NFC zu N-P-01

DETERMINE AND EVALUATE

In July 1945, the political review of those involved in the Lüneburg crimes began. In the end, all of them were classified as »followers« at most. There were no disadvantages and no penalties. Hans Rohlfing, the head of the health department, was classified as »uninvolved« because the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases« was still in force. Gustav Marx was also acquitted and completely »exonerated«.

Das Papier ist vergilbt. Die vorgedruckten Kategorien des Fragebogens sind mit sehr ordentlicher Schrift handschriftlich ausgefüllt.

Extract from the British Military Government’s questionnaire on the denazification of Max Bräuner.

NLA Hannover Nds. 171 Lüneburg No. 29889.

Carola Kleim filled out the British Military Government’s questionnaire for the political investigation of Max Bräuner. She omitted the special allowances for his involvement in the murder of the sick. His work as an assessor for the Hereditary Health Court also went unmentioned. His duties for the Racial Policy Office were played down.

Complete questionnaire

On 24 August 1945, Max Bräuner and Wilhelmine Wolf were the only employees to be dismissed from their duties at the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. Members of the British security police held them responsible for the catastrophic conditions on the wards. The British considered the doctor Rudolf Redepenning to be unsuspicious and unincriminated. He became the new medical director.

Das Papier ist vergilbt und wirkt abgegriffen. Das Dokument ist auf beiden Seiten gelocht. Der Text ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst. Es wurden handschriftlich mehrere Notizen vorgenommen.

Letter from the Chief President of the Province of Hanover (Georg Andreae) dated 24 August 1945.

NLA Hannover Nds. 300 Acc. 2005/128 No. 16.

Das Papier des Artikels ist vergilbt. Das Foto zum Artikel ist schwarz-weiß. Es zeigt zwei Männer, einer davon Redepenning mit der Ernennungsurkunde in der Hand an einem Tisch. Sie stehen einander zugewandt. Handschriftlich sind die Quellenangaben des Artikels oberhalb aufgeschrieben worden.

Lüneburg Post of 28 December 1945.

ArEGL.

Rudolf Redepenning, around 1955.

ArEGL 151.

RUDOLF REDEPENNING (1883 – 1967)

Shortly before the end of 1945, Rudolf Redepenning succeeded Max Bräuner as Medical Director. His appointment marked the beginning of a new era at the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. As he had lost his leading position during the Nazi era and was a relative of a victim of „Aktion T4“, his initial commitment to the reorganisation of psychiatry and the investigation of the Lüneburg medical crimes was credible.

Der Brief ist eng mit Schreibmaschine geschrieben und umfasst zwei Seiten. Er ist oben nummeriert.

Letter from Rudolf Redepenning to the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court dated 26 October 1962.

ArEGL.

Nobody considered that Rudolf Redepenning might have been complicit in the crimes and therefore did not take part in the second investigation. He blamed memory lapses and illness.

In der Vitrine liegt die geöffnete Schatulle des Ordens. In der dunkel gepolsterten Schatulle liegt das rote Kreuz.

In der Vitrine liegt die Urkunde. Sie ist auf gelbes Papier gedruckt. Der Name des Ordens ist rot und groß geschrieben. Die Urkunde ist vom Bundespräsidenten unterschrieben.

Original box for the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon with certificate of appointment, 1958. Rudolf Redepenning received a comparable certificate.

ArEGL 203.

In December 1958, Rudolf Redepenning was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon by the then Federal President Theodor Heuss for his involvement in the reconstruction of the institutional system. At the time, it was not publicly known that he had been involved in medical crimes and the murder of patients. Rudolf Redepenning was never stripped of this honour.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Porträt. Willi Baumert ist bis zur Brust zu sehen. Er trägt einen Anzug mit Krawatte. Seine wenigen Haare sind streng nach hinten frisiert. Er trägt eine markante Brille und blickt in die Kamera.

Willi Baumert as Medical Director of the Königslutter State Hospital, around 1964.

NLA Hannover Nds. 300 Acc. 2005/128 No. 4.

