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Schleswig-Stadtfeld (Landes-, Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Schleswig-Stadtfeld)

Schleswig on a map of Germany

The Kinderfachabteilung in Schleswig-Hesterberg was transferred to the the Landes-, Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Schleswig-Stadtfeld on 3 February 1942. The director of the institution was Dr. Carl Grabow. Responsible for the special children's ward at first remained the physician Dr. Erna Pauselius, who had been responsible for it at the Hesterberg, until she left in April 1942 after conflicts between her and the director. Dr. Johannes Krey assumed responsibility until September 1941, possibly jointly between with Dr. Hans Burkhardt until end of 1942, who was responsible after that. Carl Grabow remained medical director of the clinic until 1951 and died in 1965. Dr. Burkhardt remained a physician at the psychiatric clinic in Schleswig-Stadtfeld until 1969 and even sued the historian Klaus Bästlein to prevent his name being mentioned in his article (he lost). For the investigations against them, and the resulting beginnings of reearch on children's euthanasia and commemoration, see Schleswig-Hesterberg.

image of building Source: Der Hesterberg, p. 105
A total of 216 children and youths up to 16 years of age are confirmed to have died at the Hesterberg and Stadtfeld facilities between September 1939 and May 1945. For almost all of them, their medical records are extant. Even though S. Misgajski, in Der Hesterberg (pp. 50, 53), notes that the special children's ward was not physically separated, it is reported (pp. 105, 148) that is was placed in the building pictured above at the end of 1942.

commemorative event 1994 in Stadtfeld
In 1994, a commemorative event took place on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the transfer of 697 adult patients from Schleswig-Stadtfeld to Meseritz-Obrawalde, of whom only 65 were still alive when the Red Army arrived in 1945.

In 1995, on occasion of the 175th anniversary of the clinic at Stadtfeld a chronicle was published by Harald Jenner, which includes a section on "children's euthanasia."

In 2009, there was a memorial service for the murdered patients who had been transported to Meseritz-Obrawalde on the anniversary of the transport. In a course a local high school a design contest held for an art memorial, which is scheduled to be built.

Both the Schleswig-Hesterfeld and the Schleswig-Stadtfeld facilities today are part of the SCHLEI-Klinikum Schleswig, part of the DAMP group. Its web site does not refer to the history of the facilities.

Literature

Bästlein, Klaus. 1991a. 'Die "Kinderfachabteilung' Schleswig 1941 bis 1945." Informationen zur Schleswig-Holsteinischen Zeitgeschichte 20:16-45.

———. 1991b. "Die 'Kinderfachabteilung' Schleswig 1941 bis 1945." Schleswig-Holsteinisches Ärzteblatt 63:18-34.

Benzenhöfer, Udo. 2003. "Genese und Struktur der 'NS-Kinder- und Jugendlicheneuthanasie.'" Monatsschrift für Kinderheilkunde 151: 1012-1019.

Bergen, Hendrike van, Alfred Ebeling, and Christian Radtke. 1998. "Der Gesprächskreis Erzählte Geschichte in Schleswig: Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse aus der Arbeit einer lokalen Geschichtswerkstatt." Informationen zur Schleswig-Holsteinischen Zeitgeschichte 33/34: 219-26. Available at http://www.akens.org/akens/texte/info/33/333417.html.

Godau-Schüttke, Klaus-Detlef. 2010. Die Heyde/Sawade-Affäre: Wie Juristen und Mediziner den NS-Euthanasieprofessor Heyde nach 1945 deckten und straflos blieben. Baden-Baden: Nomos (esp. pp. 103-8).

Heesch, Eckhard. 2004. "Marylene: Ein behindertes Kind im 'Dritten Reich'." Informationen zur Schleswig-Holsteinischen Zeitgeschichte 43 (April): 24-63.

Illiger, Horst. 2004. "Sprich nicht drüber!": Der Leidensweg von Fritz Niemand. Neumünster: Paranus.

Jenner, Harald. 1995. Die Geschichte einer Psychiatrischen Klinik: Schleswig-Stadtfeld. Schleswig: Fachklinik für Psychiatrie, Neurologie und Rehabilitation Schleswig.

Landesarchiv Schleswig-Holstein, ed. 1997. Der Hesterberg: 125 Jahre Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Heilpädagogik in Schleswig: Eine Ausstellung zum Jubiläum der Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie sowie des Heilpädagogikums in Schleswig. Schleswig: Selbstverlag des Landesarchivs Schleswig-Holstein.

Misgajski, Susanna. 2006. "Der Hesterberg." Pp. 68-77 in Schleswig-Holsteinische Erinnerungsorte, edited by C. Fleischhauer and G. Turkowski. Heide: Boyes Buchverlag.

Puvogel, Ulrike, and Martin Stankowski. 1996. Gedenkstätten für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, vol. 1. 2d ed. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Available at http://www.bpb.de/files/5JOYKJ.pdf. 

Schwarz, Rolf. 1986. "Ausgrenzung und Vernichtung kranker und schwacher Schleswig-Holsteiner: Fragen zu einem unbearbeiteten Problem der Geschichte unseres Landes von 1939-1945." Demokratische Geschichte 1: 317-38.

Topp, Sascha. 2004. “Der ‘Reichsausschuss zur wissenschaftlichen Erfassung erb- und anlagebedingter schwerer Leiden’: Zur Organisation der Ermordung minderjähriger Kranker im Nationalsozialismus 1939-1945.” Pp. 17-54 in Kinder in der NS-Psychiatrie, edited by Thomas Beddies and Kristina Hübener. Berlin-Brandenburg: Be.bra Wissenschaft.

———. 2005. "Der 'Reichsausschuß zur wissenschaftlichen Erfassung erb- und anlagebedingter schwerer Leiden': Die Ermordung minderjähriger Kranker im Nationalsozialismus 1939-1945." Master's Thesis in History, University of Berlin.