In this article I outline some roots of the institutionalization of the assistance for illness in Germany and the arise of nursing as a profession. I describe characteristics of the German assistance model and situate nursing as a profession, specially its formation and conceptions of its practice. The opening of university courses and the introduction of concepts like holism enabled patients to take care of themselves opening new perspectives for German nursing and stimulating the creation of new ways for nursing in the world.
nursing in Germany; historical constitution; assistance model
