DIETER (1937 – 1943) aND ROSEMARIE BODE (1937 – 1942)

The twins Rosemarie and Dieter Bode were born on 27 April 1935 in Hanover. Their parents were Wilhelm Bode, a trained bricklayer and security guard, and his wife Erika Bode (née Ebeler). They had a younger sister who may still be alive today. When their mother fell ill with tuberculosis and their father was drafted into the Wehrmacht, Erika decided to place her twins in the Rotenburg institutions of the Inner Mission.

Wilhelm did not agree with the placement of his twins. He was so upset about it that he separated from his wife two weeks later. The twins remained in Rotenburg between 1939 and 1941. On 9 October 1941, Rosemarie and Dieter Bode were transferred to the »children’s ward« in Lüneburg along with over 130 other children. Rosemarie and her brother Dieter had been reported to the »Reich Committee« in Berlin by the Rotenburg institutions of the Inner Mission in 1941. There, their admission to the »Kinderfachabteilung« was ordered and ‘treatment authorisation’ was granted. Rosemarie was murdered on 4 February 1942. Her father was informed: »Your daughter Rosemarie died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 4 February 1942.«

Wilhelm Bode was unable to attend his daughter’s funeral because he was fighting in Russia at the time of her death. Her mother Erika also did not attend the funeral because she was still in a lung clinic. Dieter had witnessed his sister’s murder. A week after her murder, the Lüneburg doctor wrote the first entry in Dieter’s medical records. Dieter survived his twin sister Rosemarie by only one year and two months. He was murdered on 10 April 1943. The bodies of both children were dissected and their brains removed. The brains were sent to the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf.

In 2012, the remains were identified along with twelve others. In 2013, they were buried as part of the inauguration of a memorial site at the former institution cemetery, now known as Lüneburg Cemetery North-West. The remains of Rosemarie and Dieter Bode were among them. Many of the surviving siblings of the murdered children attended the burial.