HERBERT LINDEN (1899 – 1945)

Herbert Linden came from Constance and studied medicine after completing his military service. He became a member of the NSDAP as early as 1925. He became an assistant doctor in Heidelberg and joined the Institute of Hygiene there in 1929. In 1931, he became an employee at the Reich Health Office in Berlin. Under the direction of Arthur Gütt and, from 1939, Leonardo Conti, he became a senior government councillor and consultant for the so-called lunatic system. As such, he organised and planned the »euthanasia« measures. He also worked as chief expert for the »T4 Centre«. In 1941, he became Reich Commissioner for all sanatoriums and nursing homes in the German Reich. He also organised and planned the »Euthanasia« measures after the end of the so-called »Aktion T4« from 24 August 1941. In any case, there was contact with the so-called »Aktion Reinhardt«, the murders in the extermination camps Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka. Between 1942 and 1944/1945, he was also involved in judicial crimes as an associate judge at the People’s Court. Herbert Linden took his own life on 27 April 1945 and was buried in the Berlin-Zehlendorf forest cemetery. His grave was only removed in 2014.