Uchtspringe (Landesheilanstalt Uchtspringe)

The Kinderfachabteilung in Uchtspringe was established in June 1941 as the only such ward in what today is the state of Saxony-Anhalt and continued to operate until April 1945. The clinic's medical director was Dr. Ernst Beese, and the physicians responsible for the "special children's ward" were Dr. Gerhard Wenzel from July 1941 to April 1942 and, after a brief absence after being called up by the German army, from June 1942 to September 1943. He was succeeded by Hermann Wesse, who had worked in the special children's wards Görden, Waldniel, and Leipzig before, until he was drafted into the German army in December 1943 (after his release in April 1944 he then headed the special children's ward in Kalmenhof). His successor was his wife, Dr. Hildegard Wesse, who held the position until July 1945 (the American army had occupied Uchtspringe in April).

Dr. Beese died of a stroke in June 1945. Dr. Wenzel was acquitted in his trial by the district court (Landgericht) Göttingen in 1953 and worked in a clinic for people with head trauma. Hermann Wesse became the longest-serving convicted "euthanasia" doctor after having been convicted to death in atrial in Frankfurt for his activities at the Kalmenhof (converted to life in prison) and to life in prison for his activities at Waldniel in a trial at Düsseldorf. He was released in 1966 for medical reasons. Dr. Hildegard Wesse was acquitted in the same trial as Dr. Wenzel for her involvement in killing children but convicted of manslaughter for killing 30 adult women. The sentence was two years in prison but did become final, as the case was dropped in 1954. After that, Dr. Hildegard Wesse practiced as a physician in Braunschweig for 30 years and died in 1997 (Klieme 1997, p. 2008).

The number of victims has been estimated to be as follows: about 1,800 victims who were sent to their death as part of "T4," and approximately 500 patients killed in the clinic, the vast majority of whom were children. Trial records put the number of children murdered with Luminal and morphine at approximately 350 children and youths, not including those who died of neglect or starvation (Synder 2001, p. 90), between 1940 and 1945. D. Roer notes the death of at least 753 children and youths between August 1941 and April 1945 (Roer 1992, p. 24), and even 809 deaths among those age 20 and younger between January 1941 and April 1945 (Roer 1997, p. 125). These numbers are large in comparative perspective, and Uchtspringe, in terms of its sheer capacity, ranks among the largest next to Görden and Lüneburg (Topp 2005, p. 92 n. 482), as well as Vienna.

Sources: Synder 2001, p. 89; McManama; Klieme 1997, p. 215

The pictures above show the house in which the children's ward was housed, a drop-bottom coffin for the 'disposal' of the victims, and the overgrown field of victims' graves in the cemetery in 1989.

Source: author

Research on the victims at Uchtspringe by Kriemhild Synder (a physician there), Dorothee Roer, and Joachim Klieme in the 1990s ushered in a new "dealing with the past." A support association for the clinic (Förderverein Psychiatrie in Geschichte und Gegenwart e.V.) was founded in 2000, which adopted as one of its tasks the exploration of crimes at the clinic during National Socialism, helped establish a memorial. On 15 September 2004, the year of the 110th anniversary of the clinic, a memorial stone for the victims of NS-"euthanasia" was revealed. Its inscription reads: "To the women, men, and children who were demeaned, killed, or sent to their death from this place" (Den Frauen, Männern und Kindern, die während des Nationalsozialismus in der Landesheilanstalt Uchtspringe gedemütigt, getötet oder von hier in den Tod geschickt wurden). A report of this event is here. Initially commemorative events included the placing of a wreath in November.

Source: author

The cemetery, where many of the victims are believed to be buried, is adjacent to the facility.

The web page of the SALUS Fachklinikum Uchtspringe (click on Uchtspringe/Fachklinikum) does not address "euthanasia" on its front pages, although it refers to a paper by Dr. Synder and links to a speech in 2005 of Dr. Volkmar Lischka, who expressly mentions "children's euthanasia," on its history page. The site www.uchtspringe.de [defunct; archived) has more extensive information, including Dr. Synder's paper [archived] on "euthanasia" at Uchtspringe and the establishment of the memorial stone.

One of the children at Uchtspringe was Elvira Manthey. She was reported to the T4 and sent to die in the gas chamber of Brandenburg, to follow the footsteps of her younger sister, but was allowed to turn back. From there she went to Brandenburg-Goerden (itself the site of a special children's ward and back to Uchtspringe before she was released in 1942. Her story is described in a self-published book and here [archived]. A report of her testimony is here, and videos of it is available here: 1, 2, 3.

An exhibit with the (preliminary) title "Krankenhauspsychiatrie im 20. Jahrhundert am Beispiel Uchtspringes" (psychiatry in hospitals in the 20th century: case study Uchtspring) is planned. A travel exhibit was created in 2010: "Demons and Neurons: Psychiatry Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow." Documented online, it includes a section on "euthanasia" crimes, even though it does not seem to address the historical events at Uchtspringe. There is also a flyer.

