Ingeborg Wernitz was born on 14 December 1928 in Lüneburg. Her father was Franz Wernitz, a glazier. Her mother was Frieda Wernitz (née Adam). The family lived on Obere Schrangenstraße and Auf der Sülze. Ingeborg did not attend school because she was deemed »uneducable« and excluded from the special school. Two of her siblings attended the special school. She had four siblings in total.
On 4 June 1942, the parents had to take their daughter Ingeborg to the »children’s ward« in Lüneburg. They refused to admit Ingeborg because they had heard that many children were dying there. As a result, Ingeborg was admitted by the police.
The parents insisted on taking their daughter home again. Max Bräuner then applied for Ingeborg Wernitz to be sterilised, as at the end of the year, at the age of 14, she fell under the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases«. Her sterilisation was made a condition for her to be discharged from the »children’s ward« and allowed to go home.
On 10 November 1942, the Lüneburg Hereditary Health Court decided, in the presence of her parents, to sterilise Ingeborg Wernitz. On 21 January 1943, she was forcibly sterilised by Richard Hölscher, the former medical director of the Lüneburg Municipal Hospital. He had been brought out of retirement for this purpose.
At the same time as her discharge from the municipal hospital, Ingeborg was also discharged from the »children‘s ward« in Lüneburg.
During her entire stay, she received frequent visits from her family. This made it virtually impossible for Willi Baumert to murder Ingeborg.
Ingeborg Wernitz returned to the state hospital in 1950, which was now called the Lüneburg Institution and Nursing Home. After twelve years, she was transferred to Himmelsthür and returned to Lüneburg nine months later.
In 1989, she moved to the Neuerkeröder Anstalt in Sickte. She died there on 6 January 2014.
