NFC zu H-P-02-1

»AKTION T4«

As part of »Aktion T4«, sick people who had been in an institution for more than five years, were considered unfit for work and had little contact with relatives were to be murdered. 483 patients were transferred from Lüneburg, even though they did not fulfil these requirements. 479 of them were murdered. All were asphyxiated with carbon monoxide. The murder was not kept secret and there was opposition from the Ministry of Justice, families and the Catholic Church. In August 1941, the National Socialists officially stopped »Aktion T4«.

It is a black-and-white photograph showing Lüneburg railway station. There is a square in front of the entrance to the building. In the square stands a plaque bearing the symbol of Lower Saxony. Next to the plaque are large pedestals. Many swastika flags are attached to the pedestals. A stele protrudes from each pedestal, on which a sculpture of an imperial eagle can be seen.

All the patients travelled on trains from Lüneburg station to the »Aktion T4« institutions. Lüneburg railway station, 1939.

StadtALg, BS, Pos-19249.

It is a colour photograph. It shows a red Postbus from behind. Two doctors in white coats are standing in front of the bus. Several men in dark clothing are also standing with the doctors. They are patients. The doctors are checking their papers for patient transport and verifying whether the patients are on the list.

Transport of patients from the Liebenau asylum, August 1940.

Liebenau Foundation.

The 483 patients from Lüneburg were transferred to the Brandenburg and Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centres and the Herborn intermediate hospital by passenger train. Reichspostbuses were only used for the transfer from the Herborn intermediate hospital to the Hadamar killing centre.

»Discussed the issue of the tacit liquidation of the mentally ill with Bouhler. 80,000 are gone, 60,000 still have to go. That’s hard work, but it’s also necessary. And it has to be done now. Bouhler is the right man for the job.«

Diary entry by Joseph Goebbels dated 22 February 1941, quoted from Ralf Georg Reuth (ed.): Joseph Goebbels Tagebücher 1924 – 1945, here vol. 4 1940 – 1942, Munich 1992.

150 Jewish patients from a total of 25 institutions, including Isidor Seelig and Iwan Alexander, were transferred from the provinces of Hanover and Westphalia to the Wunstorf institution and nursing home in September 1940. Eight Jewish patients had already been accommodated in Wunstorf. On 27 September 1940, a total of 158 Jewish patients were transferred from Wunstorf to the Brandenburg killing centre, where they were murdered with gas.

The list is slightly yellowed. It is typewritten. There is a handwritten note at the top in ballpoint pen. The list contains a table with the name, date of birth and place of birth of the person, as well as the institution from which the person was admitted.

Extract from the list of Jewish patients transferred, September 1940.

NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Wunstorf Acc. 38/84 No. 10.

»I would also like to point out that the accommodation of the patients in
Wunstorf is provided in the simplest form (straw hut without straw sacks) in the part of the institution recently vacated by the military and previously used as a reserve hospital.«

Chief President of the Province of Hanover to the Reich Minister of the Interior. Quoted from: Asmus Finzen: Mass murder without guilt, Bonn 1996.

On 7 March 1941, 122 patients were transferred from Lüneburg to the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre as part of »Aktion T4«. They were accompanied by personnel from the Berlin »T4-Zentrale«. They travelled by train. To do this, they had to walk to Lüneburg railway station. There, two carriages were attached to a passenger train. The patients were taken directly to Pirna (Saxony) and had to walk from the station to the killing centre again after their arrival.

Übersetzter Text The note is typed diagonally on a piece of paper. It lists 10 points to be observed during the transfer. These include, for example, which documents must be provided during the transfer, how the cash and property of the transferred patients are to be handled, and how the patients are to be identified by name with a strip of adhesive tape.

Note: Concerning the transfer of mentally ill patients, ca. 1940.

Copy ArEGL.

These requirements had to be met during installation.

After arriving at the Pirna-Sonnenstein institution, the patients were examined and taken to a changing room. They had to undress. From there they were taken to the gas chamber. Behind the gas chamber were two ovens in which the victims were cremated. Corpse burners simply tipped the ashes onto the slope of the Elbe behind the institution.

The postcard with a black-and-white view of the city is slightly yellowed. It shows an elevated view of the course of the River Elbe. Houses can be seen on both sides of the river. On the opposite side, the castle towers above the city. A handwritten greeting is written in blue pen above the picture.