Many of those involved in the crimes continued to work after a brief interruption in the post-war period. Margret Dehlinger returned to the Lüneburg Municipal Hospital as a senior physician in 1949. Hans Rohlfing remained at the health department until his retirement. He was highly regarded as a prison doctor for the regional court and as a medical examiner for health insurance companies. Willi Baumert enjoyed a successful career as the former head of the »paediatric department« at the Königslutter State Hospital. In 1958, he became medical director there.

In early post-war trials against those responsible for the murder of the sick, courts judged the offences to be murder and imposed harsh sentences, including death sentences. This was also the case for those involved in the murders at Lüneburg Municipal Hospital in 1945/1946.

Es ist ein leicht vergilbtes, gelochtes Papier. Es ist eng mit Schreibmaschine beschrieben. Die ebenfalls beschriebene Rückseite scheint durch. Unter dem Text ist eine handschriftliche Notiz. Stempel der Archivierung sind sichtbar.

Interrogation protocol of Günter Schulz from 17 October 1945.

Archive Jugoslavije Beograd Inv. No. 13093.

Female doctors and nurses were questioned by the British military police about the murders of female forced labourers that had been committed at Lüneburg Municipal Hospital from 1943 onwards. There were several witness statements. The doctor Günter Schulz was subsequently extradited to Belgrade and imprisoned there. He made a statement.

In October 1946, a second interrogation of Günter Schulz took place in Belgrade prison. A trial was held there before the military court. The defendants Helmut Bock, Günter Schulz and Margarete Dethlefsen did not succeed in making the now deceased medical director Adolf Wilke solely responsible for the murder.

Full transcript

Excerpt from the interrogation protocol of Günter Schulz from 31 October 1946.

Archive Jugoslavije Beograd Inv. No. 13093.

Es ist eine sehr vergilbte Seite. Die Seite ist eng bedruckt ohne Fotos. Mittig unten findet sich der Artikel unter der Überschrift »Belgrader Todesurteil gegen Lüneburger Ärzte«.

Lüneburger Landeszeitung of 22 November 1946, p. 3.

StadtALg, 8.2-LLA-B, 276.

The nurse Margarete Dethlefsen confessed to the crimes and heavily incriminated the doctors. The administration of an overdose of morphine resulting in death was classified as a war crime by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. The legal basis for this was the Hague Convention (1907) and Control Council Law No. 10 (1945). Helmut Bock, Günter Schulz and Margarethe Dethlefsen were subsequently sentenced to death on 5 November 1946. The sentence was carried out eleven days later.

Die Liste ist gedruckt. Das Papier ist hell und oben links geheftet und umgeschlagen. Links ist das Dokument gelocht.

Interrogation protocol of Günter Schulz from 17 October 1945.

Archive Jugoslavije Beograd Inv. No. 13093.

During the investigation into the murder of patients of foreign origin, 34 people were named who had been murdered in Lüneburg Municipal Hospital:

YUGOSLAVIA

Baert, Frans Hilaire

Babic, Blagoje

Ubinovel [ohne Namensprüfung]

Babic, Gjuro Petrov

Sudar, Bogdan

Milivojac, Stojan

Vidovic, Milan

Cikic, Dragilin

Cicic, Uros

Lokvić/Lokušević, Duran [ohne Namensprüfung]

RUSSEN

Zurk, Sven [ohen Namensprüfung]

Senkowetz, Johann

Milevan, Beljrus [ohne Namensprüfung]

Vojšenko, Frosja [ohne Namensprüfung]

Jannjuk, Fedor

Kula, Valdemar [ohne Namensprüfung]

Kolb, Theodor

Kudin, Peter

Teslenko, Kusima

Onitschuk, Wasily

Bodnar, Wasyl

Preytschenko, Michail

Varonska, Hana [ohne Namensprüfung]

Tschuba, Wasyli

Matuck, Maria

Kutscher, Iwan

Antein, Kosta [ohne Namensprüfung]

Ehušnjivik, Marija [ohne Namensprüfung]

Belons, Wassily
POLEN

Bialy, Wladyslaw

Premas, Helene

Tabat, Valentin

Sakubek, Sabina
CZECHIA

Domeika, Elena
BELGIUM

The first preliminary investigations into the crimes committed at the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home began in 1947. In the meantime, the legal opinion had changed. Perpetrators were recognised as not having known that their actions were illegal. From 1948, they therefore received lighter sentences.

