The psychiatric hospital

A psychiatric hospital was constructed in the northern part of the manor. The date of construction is unclear as various sources state dates ranging from 1929 to 1931.

The style of the building exemplifies a merge of Neo-Romanticism and Bauhaus architecture. The 1936 phone book of Lithuania listed the following: Psychiatric hospital, Paupis, no. 3241.

At first, the hospital had room for 75 patients. At that moment, the hospital could manage a maximum of 150 patients, but the number of patients never exceeded 130.

The hospital premises included a three floor building and a small park with footpaths for peaceful strolls. The entire complex was fenced off. The hospital had two sections, namely one for women and one of men. Each section was further divided into zones for calm patients, for chronically ill patients, and for restless patients.

Dr. Smalstys was appointed to serve as head of the hospital in 1937. There were 2 physicians and 17 nurses in the hospital staff. The hospital also had warm water baths and a sewing parlour. The hospital was supported by the Directorate and the Municipality.

Between 1939 and 1940, following the signing of the act, whereby the region of Memel was handed over to the Third Reich on March 23^rd , 1939, the racial hygiene policies were implemented in the Klaipėda region, which lead to the transfer of patients from the Bachmann Psychiatric Hospital to the Tapiau Psychiatric Hospital (presently called Gvardeysk) in April of 1939.

It is certain that, as of 1940, the Tapiau Psychiatric Hospital was implementing a euthanasia programme, which sought to eliminate all psychiatric patients in Eastern Prussia. The families of said patients never received any news of this fact. It is believed that the patients from the Bachmann Psychiatric Hospital met the same fate.

During Soviet rule, the Raseiniai School of Agriculture was moved into the Klaipėda Paupiai district. The Laukai Technical School of Agriculture was established soon after the move. The ministry handed over the former buildings of the Bachmann Manor and Psychiatric Hospital, which until now housed the Craft School. The Klaipėda State College is presently established in this building.

In 1957, the building was reconstructed and an outbuilding was built on the eastern side of the original building, which was designed to be a dormitory. A film theatre, classrooms, and student dormitory were set up in the building.

Kazys Saja once wrote: “Our technical school was built in the Bachmann Manor, in the Paupiai Grange. The remaining buildings stood in the sparse park. One of the sides of the park was shielded by a ravine, a small stream, and a wall of big-leaf butterburs. Various fruit trees were growing in the sunny valley slope. The northern and western slopes were full of wild trees and shrubs. Fields and meadows stretch to the Danė River – at that moment, the city had not yet crossed the river.”

Vincas Jankauskas was the first headmaster of the school, serving from 1946 until 1947. The first lecturers in the school were K. Šertvytytė, S. Laukaitis, M. Venclovas and Borisovas.

In his personal memoirs, dated 1995, lecturer Mindaugas Venclova wrote the following: “The ministry handed over the buildings of the psychiatric hospital […] and the Bachmann Manor to the newly established technical school. The Craft School took over the buildings soon after the war and, in 6 months, they handed them over to the technical school.

The first academic year took off with 60 students. Those who graduated from a progymnasium were assigned to group A, while those who never finished four forms were admitted into the other group. The students in the latter group had to study more in order to catch up to the students from group A.

In 1950, the school was renamed to Klaipėda Technical School of Agriculture. In 1968, the school was again renamed, but this time to Klaipėda Soviet Technical School of Agriculture.

The technical school had a good base for teaching students: 4,000 acres of farm land. In 1990, the Veterinary Clinic was built nearby. Lecturers and agricultural specialists oversaw the students and the practical work that they were carrying out within this territory.

The technical school underwent several more name changes: in 1991, it was the Klaipėda School of Higher Agricultural Education, in 2002, it became the Klaipėda Business and Technology College, and in 2009 – the Klaipėda State College. At the moment, the Centre for Further Studies is also in operation in the Klaipėda State College.