Postcard, Pirna with Sonnenstein Castle (top left), 1923.

ArEGL 99.

The photograph is black and white. A ship can be seen in the background. August Golla is standing next to an older man at the edge of the harbour. He is wearing dark work clothes and sturdy gloves. He has a cap on his head. There is some snow on the ground and on his shoes.

August Golla (right) in the port of Wesermünde (Bremerhaven), postcard dated 1 February 1928.

Privately owned by Angelika Beltz.

The transfer to Pirna-Sonnenstein only affected male patients. One of them was August Golla. He came from Wesermünde (now Bremerhaven). August Golla worked as a net maker and was close to the Communist Party. This repeatedly led to conflicts with his father. In November 1936, August Golla behaved strangely and was hospitalised. From there he was transferred to the Lüneburg institution and nursing home.

Interview

Carl Riemann was a police officer in Hamburg. As he was married to a Jewish woman 15 years his junior, he was »mobbed« at work. This made him ill. The couple separated in 1934. He was admitted to the Friedrichsberg asylum (Hamburg), transferred to Hamburg-Langenhorn in 1935 and from there to Lüneburg in 1936. He remained here until his transfer to the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre. The official date of death was given as 24 March 1941.

It is a black-and-white portrait photograph. It is very small and badly creased. A young man in a dark uniform and peaked cap is visible from the chest up. He is standing slightly to one side and looking directly into the camera with a friendly expression. Part of a stamp impression can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the photograph.

Photo from Carl Riemann’s driving licence, 1922.

Hamburg State Archives 352-8/7 No. 22076 | Copy Martin Bähr.

The yellowed black-and-white portrait shows Johannes Müller in uniform. His left hand rests on his belt and he looks directly into the camera. He stands in front of a rough, partially plastered stone wall. The photo is oval in shape and framed in a passe-partout.

Johannes Müller, around 1916.

Privately owned by Helga and Ludwig Müller.

Johannes Müller from Geestemünde (Bremerhaven) was a trained merchant. His father was a saddler and fitted out luxury ships. As a young man, Johannes Müller served in the First World War and then lived an apolitical, Christian, middle-class life. He fell ill in the 1930s. After his murder in Pirna-Sonnenstein, the family buried the urn with his ashes in the family grave, which still exists today.

On 9, 23 and 30 April 1941, a total of 357 patients from the Lüneburg institution and nursing home were transferred to the Herborn intermediate care facility as part of »Aktion T4«. These transfers were accompanied by employees of the Lüneburg institution and nursing home.

355 patients were transferred from Herborn to the Hadamar killing centre on 12, 21 and 28 May and 16 June 1941. There, the patients got off the buses in a garage. They were medically examined once again, taken to the gas chamber in the basement and murdered. Only two patients from Lüneburg survived because they were deemed sufficiently fit for work during the examination in the garage.

It is a black-and-white photograph. It is a shot taken from an upper floor of the Hadamar sanatorium and nursing home in the distance. Behind the main building of the institution, dark smoke rises into the sky. It is smoke from the crematorium. In the foreground of the picture, slate-covered roofs of residential buildings can be seen. It appears to have rained.

Hadamar killing centre with smoking chimney, 1941.

Archive of the State Welfare Association of Hesse, F 12/No. 192.

Passport of Heinrich Biester, issued on 13 April 1926.

ArEGL 127.

Heinrich Biester planned to study in the USA, for which he needed a passport. But then he fell ill and returned home in 1926. His condition did not improve and he was admitted to the Lüneburg institution and nursing home in 1927.

Interview

Heinrich Mund’s diary begins on 1 January 1926 and ends on 1 September 1944, describing the situation in the Lüneburg institution and nursing home at the time. There are hidden references to the murder of patients. He hints that too many children were dying in the institution and nursing home, which he had to bury as a chaplain. His concern about the transfer of his nephew Heinrich Biester and his indignation at his sudden death are also reflected in the diary.

Heinrich Mund 1871 – 1945. Diary notes from the years 1926, 1935 and 1937 – 1945, transcript and extract, p. 116.

ArEGL 161.