Order from the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Hanover to the Lübeck Criminal Investigation Department dated 22 May 1948.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

As early as October 1945, lawyer Hans Bolenius filed charges against Max Bräuner and Willi Baumert. Bolenius suspected both of murdering children in the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. This included Ulf Quadfasel, the son of his wife Margret. The public prosecutor’s investigation was not opened until 1948.

In 1952, Hans Heinze (former expert at the »Reichsausschuss«) was released early from prison and moved to West Germany. In 1953, he was reinstated in the civil service. A year later, he became head of the newly opened child and adolescent psychiatric clinic in Wunstorf. In October 1960, he took early retirement. Due to a preliminary investigation into murder, payment of his pension was suspended in 1961. In 1965, he presented a medical certificate attesting that he was unable to »take a responsible position on any questions and physically endure lengthy conversations«. As a result, the investigation against him was dropped, even though his involvement in ‘child euthanasia’ had been clearly proven.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Bild. Zu sehen ist Heinz Heinze halb liegend am Boden mit zwei jungen Enkelkindern. Zwischen den dreien liegt ein Legohaus, an dem Heinz Heinze gerade zu bauen scheint. Er trägt einen dunklen Anzug mit Krawatte und wirkt gelöst.

The family photo from 1965 of Hans Heinze playing with two grandchildren does not reveal the poor state of health that had been certified in expert reports.

Private property Hilde Winkelmann | Working Group Stumbling Stones Rehburg-Loccum.

Interrogation of Marie-Luise Heusmann on 3 November 1947.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

In 1947, all employees were questioned about the events in Lüneburg. They replied almost word for word that there had been no murders of patients in the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. They explained the high number of deaths by the poor supply situation, and later by many bomb victims from Hamburg. A comparison of the interrogation records shows that the statements were agreed. The investigators allowed themselves to be deceived.

Es ist ein schwarz-weiß Foto. Es zeigt die Mutter sitzend mit der Cousine auf dem Schoß. Sie sitzen in einem Garten. Beide tragen schicke Kleidung und wirken sehr vergnügt.

argret Quadfasel with Karla Rust, Bremen, 27.8.1939.

Private property Karla Reinhart.

ULF QUADFASEL (1940 – 1943)

Ulf Quadfasel came from Bremen. His mother was the merchant’s daughter Margret Quadfasel. It is known that she frequented the elegant Hillmann Hotel in Bremen. She met guests from high society there. She became pregnant with Ulf, who was born on 15 May 1940; his father remains unknown. Ulf’s younger brother Peter was born in November 1941. His father was the Austrian Karl Reininghaus, who recognised his paternity. At the beginning of 1944, Peter was adopted by Hans Bolenius and was given his surname.

With two illegitimate children and her job at the hotel, the mother had a reputation for being a »loose woman«. The fact that her two sons were temporarily placed in the Oberneuland children’s home was interpreted as »anti-social behaviour«. As a single, unmarried and non-conformist woman, she did not conform to the role models and rigid rules of behaviour of the time.

Ulf’s developmental delay was discovered at the children’s home, and as a result, he was not allowed to stay. The home sent him to the hospital in Bremen, and he was registered. Nurse Antje from the Bremen Health Department applied for his admission to the »paediatric ward«.

Just one week later, on 16 November 1943, Ulf Quadfasel was admitted to the Lüneburg mental hospital. Five weeks later, on Christmas Eve 1943, his mother married the lawyer Hans Bolenius. Shortly afterwards, Ulf was murdered at the age of three and a half in the »children’s ward« in Lüneburg.

The sudden death of her son came as a shock to his mother. Just a few days later, Hans Bolenius questioned the official cause of death and put persistent questions to the Medical Director Max Bräuner.

After the war, Hans Bolenius continued his efforts to shed light on the circumstances surrounding his stepson’s death. As the only relative of a victim of »child euthanasia«, he filed a criminal complaint with the Lübeck police, thereby playing a decisive role in triggering investigations into »child euthanasia«.

