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Wiesloch (Badische staatliche Heil- und Pflegeanstalt für Geisteskranke Wiesloch)

Wiesloch on a map

The Kinderfachabteilung in Wiesloch operated from November/December 1940 at the latest (the first child had been admitted at the end of June 1940), until probably August 1941, after no admissions to the ward had been made after April. It was the fifth or sixth of all "special children's wards" to open, and the first to be established in what is today the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The clinic's director was Dr. Wilhelm Möckel, and the deputy director and responsible for the Kinderfachabteilung was Dr. Arthur Schreck. After Dr. Schreck found it impossible to continue with the killing personally, a physician from the special children's ward in Eglfing-Haar, Dr. Fritz Kühnke (see Eglfing-Haar), came to carry out the murders. After the war, Dr. Schreck was sentenced in Freiburg in 1950 to 12 years in prison, but he was pardoned by the governor of the state in 1954 and worked as a physician in Pfullendorf. He died there in 1963. Dr. Möckel died in 1954.

station in Wiesloch Source: author

The number of children who died in the special children's ward was small. 13 small children who had been admitted by April 1941 had died between March and August 1941; one of them after been transferred to the special children's ward in Eglfing-Haar. According to Dr. Schreck, the Kinderfachabteilung had been closed at the end of June 1941. Three of the children were killed by Dr. Schreck; nine, by Dr. Kühnke. Older children and youth also had been admitted to Wiesloch and reported on questionnaires used for the T4 action; after the sudden stop to T4 their status likely changed to "Reichsausschusskinder," and six of them were transferred to the special children's ward in Kaufbeuren in December 1941. This likely ended the collaboration between Wiesloch and the Reichsausschuss.

At the beginning of the 1943, four children/youths were admitted to the "research station" on site. It was directed by Dr. Carl Schneider of the University of Heidelberg and autonomous from the Wiesloch hospital in matters of organization, finance, and personnel. It existed between January and March of 1943. Two of these four children/youths died there or shortly after release, while two others were transferred to Emmendingen and then Kaufbeuren, where one of them was killed.

Soon after the end of WWII the American major Leo Alexander, commissioned to produce a report for the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, visited Wiesloch and noted his impressions as well as the facts he established in his report (see here: 1, 2, 3, 4). The full report contains an extensive appendix not included in the version on the Internet (see Alexander 1945).

On occasion of the 40th anniversary of the transport of the first 42 mentally ill patients of the hospital Wiesloch to the T4 killing center Grafeneck (see T4) in late February 1940 staff of the clinic assembled to commemorate this event and to erect an almost 2 meter high wooden cross in front of the hospital chapel, with the inscription "To the victims of the 'Program Merciful Death,'" and a first commemorative event took place. In 1990, at the 50th anniversary of the above-mentioned event, a larger audience witnessed the commemorative event, and a heterogeneous group of staff, medical personnel, and students formed as the "Committee Infirmary and Hospital Wiesloch During the Period of National Socialism." It included the then medical director, Dr. Hans Dieter Middelhof, who actively supported their activities. The committee helped bring about a variety of activities to shed light on the past, as well as create a permanent memorial. A competition for a permanent memorial was held.

memorial Wiesloch 1
 memorial Wiesloch 2
Source: author

The memorial was established in April 1994, replacing the wooden cross. The sculpture was created by artist Susanne Zetzmann. The inscription reads: "In the years 1934 to 1945 more than 2,000 patients of the infirmary and hospital Wiesloch were made to lose their dignity, [they were] mistreated, and murdered. To them in commemoration, to us as a warning" (In den Jahren von 1934 bis 1945 sind mehr als 2000 Patienten der Heil- und Pflegeanstalt entwürdigt, misshandelt oder ermordet worden. - Ihnen zum Gedenken, uns zur Mahnung). The iron sculpture has the form of a circle, with a small ring broken off, tilted upward and sunken in in part. A possible, suggested interpretation of the memorial's shape and form is that the larger part symbolizes the majority (bystanders, supporters, perpetrators), while the smaller part, which sinks somewhat into the soil, represents the minority (victims), who remain anonymous and largely unknown. The memorial does not address the victims of the children's ward in particular.

Since 1996, Germany has had a Day of Commemoration for the Victims of National Socialism on 27 January, and for some years on this day a variety of commemorative activities have taken place at the hospital Wiesloch, although it does not appear that any one of them has been specifically dedicated to the victims of the special children's wards.

The web page of the clinic, today the Psychiatrisches Zentrum Nordbaden, openly and frankly addresses the events during the Nazi period. A local internet magazine has a detailed report on commemorative activities in 2011 and includes a list of names

In 2011, Dr. Janzowski presented new insights into "children's euthanasia" in the context of a memorial event (see here: 1, 2) and published a book chapter on the current state of knowledge. Dr. Peschke has published a monograph on the asylum at Wiesloch in 2012.

Literature

Alexander, Leo. 1945. "Public Mental Health Practices in Germany: Sterilization and Execution of Patients Suffering from Nervous or Mental Disease." Cios Item 24 Medical. Armed Forces Supreme Headquarters: Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee.

Arbeitskreis "Die Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wiesloch in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus." 1992-1995. Schriftenreihe des Arbeitskreises "Die Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wiesloch in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Wiesloch: Psychiatrisches Landeskrankenhaus Wiesloch. Available here: vol. 1, 2, 3.

Benzenhöfer, Udo. 2003. "Genese und Struktur der 'NS-Kinder- und Jugendlicheneuthanasie.'" Monatsschrift für Kinderheilkunde 151: 1012-19.

"Gedenken an Euthanasieopfer: 'Organisierte Selektion zum Tode.'" Localmatador.de 06 February 2011. Available at http://www.lokalmatador.de/article/c06e3f61addc4e91b4ed590c4780e8d6/.

Janzowski, Frank. 2011. "Reichsausschusskinder und andere Minderjährige in der Wieslocher Heil- und Pflegeanstalt 1940 bis 1944." Pp. 91-120 in Kindermord und "Kinderfachabteilungen" im Nationalsozialismus: Gedenken und Forschung, edited by Lutz Kaelber und Raimond Reiter. Frankfurt: Lang.

Peschke, Franz. 2009. "Die Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wiesloch im Dritten Reich." Public lecture. Available at http://www.ag-landeskunde-oberrhein.de/index.php?id=p492v.

———. 2012. Ökonomie, Mord und Planwirtschaft: Die Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wiesloch im Dritten Reich. Bochum: projekt verlag.

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.

"Schreck, Arthur." Wikipedia (German language) (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schreck)

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.

Last updated: 12 March 2013