KURT BOCK (1929 – 1945)

Kurt Bock was born in Sondershausen (Thuringia). His father was Karl Bock, a merchant from Osterode (Harz), and his mother was Hedwig Bock, née Andre. She died in 1936 when Kurt was seven years old. At the time of his admission to the »Children’s ward« in Lüneburg, his father was living in Steina with his new partner Frieda Rojahn and her daughter Gisela.

A report by the public health officer dated 3 April 1941 states that Kurt did attend school after a year’s deferment, but was »unable to learn« as he could only write his name, count to ten and did not achieve any further learning goals. His father was also considered to have a mental impairment. The medical officer concluded that Kurt was »severely mentally deficient« and requested that he be placed in an institution. At the end of January 1942, the Lüneburg mental hospital had not yet confirmed his admission, so the district office followed up by telephone. Four days later, Kurt was admitted.

Just a few days later, his father inquired about his son, addressing a personal letter to him and asking that it be read aloud to him, along with a request to send a photograph of him in his new suit, which was included in the package. The family inquired about Kurt regularly, almost monthly, and his maternal grandmother also wrote.

Kurt had ulcers on his legs, so he had to stay in bed for the first few weeks. But his health improved. So that he could go to school, he was transferred to the Eben-Ezer facility in Lemgo on 16 April 1942. There was a special school there. He returned from there on 27 January 1944. A few days later, his father wrote to the institution again, this time with great concern. He wanted to know why his son had been transferred back to Lüneburg. Willi Baumert’s reply was:

»Your son has been transferred back here because he could no longer be educated at Eben-Ezer as he was deemed unfit for schooling.«

The grandmother also contacted the institution again. Letters and parcels containing fruit and biscuits were sent regularly. The father also made several attempts to bring his son home and applied for leave at Easter, in the summer and at Christmas. Willi Baumert and Max Bräuner rejected all leave requests.

After his father was drafted into military service in November 1944, his stepmother Frieda Rojahn inquired about Kurt. Her remark that there had been no news from his father as a soldier for a long time was underlined in Max Bräuner’s letter. Bräuner also noted in the medical records that the grandmother had no contact with her former son-in-law, but this was then deleted. Apparently, these notes were important for the further course of events.

From then until his death, the entries in Kurt’s medical records document only his miserable dying. In order to conceal the murder, Wilhelmine Wolf made an effort to spread the entries in the medical records, which had been written in one go, over different days. However, the ink and spelling reveal that they were written at the same time, presumably after Kurt Bock was already dead. He died on 20 March 1945 in House 24. The official cause of death was »pleurisy«. It is almost certain that Kurt Bock was murdered at the age of 15 with an overdose of Luminal.