Postcard of the Kaufbeuren institution and nursing home, after 1945.

ArEGL 99.

KAUFBEUREN

Valentin Faltlhauser was the director of the Kaufbeuren and Kaufbeuren-Irsee institutions. In 1942, he advocated for the introduction of the »withdrawal diet«. It has been proven that overdoses of medication were also used in Kaufbeuren to kill patients. Those responsible for the killings were the medical director Lothar Gärtner, the nurse Pauline Kneissler and at least two other nursing staff.

In September 1944, a »foreigners« collection point’ was set up at the Kaufbeuren institution and nursing home. Its catchment area was limited to Bavaria. As a result, 23 foreign patients were transferred from the Bavarian institution and nursing home in Günzburg to Kaufbeuren.

From 1943 onwards, there were at least 65 prisoners of war and 207 female forced labourers in Kaufbeuren. Most of the female forced labourers came from the Soviet Union and Poland, with some coming from Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Latvia and Lithuania. Among the prisoners of war were also English and Italian nationals.

Many forced labourers arrived in Kaufbeuren already malnourished. When attempts at treatment proved unsuccessful, those affected died within a very short time from malnutrition and poisoning.

It is not known how many foreign patients were murdered in Kaufbeuren. In any case, Kaufbeuren was an important hub for the »forced labour euthanasia« programme.

In total, more than 1,500 children and adults died of starvation and drug overdoses in Kaufbeuren. As the institution’s cemetery became too small, a crematorium was added in the summer of 1944, which was also used to cremate the murdered forced labourers.