Henny Tost came from Schneverdingen and was one of five children. She had a developmental delay from childhood and lived with her mother Margarethe Tost. Her father was a farmer and died of blood poisoning in Hamburg. Her mother ran the farm alone, and Henny Tost also worked on the farm.
In December 1934, Judge Stölting and doctors Bräuner and Vosgerau decided to sterilize Henny Tost. They considered it unlikely that her mental impairment had been caused by a fall from the baby carriage and judged it to be hereditary. During the forced sterilization, Henny Tost was infected with bacteria (staphylococci), which led to her death. She had had a cyst, the removal of which during sterilization had led to the infection. The Reich Health Office investigated the matter, as deaths were to be avoided as far as possible. The political leadership feared that coercive measures would otherwise be increasingly rejected by the population.
Henny Tost was operated on against her will in February 1935. Her mother also refused sterilization. After her daughter’s death, her mother demanded compensation. However, this was less about the loss of a human being and more about compensation for lost labor.