It is a black-and-white portrait of Heinrich Mund. He is wearing a pastor's robe with a white "Hamburg" collar. He is wearing round glasses with metal frames. He is looking directly into the camera with a serious expression. He has a high forehead and a grey goatee. In the picture, he is over 60 years old.

Heinrich Mund, before 1945.

Private collection, Mund family.

HEINRICH BIESTER (1901 – 1941)

It is a black-and-white group photo of the Biester family. Eighteen people are standing among flowers and plants. They are of different ages. All the men are wearing suits with ties or bow ties. The women are wearing decorative dresses. Heinrich Biester has short hair combed back severely. He is looking seriously into the camera.

Group photo of the Biester family. Heinrich Biester is standing in the back row, second from the right. To his left is his father, Hanover, 1925.

Privately owned by the Biester family.

Heinrich Biester grew up in Hanover-List. He wanted to become a musician and studied music and singing in Hanover and Vienna from 1924. He planned to study in the USA. But then he fell ill and returned home in 1926. His condition did not improve and he was admitted to the Lüneburg institution and nursing home in 1927. His uncle, Heinrich Mund, had been the chaplain there since 1907. He was supposed to look after his nephew. Heinrich Biester took part in the church services at the institution and played the violin there. But this did not protect him. He was murdered in the Hadamar killing centre on 21 May 1941. His relatives immediately suspected that a crime had been committed. The Christian family decided not to have the urn with his supposed ashes transferred and buried at home.

Interview

There are three letters of consolation. They are very yellowed. The paper is densely covered with typewritten text. The letters are signed by hand.

»Letter of consolation« from the Hadamar institution and nursing home to Emma Piske about the death of Elfa Seipel, dated 10 June 1941.

Privately owned by Ulla Bucarey.

»Letter of consolation« from the Hadamar institution and nursing home about the death of Heinrich Biester to his father Heinrich Biester dated 12 June 1941.

ArEGL 127.

»Letter of consolation« from the Hadamar institution and nursing home about the death of Anna Wichern to her mother Anna Wichern dated 27 June 1941.

ArEGL 127.

The relatives were informed of the »unexpected« death 10 to 20 days after the murder with a »consolation letter« that always had the same wording. The cause was just as fictitious as the date of death. By postponing the death to a later date, care allowances could still be paid for the deceased. This was used to pay for the murders.

Interview

Elfa wears a dark skirt with a short-sleeved blouse and her hair pinned back. She looks into the camera. Her left hand rests in her sister's lap, who is holding her. Paula puts her right arm around Elfa. Paula wears a dark dress and her hair is styled. Paintings can be seen on a wall in the background. The photo is an oval cut-out.

Elfa (left) Seipel (née Piske) with her sister Paula, before 1914.

Privately owned by Ulla Bucarey.

Interview

It is a black-and-white portrait. Heinrich Biester looks into the camera with his mouth closed. He is wearing a dark, high-necked shirt. The photo has two holes and is slightly worn at the edges.

Heinrich Biester, around 1927.

NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Acc. 2004/066 No. 07588.

Interview

Gustav Sievers' pencil drawing is coloured with watercolours and coloured pencils and shows a smartly dressed, corpulent lady on a bicycle. The bicycle has a yellow frame decorated with red flourishes. The lady is wearing a striped skirt and a floral-patterned wrap. Her sleeves are purple. She is sitting very upright on the bike and has a very small head in relation to her body and the bicycle.

Work by Gustav Sievers. Untitled, undated, pencil, watercolours on carbon paper.

Prinzhorn Collection Inv. no. 4332d.

The black-and-white portrait photo shows Carl Langhein with his arms crossed and looking to the side. He is wearing a dark suit with a tie and has short hair.

Carl Langhein, before 1905.

From: Adolf von Oechelhäuser: Geschichte der Grossh. Badische Akademie der bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe 1904.

The lithograph depicts a scene with clear structures. On a dune covered with seaweed, slightly to the left, lies a light brown, presumably wooden box with the inscription »Kupferberg Gold«. Behind the box, a stormy sea and a small ship can be seen. In the lower corners, the artist's name and title are written in capital letters in black pen.

Advertising postcard by Carl Langhein, Valuable flotsam and jetsam Kupferberg Gold, lithograph, before 1927.

ArEGL 187.