Literature

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

Fuchs, Petra, and Maike Rotzoll. 2006. "Die Selektionskriterien der nationalsozialistischen 'Euthanasie' am Beispiel der Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Uchtspringe." Pp. 47-57 in Psychiatrie des Todes: NS-Zwangssterilisation und "Euthanasie" im Freistaat Anhalt und in der Provinz Sachsen, Part 2, edited by Ute Hoffmann. Magdeburg: Landesverwaltungsamt Sachsen-Anhalt.

Klee, Ernst. 2005. Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt: Fischer.

Klieme, Joachim. 1997. Ausgrenzung aus der NS-"Volksgemeinschaft": Die Neuerkeröder Anstalten in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, 1933-1945. Braunschweig: Selbstverlag des Braunschweigischen Geschichtsvereins.

Lischka, Volkmar. 2005. "Vortrag anlässlich der Jubiläumstagung zum 110jährigen Bestehen des Klinik-Standortes Uchtspringe am 20. Oktober 2005." Available at http://www.salus-lsa.de/portal/index.php?KZ=2979

Manthey, Elvira. 1994. Die Hempelsche: Das Schicksal eines deutschen Kindes, das 1940 vor der Gaskammer umkehren durfte. Lübeck: Hempel-Verlag Heinz Manthey.

McManama, Brigitte. 2010. Chancen zur Enthospitalisierung und De-Institutionalisierung für Menschen mit geistigen Behinderungen? Entflechtung der psychiatrischen Landeskrankenhäuser und deren Folgen für die Behindertenhilfe im Land Sachsen-Anhalt. Munich: Grin.

Roer, Dorothee. 1992. "Psychiatrie in Deutschland, 1933-1945: Ihr Beitrag zur 'Endlösung der sozialen Frage' am Beispiel der Heilanstalt Uchtspringe." Psychologie und Gesellschaftskritik 16(2):15-37.

———. 1997. "'Lebens-unwert': Kinder und Jugendliche in der NS-Psychiatrie." Pp. 107-30 in Halbierte Vernunft und Totale Medizin: Zu Grundlagen, Realgeschichte und Fortwirken der Psychiatrie im Nationalsozialismus, edited by M. Hamman and H. Asbeck. Frankfurt: Campus.

———. 1998. "Nationalsozialistischer Alltag am Beispiel der Psychiatrischen Anstalten Uchtspringe und Kaufbeuren-Irsee." In Medizin und Gewissen: 50 Jahre nach dem Nürnberger Ärzteprozess (CD-Rom), edited by S. Kolb and H. Seithe.

Rotzoll, Maike, Richter, Paul, and Petra Fuchs. 2006. "The First National Socialist Extermination Crime: The T4 Program and Its Victims." International Journal of Mental Health 35(3):17-29.

Synder, Kriemhild. 1994. "Patientenschicksale 1933 bis 1945 in der Landesheilanstalt Uchtspringe oder Wie sich erinnern?" Pp. 14-25 in 100 Jahre Landeskrankenhaus Uchtspringe 1894-1994, edited by Volkmar Lischka, Thomas Dost, and Gerhard Schulz. Uchtspringe: selfpublished. Available at http://www.uchtspringe.de/synder.htm

———. 2001. "Die Landesanstalt Uchtspringe und ihre Verstrickung in nationalsozialistische Verbrechen." Pp. 73-95 in Psychiatrie des Todes: NS-Zwangssterilisation und "Euthanasie" im Freistaat Anhalt und in der Provinz Sachsen, edited by U. Hoffmann. Magdeburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Sachsen-Anhalt. Available at http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/LPSA/fileadmin/Elementbibliothek/Bibliothek_Stiftung_Gedenkstaetten/Bernburg/Psychiatrie_des_Todes_-_Teil_1.pdf

Tögel, Christfried, and Volkmar Lischka, eds. 2005. 'Euthanasie' und Psychiatrie (Uchtspringer Schriften zur Psychiatrie, Neurologie, Schlafmedizin, Psychologie und Psychoanalyse). Uchtspringe: Sigmund-Freud-Zentrum.

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.

Concerning "Euthanasia" trial(s) for this location
Bauer, Fritz et al., eds. 1968-1981. Justiz und NS-Verbrechen: Sammlung deutscher Strafurteile wegen nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen, 1945-1966. Amsterdam: University Press Amsterdam. Vol. 11, pp. 733ff.

Bryant, Michael S. 2005. Confronting the "Good Death": Nazi Euthanasia on Trial, 1945-1953. Boulder: University of Colorado Press. Pp. 203-9.

Freudiger, Kerstin. 2002. Die juristische Aufarbeitung von NS-Verbrechen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Pp. 344-50.

Mildt, Dick de. In the Name of the People: Perpetrators of Genocide in the Reflection of Their Post-War Prosecution in West Germany: The 'Euthanasia' and 'Aktion Reinhard' Trial Cases. The Hague: Martinus Nuhoff Publishers. Pp. 132-40.

Rüter, Christiaan F. 2002-. DDR-Justiz und NS-Verbrechen. Sammlung ostdeutscher Strafurteile wegen nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen. Amsterdam: University Press Amsterdam. Vol. 6, pp. 629ff; Vol. 11, pp. 627ff.