In 1957 Gottfried Müller founded the Brotherhood SALEM and fulfilled his intention of devoting his life to others. He had resolved to do this while held in a death cell as a prisoner of war.

He started by giving away all of his money to two disabled Jewish women. He then found some friends to help him establish a shelter for homeless people and soon more of these SALEM homes were built in several German cities. Many thousands of homeless people and ex-convicts found shelter in the SALEM houses.

After several years of this constant social work he realised, however, that help for many of these people had come too late. Many could not permanently be rehabilitated to a settled home life because they had been uprooted too many times in their past. So he wondered – how can we help more effectively?

He found his answer during conversations with the people he was caring for – many of them told him that they had grown up in orphanages.

The SALEM children and youth villages

If further help was not only to be temporarily meaningful it had to tackle the cause of the uprooting – with the children from broken family backgrounds.

“We must find a way to create a better future for these children, to educate them to be members or even representatives of a valuable community” (Gottfried Müller).

He gathered together educationalists and colleagues who were willing to help him realise a kind of education closer to a family model. And so the SALEM children and youth welfare organisation was created.

In all the SALEM institutions children from broken family backgrounds are given a stable home. In time, the SALEM children and youth villages in Stadtsteinach/Northern Bavaria, Höchheim/Northern Bavaria and Kovahl/Northern Germany were built. These villages became the model for building further SALEM villages in the USA, Israel, Uganda, Russia and Ecuador.

Health and the protection of nature and the environment

What followed was diverse work in medical and social welfare; vegetarian nutrition; holistic medicine; animal and environmental protection; organic agriculture; reforestation projects and the founding of the SALEM Research Institute to investigate alternatives to animal experimentation.

Over the years, SALEM has grown into an international welfare organisation offering a home for many children and young people facing discrimination and difficult circumstances.



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