Among the victims of »Aktion T4« were many artists and creative people whose works were devalued. One of them was Gustav Sievers, whose works are now preserved in the Prinzhorn Collection. Erich Seer was a successful graphic artist before he fell ill. Carl Langhein was also honoured as an artist and lithographer during his lifetime. He was awarded the title of professor in 1906 and founded the Hanseatic Art Publishers in 1918.

The collage shows a woman dressed as a harlequin sitting on a bar stool and blowing soap bubbles with the help of a pipe. There are three other pictures in the same style. The graphic designer and artist Erich Seer (1894 – 1941) glued them together using different coloured silk and black cardboard. He was a patient in Lüneburg from 1938 and was murdered in the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre on 7 March 1941.

The collage shows a female clown. She is sitting on a bar stool. She is holding one leg slightly raised with her hand. She is wearing a triangular clown hat with two pom-poms. She is blowing three soap bubbles from a long pipe.

Collage by Erich Seer, before 1941.

ArEGL 184.

Compared to men, women were more often the victims of murder of the sick. Their illnesses were often caused by pregnancy or childbirth, and sometimes they were victims of marital violence. As they usually had not learnt a profession, they were considered »useless« and »unworthy of life«.

It is a group photo showing 31 people. The people in front are seated. Those behind them are standing. There are men and women, children and elderly people. Two nuns are among them. Elsa Spartz is standing in the middle of the group wearing a light-coloured blouse and a darker skirt. Heinrich Spartz is standing next to her wearing a dark suit with a waistcoat and dark tie. He has a moustache and short hair combed back.

Elsa and Heinrich Spartz (centre), around 1911.

Private property Maria Kiemen/Matthias Spartz.

Christine Sauerbrey is pictured from the waist up. She is holding a piece of paper in her hands and standing slightly to the side of the camera. She is wearing a large checked dress with lace trim around the neck and sleeves. Her hair is styled upwards.

Christine Sauerbrey, before 1914.

Privately owned by Traute Konietzko.

Agnes is standing in a garden. She is wearing a long, short-sleeved dress with a large floral pattern. She is holding a small bouquet of flowers in her right hand. She is looking directly into the camera with a serious expression. Her hair is styled back.

Agnes Fiebig (later Timme), 1929.

Privately owned by Sabine Röhrs.

Half of the female victims of »Aktion T4« were married. Elsa Spartz’s husband was the head doctor at St Mary’s Hospital in Hamburg. Although he knew about the murder of the sick, he did not save his wife. Christine Sauerbrey remained faithful to her husband when he was politically persecuted. When she fell ill, he divorced her. When Agnes Timme fell ill after the birth of her fourth child, her husband no longer looked after their children. They were placed in a care home.

Even a well-to-do, middle-class background and the private assumption of costs for a stay in an institution did not protect against transfer to a killing centre. Sick people from middle-class backgrounds were sometimes unwilling to do hours of hard physical labour in the fields, in the peeling shed or in the laundry. Sick people who refused were therefore more likely to be transferred to a killing centre.

It is a black-and-white photographic portrait. Irmgard Ruschenbusch is shown from the chest up. She is standing slightly to one side and looking at the camera. She is wearing a hat with a wide brim. She is wearing a light-coloured, long-sleeved top.

Irmgard Ruschenbusch, around 1917.

Privately owned by Michael Schade.

Irmgard Ruschenbusch was the daughter of a doctor and came from a free Christian family that had produced many pastors and missionaries. Her background did not save her from being murdered.

Interview

Many of the more than 70,000 victims of »Aktion T4« did not have German citizenship or were born abroad and married to a German, for example the British woman Martha Büchel (née Caselton).

The naturalisation certificate is yellowed and looks very worn. It has been folded at least three times and has many creases and small tears. It is handwritten. In addition to the signature, it bears a black seal of the Prussian government in Münster.

Naturalisation certificate of the Büchel family, 6.8.1920.

Private collection Günter Ahlers.

Martha Büchel was born and grew up in London (Great Britain). She was one of at least 13 women and men of British origin who were victims of »Aktion T4«. She was married to the famous German cabinetmaker Georg Büchel, who had no future in Great Britain after being interned and losing the First World War. She was murdered in the Hadamar killing centre on 12 May 1941.

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