To verify the initial suspicion, two doctors from the Goettingen and Wunstorf sanatoriums were commissioned on 31 May 1948 to examine the causes of death of 20 children on the basis of the entries in the medical records. They came to the following conclusion: it could not be proven that the deaths had been caused by violence. As a result, the investigation was closed in 1949.

Expert opinion

Der Brief ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst und handschriftlich unterschrieben. Das Papier ist vergilbt.

Letter from the senior public prosecutor’s office in Hanover to Doctors Berger and Gerson dated 31 May 1948.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

Der Auszug ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst und handschriftlich unterschrieben. Das Papier ist vergilbt. Es ist von Dr. Berger handschriftlich unterzeichnet.

Extract from Berger’s medical report to the senior public prosecutor’s office in Hanover dated 1 July 1948.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

»I come to the conclusion that from the 20 medical histories of the children who died in Lüneburg that were sent to me, it cannot be concluded that the children’s deaths were caused or accelerated by external influences.«

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Bild. Aus einer erhöhten Position aufgenommen zeigt es eine Straßenkreuzung. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite steht die Turnhalle mit zwei markanten eckigen Türmen. Sie ist prachtvoll mit Backstein gemauert.

Letter MTV-Halle, Lindenstraße 30 in Lüneburg, around 1965.

Private property Beckmann | ArGW.

Es ist ein Schwarz-Weiß-Bild. Es zeigt den Blick auf den Angeklagten, der sich erhoben hat. Neben ihm steht auf jeder Seite ein uniformierter Militärpolizist. Brandt blickt ernst und trägt Kopfhörer mit Kabel. Die vor ihm sitzenden Juristen wirken vertieft in das, was sie ebenfalls über Kopfhörer hören. Nur einer von ihnen dreht sich zu ihm um. Im Hintergrund sind die Marmorsäulen und schweren Holzvertäfelungen des Raumes zu erkennen.

Karl Brandt (standing) at the sentencing at the end of the Nuremberg Doctors‘ Trial, 20 August 1947.

Copy ArEGL.

During the initial investigations into the murders of patients in Lüneburg, the Bergen-Belsen trial took place in Lüneburg from September to November 1945. In addition, 13 further »Nuremberg trials« were held between October 1945 and April 1949. Only one of these trials related to the murder of patients in the German Reich. The murders in »children’s wards« and of patients of foreign origin played a minor role in these proceedings. The focus was on »Aktion T4«.

BERGEN-BELSEN TRIAL(17.9. – 17.11.1945)

The first war crimes trial on German soil was held in the gymnasium of the Lüneburg MTV. It met with great international interest. The crimes committed in the Bergen-Belsen prisoner of war and concentration camp took centre stage. The trial also covered crimes committed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The MTV hall was remodelled to accommodate around 200 journalists and trial observers in addition to the 45 defendants. This picture was taken a few days before the start of the trial.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. Zu sehen sind eckige Bänke aus hellem Holz. Ein Tischler erledigt Montagearbeiten. Schraubzwingen und eine Leiter sind sichtbar im Bild.

Carpentry work in the MTV gymnasium. A carpenter assembles the seats.
Photographer Sgt Wilkes.

IWM BU 10369.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. Zu sehen ist ein Blick von oben auf eine große Menge sitzender Mesnchen. Alle sind zum rechten Bildrand hin ausgerichtet. Die ersten zwei Reihen bilden Menschen mit militärischer Kleidung an einem langen Tisch mit Papieren und Leselampen. Dahinter sitzen abgetrennt durch eine Brüstung drei Reihen Menschen mit einheitlicher Kleidung und Nummern vorne auf der Brust. Hinter ihnen sitzen Personen in Uniform.

The defendant in the Bergen-Belsen trial, 17 September 1945. The former camp commandant Josef Kramer, marked with the number 1, can be seen in the lower left front corner.

IWM HU 59545.

From October 1945, there were investigations and criminal proceedings against those involved in the murders of the sick in the Brandenburg, Pirna-Sonnenstein, Hadamar and Pfafferode killing centres. Many proceedings were discontinued or ended with impunity or lenient sentences.

