Maria Treben

Maria Treben née Günzel (27 September 1907, Žatec, Bohemia - 26 July 1991, Grieskirchen, Austria) was an Austrian author and herbalist who in the 1980s became famous through her two books: Health Through God's Pharmacy ^[1] and Maria Treben's Cures ^[2]. Her first book was translated into 24 languages and sold over 8 million copies.

Treben addressed seminars and presented at natural health conferences in Germany, Austria and across Europe, attracting hundreds of people. She is perceived as a pioneer of the renewed interest for natural remedies and traditional medicine at the end of the Twentieth century.

Her life

Maria was born in 1907 in Žatec, Bohemia, then Austria-Hungary, as the middle of three daughters of the owner of a printing shop who died when she was 10. After the Great War, the Sudetenland became part of the newly founded Czechoslovakia. In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, she and her husband Ernst Gottfried Treben were victims of the Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia. For several years they lived in refugee camps until they found refuge in Austria and settled down in Grieskirchen in 1951. She died in 1991.

Her remedies

Maria used traditional German/Eastern European remedies handed down by previous generations. She only used local herbs and always accompanied her remedies with advice on diet. She commonly used Thyme, Greater Celandine, Ramsons, Speedwell, Calamus, Camomile, Nettle and Lady's Mantle. She treated a broad range of conditions from psoriasis to constipation and diabetes to insomnia. She used her own recipes as well as traditional healing remedies like Swedish bitters that she believed was a cure-all. Some of her remedies and advice proved to be controversial as with all natural health cures it is difficult to prove their efficacy. Yet, to this day she is widely read and referred to for her knowledge of European medicinal herbs.

Works

• Maria Treben: Gesundheit aus der Apotheke Gottes - Ratschläge und Erfahrungen mit Heilkräutern, Verlag Wilhelm Ennsthaler, Steyr, 1980, ISBN 3-85068-090-8
• Maria Treben: Maria Treben's Heilerfolge - Briefe und Berichte von Heilerfolgen, Verlag Wilhelm Ennsthaler, Steyr, 1980, ISBN 3-85068-082-7
• Maria Treben: Allergien - vorbeugen - erkennen - heilen / Gesund mit Maria Treben, Ennsthaler (auch bei Heyne, München)
• Maria Treben: Streß im Alltag. Vorbeugen, erkennen, heilen. München: Heyne, 1990, ISBN 3-453-03867-3

References

1. ^ Health Through God's Pharmacy: ISBN 13: 978-3-85068-124-7
2. ^ ISBN 3850682242

External links

• Article in The Canadian Journal of Health & Nutrition. MARIA TREBEN: A Pioneer of Herbal Healing
• Article in HerbalGram. The Life of Maria Treben
• Online reference of herbs recommended by Maria Treben to treat various conditions
• Health Through God's Pharmacy by Maria Treben. ISBN 978-3-85068-124-7
• Maria Treben's Cures: Letters and Accounts of Cures Through the Herbal "Health Through God's Pharmacy". ISBN 3850682242
• Review of "Health Through God's Pharmacy" (German)

Persondata
Name	Treben, Maria
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 September 1907
Place of birth
Date of death	26 July 1991
Place of death