit natürlicher Reaktio-nen, natürlicher Heilmittel und natürlicherMittel. Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1950;7:9 f.

25 Madaus G: Lehrbuch der biologischen Heil-mittel. Bd. 1 Hildesheim, New York, OlmsVerlag, 1979, Faksimiledruck der Ausgabe:Leipzig, Thieme Verlag, 1938.

26 Vogel A: Der ‚Wendepunkt’ und sein 50-jähri-ges Jubiläum. Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1973;30:46–48.

27 Vogel A: Von Menschen und Pflanzen.Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1972;29:188–190.

28 Vogel A: Kräutertee; in Weiss RF: FamilienTee-Lexikon. Brugg, BEA + Poly, [1982], S. 91 f.

29 Schindler I, Umbricht C, Zehnder I: AlfredVogel 1902–1996. Teufen, A. Vogel, 1996.

30 Vogel A: Gesundheitsführer durch südlicheLänder, Subtropen, Tropen und Wüstengebie-te. Teufen: Vogel 1974.

31 Vogel A: Tees und Heilpflanzen bei fremdenVölkern; in Weiss R F: Familien Tee-Lexikon.Brugg, BEA + Poly, 1982, S 84–88.

32 Melzer J: Vollwerternährung: Diätetik, Natur-heilkunde, Nationalsozialismus, sozialer An-spruch. Stutgart, Steiner Verlag 2003.

33 Vogel A: Erbanlagen können Vermögenswertesein. Gesundheits-Nachrichten 1962;19:153–155.

Address for correspondence:

Jörg Melzer, MDUniversity Hospital ZurichDepartment of Internal MedicineInstitute of Complementary MedicineRaemistrasse 100CH-8091 Zurich

48 Schweiz. Zschr. GanzheitsMedizin 20 (1), Februar 2008

Essay

10AAVGT, file: correspondence from and to Dr. A.Vogel from 1st July, 1973, letter of 13th March1974 from A. Vogel to S. Klein. Vogel resignedbecause he could no longer support “so muchfuss and so little will”.