PROSECUTION IN BRANDENBURG

The murders committed at the Brandenburg »T4« killing centre were dealt with in various trials. Investigations against the medical director, Irmfried Eberl, led to his arrest on 30 December 1947. On 16 February 1948, he committed suicide while in custody. Eberl’s deputy, Heinrich Bunke, returned to Celle and became a consultant at the State Women’s Clinic and Celle Hospital. In 1965, charges were brought against him. The following year, he was acquitted. In 1970, the case was reopened. In 1987, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court sentenced him to four years‘ imprisonment for aiding and abetting murder in 11,000 cases. After 18 months, he was released from prison early.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. In drei Reihen sitzen Personen auf erhöhten Holzbänken. Die Bänke sind durch Tische und Balustraden voneinander getrennt. Die Männer tragen Anzüge. Einige der Frauen tragen weiße Schwesternhauben.

In the back row on the far right is Paul Nitsche, standing is the doctor Ernst Leonhardt, who escaped execution by suicide. Sixth from the right is the nurse Gäbler, who was executed on the same day as Nitsche.

BArch Bild 183-H26186.

PROSECUTION OF PIRNA-SONNENSTEIN

From 16 June 1947, a total of 15 doctors, carers and nurses from the Großschweidnitz and Pirna-Sonnenstein institutions were charged with crimes against humanity at the Dresden Regional Court in the Soviet occupation zone. These included the doctors Paul Nitsche and Ernst Leonhardt as well as two nurses from Pirna, Hermann Felfe and Erhard Gäbler. The trial ended on 7 July 1947: Nitsche, Leonhardt, Felfe and Gäbler were sentenced to death. Some of the other defendants received long prison sentences. A doctor and a nurse were acquitted for lack of evidence. Leonhardt and Felfe avoided execution by committing suicide. Nitsche and Gäbler were executed in 1948.

MEETING PURSUIT TO HADAMAR

The trial of the perpetrators at the Hadamar killing centre was the first »euthanasia« trial in the western occupation zones. The US military began gathering evidence in March 1945. In October 1945, the US military court in Wiesbaden brought charges. The focus was on the murder of forced labourers in the »foreigners« collection centre’. Two senior nurses and an administrative manager were sentenced to death. The doctor responsible, Adolf Wahlmann, a senior nurse, an administrative employee and a gravedigger were sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1946, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court brought charges of murder in 900 cases against doctors Adolf Wahlmann and Bodo Gorgaß and 23 others involved.

The doctors received a death sentence in 1947, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 1949. Both doctors were released from prison in the 1950s and Gorgaß was pardoned in 1958 by the Hessian Minister President and Minister of Justice Georg August Zinn.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. In einem kleinen Raum befinden sich vier Männer und eine Frau. Sie sitzen um einen Holztisch. Die Männer tragen Uniform, die Frau Schwesternkleidung. Auf dem Tisch liegen einige Papiere und Stempel.

Interrogation of head nurse Irmgard Huber, Hadamar, 4 May 1945, photographer Troy A. Peters, US Army.

USHMM, No. 73720.

In July 1950, a trial began at the Hanover Regional Court against three senior administrative employees of the Province of Hanover who were responsible for the sanatoriums and nursing homes: Ludwig Geßner, Georg Andreae and Paul Fröhlich. They were charged with crimes against humanity for their involvement in the murder of the sick.

Newspaper report »Aiding and abetting murder in 260 cases« in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of 11 July 1950, p. 2.

ArEGL.

The trial ended just three weeks later with her acquittal. It was based on the personality of the accused and the »exceptional situation« at the time.

Es ist ein Ausschnitt einer Zeitung. Das Papier ist leicht vergilbt. Einige Flecken sind erkennbar. Der Artikel ist zweispaltig geschrieben.

Newspaper report »Acquittals in the euthanasia trial« in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of 31 July 1950.

ArEGL.

»All three defendants are acquitted at the expense of the state treasury!«

During the criminal proceedings against Werner Heyde, the Frankfurt am Main public prosecutor’s office included the files on Willi Baumert. During the criminal proceedings against Hans Hefelmann, Max Bräuner confessed to the murders in 1961. As a result, the murder investigations against both men were reopened. Because the nurse Dora Vollbrecht also incriminated herself in the court proceedings against Georg Renno (Waldniel »children’s ward«), an investigation was also opened against her. All three eventually admitted to murdering children and adolescents in the Lüneburg »children’s ward«.

