IWAN ALEXANDER (1894 – 1940)

Iwan Alexander was born in Meppen. His father was the cattle and horse dealer Max Alexander, his mother was Jettchen Alexander, née Schöntal. Iwan’s sister Lina, who was four years younger, also belonged to the family. They lived at Gymnasialstraße 11, while another branch of the family lived at Lingener Straße 8 and Schullendamm 1. Iwan already suffered from seizures as a child. Due to his developmental delay, he was admitted to the Hanover-Langenhagen mental hospital in 1911. In 1924, he was transferred to Lüneburg. There he was reported for sterilisation in 1936, which was decided by the Lüneburg Hereditary Health Court in 1939. A few months later, he was reported to the »T4-Zentrale« and temporarily transferred to the Wunstorf institution and nursing home on 21 September 1940. Six days later, he was taken to the Brandenburg killing centre and murdered with carbon monoxide. He was one of the first Lüneburg victims of »Aktion T4«. Lina Alexander also did not survive the persecution. She was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. Stumbling stones were laid for both of them in Meppen in 2016.