Karl Mählmann was born on 20 January 1899 in Wester-Jork in the district of Stade. His mother Katharina and her two brothers Johann and Heinrich Mählmann fell ill and became patients at the Lüneburg mental hospital. Johann and Heinrich died in 1934 and 1937. Karl, their nephew, was already a patient at the Lüneburg institution at that time. He had been admitted in 1932.
Five days after his mother Katharina was admitted, Karl Mählmann was transferred to Pfafferode on 8 September 1943. A crossed-out entry clearly shows that he should have been transferred to the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre two years earlier.
His deferment may have been related to the fact that he had served in the First World War and was disabled. Two years later, in 1943, his participation in the war and any consequences thereof were obviously no longer relevant. On 8 September 1943, he was transferred to the Pfafferode killing centre. He died there on 5 January 1944.