Die Mitschrift ist eng mit Schreibmaschine verfasst. Einige Namen und Ausdrücke sind handschriftlich unterstrichen.

Excerpt from the transcript of the hearing of Max Bräuner on 30 November 1961 before the examining magistrate, Frankfurt am Main Regional Court.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

Der Brief ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst und handschriftlich unterzeichnet. Ein Eingangsstempel ist oben sichtbar.

Letter from the Public Prosecutor General’s Office in Frankfurt am Main to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lüneburg dated 27 June 1962.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

Full transcript

Werner Heyde

Hans Hefelmann

»I would like to explain why the paediatric department was set up in Lüneburg. One day I received an enquiry from Hanover […]. This enquiry revealed that the possibility of euthanasia was included. For reasons still to be explained, I accepted after careful consideration.«

From the interrogation of Max Bräuner on 30 November 1961 before the examining magistrate, Frankfurt am Main Regional Court.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

QUESTIONING OF MAX BRÄUNER

Max Bräuner was summoned for questioning several more times. During his interrogation on 11 December 1962, he explained in detail why he had agreed to the establishment of a »children’s department«. He claimed that he had done it for the good of the institution. He also had no guilty conscience. He claimed that he had thought everything was lawful at the time. He acted as if he had been deceived and took no responsibility.

Das Protokoll ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst. Die Seiten sind eng beschrieben und links gelocht. Einzelne Namen und Ausdrücke sind handschriftlich rot unterstrichen.

Interrogation of Max Bräuner on 11 December 1962.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

»I must add that for years before that, there had always been plans to turn the Lüneburg institution into a Gauschschule, at least for party purposes. With the Reich Committee in the background, I therefore hoped to have a powerful argument against these party plans. […] At the time, I agreed to the establishment of a KFA [specialised children’s department] because I was of the opinion that the planned measures were lawful.«

From the interrogation of Max Bräuner on 11 December 1962, p. 2 | 8.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

Interrogation of Willi Baumert on 17 December 1962.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

INTERROGATION OF WILLI BAUMERT

When the investigation against Willi Baumert was reopened, he had already been medical director of the Königslutter State Hospital and chairman of the Association of Lower Saxony Institutional Doctors and Psychiatrists for six years. In December 1962, he admitted to having murdered hundreds of children. He did not take responsibility for his actions. He said he had acted on orders from above. He also romanticised the murders as a service to science.

»I am accused of having described the boy as ›unworthy of life‹ in Wilhelm Schaffrath’s medical records. This word is not part of my vocabulary. It is, of course, possible that I may have used it on occasion. […] Finally, I would like to point out once again that I was involved in this matter through no fault of my own. I always gave orders to euthanise children reluctantly and only because I felt bound by the instructions issued by the Reich Committee. It was certainly a very unpleasant task, but I did not feel that I was doing anything illegal.«

From the interrogation of Willi Baumert on 17 December 1962, p. 8.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

INTERROGATION OF DORA VOLLBRECHT

After Dora Vollbrecht lied during questioning by the investigating judge on 22 May 1962, she was tormented by her guilty conscience. She confided in an acquaintance, who convinced her to tell the truth. She then made a new statement on 4 June 1962, in which she described in detail her involvement in the murder in the Lüneburg »children’s ward«.

Interrogation of Dora Vollbrecht on 4 June 1962.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

»Today, I would like to say that these children did not know what their purpose in life was. I believe that these children were mentally inferior to animals. […] When asked how I felt when Dr. Bräuner told me what my task would be, I must say that I am a person who swallows everything and cannot say anything. […] I also did not dare to disobey the doctors‘ instructions after the briefing […]. […] I did not do it willingly, […]. […] I am not someone who dares to contradict superiors. I cannot do that. I cannot even do that with my brother.«

Interrogation of Dora Vollbrecht of 4 June 1962, p. 5 | 8.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

Hertha Heuer (née Walther), Marie-Luise Heusmann, Maria Harneid and Loni Böttcher were still working as nurses at the Lüneburg State Hospital in the 1960s. They claimed before the investigating judge that they had never noticed anything about the murders and had never worked in the »paediatric ward«. Nurses who were now working elsewhere (Getrud Scholz, née Marloth, Irmgard Fischer, née Kamienke, and Frieda Bergmann) also testified that they had seen or heard nothing. They were all lying. Although there was evidence suggesting their involvement, no investigations were conducted against them.

