Johan Wilhelm Klein

[ca. 1860–1947]

Photograph of a statue of Johan Wilhelm Klein, 1765-1848, a pioneer of education for blind people called "The Father of the Blind" by his admirers. Klein was born in the small town of Allerheim near Nordlingen, Germany in 1765. After graduating from secondary school he pursued a judicial career in his country's government. An early publication of Klein, About Poverty, Abolition of Begging and Care of the Poor, brought him a call to Vienna where in 1799 he began his work as a district supervisor of the poor, which brought him in contact with the blind. On May 13, 1804 he began his efforts in the education of the blind, and later founded the Imperial Royal Institute for the Education of the Blind in Vienna, where he remained in the position of Director until his death in 1848. Text: Dem Vater der Blinden, von seinen Verehrern.