Arnold Backhaus

Hamburg’s port doctor!

Born on August 23, 1923, in Söcking above Starnberg on Lake Starnberg.
Enrolled in elementary school in 1929 in Krusemark in the Altmark region, later in Thielbeer (0-3552) near Arendsee.
Enrolled in high school in 1935 at the Walddörferschule in Hamburg-Volksdorf. Graduated from high school in the spring of 1942.
Drafted into the army in 1942 and, after four months, sent to the Russian front between Vitebsk and Smolensk.
Taken prisoner by the Russians in 1944.
Returned to Hamburg-Volksdorf on November 9, 1945.
Began studying philosophy in 1946 and medicine in 1948.
Ordained a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church in exile in 1950 (April 7; Annunciation, also Good Friday).
Married Ruth Domsch on February 12, 1950.
As a priest, I first served at St. Prokop’s Episcopal Church in Hamburg, later as a pastor at the Wentorf emigration camp. Since 1975, I have been a pastor in Lübeck at the small church of Blessed Prokop. In Hamburg, I hold services in German on the first weekend of every month. Baptisms, weddings, and funerals in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.

State examination in 1952.
Over the next few years, he worked at the Ebenezer Hospital in Hamburg, later as a substitute, and in the surgical and psychiatric university clinics of Eppendorf Hospital.

From February 9, 1961, he worked part-time at the Port and Airport Medical Service in Hamburg, Seewartenstrasse 9a. His contract was extended on October 16, 1962, and again on February 1, 1963. From April 1, 1964, he worked full-time. His contract was extended again on January 1, 1966. He received his doctorate on April 30, 1968 (“Social Hygiene Surveys on the Problem of Seafarers’ Leisure Time”). He was promoted to civil servant on July 1, 1967.
In 1968, he visited the North Sea ports on behalf of the WHO: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, Liverpool, Oslo, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen.
On 1 November 1971, senior medical officer in the port and airport medical service.

December 19, 1978, Medical Director of the Port and Airport Medical Service and the Central Advisory Center for the Monitoring of Prostitution of Both Sexes in the Greater Hamburg Area.
Worked there from 1978 to August 31, 1988, simultaneously as Deputy Director of the Port and Airport Medical Service. From August 31, 1988 to August 31, 1990, Director of the Port and Airport Medical Service as a scientific employee.
From January 1, 1977, worked in the company medical service of the Hapag-Lloyd Group, partly as head of the company medical service, partly as a doctor in the company medical service, and also continued in the company medical service of Hapag-Lloyd AG beyond August 31, 1990 (until March 31, 1996).
To date:
As an Orthodox priest, he has held services in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg; Lectures on the world of Orthodoxy in the Federal Republic of Germany and, after 1980, also in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
As a doctor, he provided advanced training for ship officers and fumigation technicians on hygiene and current medical issues (organ transplantation, genetic engineering, AIDS).
Died 2005