Die Bescheinigung ist auf einer halben Seite mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst. Sie ist handschriftlich unterzeichnet.

Medical certificate for Willi Baumert dated 19 January 1963.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

The investigations against Max Bräuner and Willi Baumert were dropped in 1966 and against Dora Vollbrecht in 1980. All three presented medical certificates stating that they were unable to stand trial for health reasons. As a result, no charges were brought and there was never a trial. Their offences were not punished.

While the investigation into the Lüneburg perpetrators was ongoing, the criminal trial against Werner Heyde was taking place at the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court. The trial attracted a great deal of public interest. In January 1964, DER SPIEGEL devoted its cover story to him on pages 28 to 38. One month later, Werner Heyde took his own life, thereby evading judgement.

Werner Heyde

DER SPIEGEL, No. 8, January 1964.

ArEGL 191.

DORA VOLLBRECHT (1906 – 1984)

Dora Vollbrecht came from Hanover. She was a trained and certified institutional nurse. On 1 October 1941, she and her colleague Ingeborg Weber were seconded to the »children’s ward« in Lüneburg for »special duties«. Vollbrecht decided to accept the secondment and participate in the »euthanasia« measures. In 1942, she agreed to a permanent transfer to Lüneburg. From then on, she fell ill more frequently for several months at a time, but always returned to work dutifully. In January 1945, she was certified as too ill to work as a nurse. It was not until October 1945 that she left the Lüneburg sanatorium and moved to Hanover. Her actions shaped the rest of her life. She died on 29 October 1984 in Bremervörde.

The investigations against the experts of the »Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Hereditary and Congenital Serious Illnesses« were initiated in 1956 by the public prosecutor’s office in Hanover. The proceedings against all those responsible for »child euthanasia« mostly ended in acquittal or without a verdict.
Many of those involved in »child euthanasia« whose names are known can be found in the »Perpetrators‘ Book«.

Der Brief ist mit der Schreibmaschine verfasst und handschrifltich unterschrieben und abgestempelt.

Letter from the Attorney General’s Office in Celle to the Chief Public Prosecutor regarding the proceedings underway in Hanover concerning »child euthanasia« dated 19 July 1962.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3/1.

NO PROSECUTION

Only about 175 people who were proven to have been involved in »child euthanasia« are known by name. The actual number of people involved is many times higher.

Most of them remained free from prosecution. More than 115 were not even investigated. Around 30 of them were senior physicians and directors of clinics and institutions, including the medical directors of the »paediatric departments« in Berlin-Wittenau, Breslau, Aplerbeck, Eglfing-Haar, Görden, Graz, Hamburg-Rothenburgsort, Kaufbeuren-Irsee, Konradstein, Leipzig-Dösen, Leipzig University Children’s Hospital, Niedermarsberg, Sachsenberg, Stadtroda, Tiegenhof, Uchtspringe, Ueckermünde and Wiesengrund. Twelve other individuals were senior nurses. None of them were ever questioned about the crimes committed in their institutions.

More than 25 of the approximately 175 individuals identified were investigated between 1945 and 1949 and between the 1960s and 1980s, but all investigations were discontinued.

There were several reasons for this:

Seven doctors and two nurses evaded criminal investigation by committing suicide, mainly between 1945 and 1947. One doctor took her own life in 1964.

The remaining investigations were dropped due to lack of evidence, medical certificates or the statute of limitations. Many suspects were investigated for manslaughter rather than murder. As a result, a statute of limitations came into effect in the mid-1950s. Many were also able to prove that they should be exempt from prosecution for health reasons.

Four nurses from the »paediatric ward« in Vienna, the head of the »paediatric ward« in Konradstein and the administrative director of the »paediatric ward« in Meseritz-Obrawalde went into hiding and were sought after in part unsuccessfully with wanted posters.

