KALMENHOF-IDSTEIN

In 1941, a »children ward« was set up on the second and third floors of the hospital in Idstein, which had been built in 1927. The staff of the »Kalmenhof Private Institution for the Mentally Handicapped«, as the institution was officially called, received special allowances for killing children. As the hospital was often overcrowded, »Reich Committee children« were also accommodated in the nearby retirement home. Erich Müller was the director of the institution until June 1941, when he joined the Wehrmacht. His successor was Wilhelm Großmann, who advocated the murder of children and was involved in selecting the victims.

Until June 1944, the head of the »children ward« was the doctor Mathilde Weber. She left the hospital due to tuberculosis. Her successor was the doctor Hermann Wesse, who had come to Idstein in May 1944 from the »children wards« in Waldniel and Uchtspringe.

The exact number of victims is unknown. At least 350 children and young people were murdered. Only during the months when Mathilde Weber was on sick leave are no children or young people believed to have been murdered.

In 1947, Mathilde Weber was sentenced to death in Frankfurt am Main. In 1949, this was commuted to a three-year prison sentence. In 1951, she was pardoned. From 1960 onwards, she practised medicine again. Hermann Wesse was also sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment in 1949. He was released from prison in 1966. The nurse Aenne Wrona was acquitted.

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