We mourn the loss of our long-standing board member Manfred Gellert. He passed away on 7 March 2026. His friend and colleague, our member Bernd Fichtenhofer, has asked us to publish this very personal obituary, which we are happy to do.
On the death of Dr Manfred Gellert
by Bernd Fichtenhofer
Dear Manfred,
On 7 March this year, you left the stage. You loved performing on it, but your body would no longer cooperate!
Without you, I would never have found my way to the psychodrama stage. When, during your psychodrama training, you offered your first psychodrama seminar at the Burckhardthaus in Gelnhausen, you invited me to take part with the words:
“I think this is something for you” – you were so right!
That was so typical of you: inviting people with just a few words, opening doors, but you still had to walk through them yourself.
You completed your psychodrama training at the Moreno Institute in Überlingen and later found your second psychodramatic home at the Psychodrama Institute for Europe. Ildikó Mävers’ idea of bringing psychodrama to Eastern Europe inspired you from the very start. And when you were asked to join the board of the European Institute, you naturally agreed and served as treasurer from 1995 to 2001.
You loved your freedom, wanted to try new things and give free rein to your creativity; for you, psychodrama was the most suitable method – especially sociometry. For you, it was not just a method; you lived it. You taught sociometry to others in many workshops and seminars, demonstrating the possibilities of combining it with other formats such as supervision, coaching, counselling and team development, and applying it in those contexts. You flourished when it came to working in and with groups, preferably large groups; something you practised for years in Asia.
We worked together a great deal; there was never any competition – that’s not always a given in collaboration, but it certainly was for you. With your expertise, clarity, empathy and humour, you created an ideal learning atmosphere.
We were able to work intensively, but also get up to some crazy antics; the psychodramatist was always present in all his glory.
I have very fond memories of the 2007 Psychodrama Congress in Berlin; the three of us – Dr Angela Janouch, Charlotte Sturm and I – formed the organising committee. We had a lot of fun alongside the work, and you were always reliable in whatever tasks you took on. Naturally, the congress was a great success!
Over the years, a friendship developed that we both enjoyed very much; thank you so much for that!
Even though you’ve gone now, the memories of you will remain; you will be missed by me and others!
Yours, Bernd
March 2026
As we received a very beautiful account from Manfred himself of his journey to psychodrama and to our association on the occasion of our institute’s 30th anniversary in 2019, we also share this autobiographical account with you,
for old companions, as a remembrance of the times spent together with this powerful, creative and psychodramatically effective man;
and for those who did not know him personally, as an introduction to one of the indispensable companions and shapers of our association,
whom we shall remember with gratitude.
(in Psychodrama Association for Europe e.V., 30th Anniversary Book, 2019)