PROSECUTION

Criminal proceedings were initiated against only about 35 individuals involved in the »child euthanasia« programme. Eight of these criminal proceedings were discontinued, including those against Ernst Wentzler, chief expert at the »Reich Committee«, and Georg Renno, head of the Waldniel »children’s department«. Criminal proceedings against the heads of the »children’s departments« in Eglfing-Haar (Fritz Kühnke), Hamburg-Langenhorn (Friedrich Knigge), Hamburg-Rothenburgsort (Wilhelm Bayer) and Konradstein (Hans Arnold Schmidt) were also discontinued.

At least five criminal proceedings, including those against the medical directors of the »children’s ward« in Sachsenberg (Alfred Leu) and Uchtspringe (Gerhard Wenzel), ended in acquittal. At least three nurses were also acquitted, including Aenne Wrona, who had murdered children in both the »children’s ward« in Waldniel and in Kalmenhof.

Karl Lempp, medical director responsible for the Waldniel children’s ward, was fined 2,000 marks in 1947. Other sentences were initially less lenient.

Erwin Jekelius, the medical director in charge at Spiegelgrund in Vienna, was sentenced to 25 years of forced labour in 1948. He died in the penal camp in 1952. At least eight death sentences were handed down in 1946 and 1947. Three of these were carried out, against Ernst Illing, medical director of the »children’s departments« in Görden and Vienna-Spiegelgrund, as well as against Hilde Wernicke and Helene Wieczorek, both responsible for the murders of children in Meseritz-Obrawalde. Johann Aberg escaped his death sentence by going into hiding.

The other death sentences were commuted to prison terms in 1949. In the 1950s, the convicted doctors were pardoned and released from prison shortly thereafter. Mathilde Weber (head of the Kalmenhof »children’s ward«) was released after two years in prison. Hermann Wesse (head of the Kalmenhof, Waldniel and Uchtspringe »children’s wards«) was pardoned in 1958 and released from prison in 1966. With 17 years in prison, he spent the longest time in prison of all those convicted.

At least eight doctors involved in »child euthanasia« and at least four nurses were sentenced exclusively to prison terms of between twelve and two years. At least four never served their prison sentences. The others served only a fraction of their sentences and were released early after one to six years.

Der Titel des Buches zeigt die schwarz-weiße Fotografie einer Mutter und eines Kleinkinds vor orangenem Hintergrund. Die Mutter blickt zu ihrem Kind hinauf, welches den rechten Arm nach oben streckt und seiner Hand hinterher zu schauen scheint.

annah Uflacker: Mother and child. Gütersloh 1965.

CAREERS IN THE BRD AND THE GDR

After the end of National Socialism, many paediatricians pursued careers in West and East Germany. They shaped paediatrics and infant care in the post-war period until the 1970s. Due to a lack of investigations, it often remained unknown who had participated in the »euthanasia of children«.

In 1956, Hannah Uflacker published her practical guidebook »Mother and Child« in what was then West Germany, with a foreword by Werner Catel. No one was bothered by the fact that he had been the chief expert on the »Reich Committee« and responsible for the murder of thousands of »Reich Committee children«. Hannah Uflacker herself was investigated between 1960 and 1964 for her involvement in »child euthanasia« during her time at the University Children’s Hospital in Leipzig. She confessed to the murder of six children and took her own life in 1964 when she was threatened with the revocation of her medical licence. At that time, she was working at the Hanover Health Authority.

Der Titel des Buches zeigt die schwarz-weiße Fotografie einer Mutter und eines Säuglings vor blauem Hintergrund. Die Mutter hält ihr Kind innig im Arm.

Hans-Christoph Hempel: Infant Primer. Leipzig 1970.

Hans-Christoph Hempel was formerly chief physician at Leipzig University Children’s Hospital and headed the district children’s hospital in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) in the GDR. No investigations were ever conducted against him, even though he had been responsible for the »special treatment« of children and adolescents in the Leipzig »paediatric department«. He obtained his habilitation in 1960. In 1969, as a »Distinguished Doctor of the People«, he published the »Infant Primer«. In it, he particularly emphasised the advantages of placing very young children in nurseries.