homeopathy - Heel

History
70 years of Heel –
a success story
Dr. Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg
(1905–1985)
In 1936 Dr. Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg founded the pharmaceutical company Heel in
Berlin. The name “Heel” was formed from the initial letters of the words “Herba est ex
luce” – “Plants derive their power from light.”
The medical doctor and homeopath, who was running his own practice, produced new
and unique medicines, each of which contained several homeopathic active substances.
That is why they are also referred to as homeopathic combination preparations or
“modern homeopathics.” They are available in standard dosage forms such as tablets,
ointments, and sprays and are useful in a large numbers of conditions.
This “second generation” homeopathy was developed from Samuel Hahnemann’s classical
homeopathy. Reckeweg assumed that the healing process produced by his Heel
homeopathics arose mainly from the excretion of the actual causes of disease, the
“homotoxins.” The scientific background to this principle is “homotoxicology,” a treatment
system which is now recognized worldwide and used with corresponding success.
After the war, Reckeweg set up Heel in Triberg (Black Forest), moving to Baden-Baden in
1954 and to Baden-Oos in 1963. Since 1977, Heel has belonged to what is currently
DELTON AG in Bad Homburg. In the late 1970s Reckeweg emigrated to the USA, where
he founded the company that became the Heel subsidiary Heel Inc. Reckeweg died in
Zürich in 1985. On a national and particularly international level, Heel continued to
grow rapidly.
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