12 Facts About Bert Hellinger

Anton Bert Hellinger was born into a Catholic family in Leimen, Baden, Germany, in 1925.

Bert Hellinger studied philosophy and theology at the University of Wurzburg en route to his ordination as a priest.

Bert Hellinger had administrative responsibility for the entire diocesan district containing 150 schools.

Bert Hellinger became fluent in the Zulu language, participated in Zulu rituals, and gained an appreciation for the Zulu worldview.

Bert Hellinger was deeply impressed by the way their methods showed it was possible for opposites to become reconciled through mutual respect.

Bert Hellinger was acutely sensitive to how the Nazi regime sacrificed human beings in service of ideals.

Bert Hellinger spent several years in the early 1970s in Vienna training in a classical course in psychoanalysis at the Wiener Arbeitskreis fur Tiefenpsychologie.

Bert Hellinger completed his training at the Munchner Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Psychoanalyse and was accepted as a practicing member of their professional association.

Bert Hellinger agreed for German psychiatrist Gunthard Weber to record and edit a series of workshop transcripts.

Bert Hellinger traveled widely, delivering lectures, workshops, and training courses throughout Europe, the United States, Central, and South America, Russia, China, and Japan.

Bert Hellinger alienated some potential colleagues and supporters by his idiosyncratic behavior, such as making sweeping statements that reduced complex issues to single root causes or his manner of sometimes addressing clients in a caustic, authoritarian tone.

Bert Hellinger published more than 30 books with combined sales of one million copies in at least ten languages.