It is a black and white photo. Several houses, mostly two-storey, can be seen in the valley and on a hill. Gardens can be seen between the houses. Along a street in the centre of the picture, the houses are right next to each other.

Postcard, view of Stadtroda, 1941.

ArEGL 99.

STADTRODA

The »Children’s ward« at the Stadtroda Institution was established in October 1942 and remained in operation until the end of the war. It was housed in the historic Martinshaus, which was demolished after the war. Gerhard Kloos was the medical director of the Stadtroda sanatorium. Margarete Hielscher was the head of the »Children’s ward«.

It is estimated that around 149 children and adolescents died in the Stadtroda »Children’s ward«. Even before the »Children’s ward« was established, around 70 children are believed to have been murdered through the omission of life-saving treatment or through medication.

After the war, Kloos continued his medical career in the Federal Republic of Germany and made a name for himself as the author of various intelligence tests. He became a professor in Kiel and was medical director of the Göttingen State Hospital from 1954 onwards. He worked unquestioned until his retirement in 1968 and died in 1988.

Hielscher remained in the GDR and enjoyed political protection despite her actions becoming known. She became director of the children’s hospital in Stadtroda and head of the paediatric section of neuropsychiatry. She retired in 1965 and died in 1985.

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