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Robert Rönnau * 1885

Rostocker Straße 8 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

Flucht in den Tod Oktober 1941
1939 - 1940 Gefängnis Fuhlsbüttel

further stumbling stones in Rostocker Straße 8:
Emil Gramkow

Robert Johann Heinrich Rönnau, born on 2 Apr. 1885, detained in 1939, suicide on 7 Oct. 1941 in Hamburg

Rostocker Strasse 8

The Hamburg native Robert Rönnau was a commercial clerk and business employee at the Wiesma rubber plant in Eidelstedt. For about eleven years, he lived as a subtenant at Rostocker Strasse 8.

On 7 Oct. 1941, he was found dead in his room by his landlady. He had hanged himself from the doorpost. The landlady stated in evidence, "Recently, he was very melancholic and also down with his nerves. Rönnau had many dealings with the police. For today, he had a summons and was supposed to report to the Stadthaus [Gestapo headquarters], room no. 337. He had homosexual tendencies. At night, he was rarely at home. Usually, he came home around 3 a.m. I assume that he had another thing going, because of unnatural sexual offenses, committing suicide for that very reason. There is no other reason I can give.”

The police officers confirmed that Rönnau had received a summons to the 24th Office of the Criminal Investigation Department (24. Kriminalkommissariat).

As early as 3 May 1939, Robert Rönnau had been arrested for "unnatural sexual offenses” ("widernatürliche Unzucht”) and detained in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp until 6 May. On 2 June 1939, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for "repeated offenses” in accordance with Sec. 175 of the Reich Criminal Code (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch – RStGB), which he served in the Fuhlsbüttel penitentiary until 28 Jan. 1940. Since the criminal justice file no longer exists, no details are known. Facing the prospect of another trial and subsequent detention in prison or a concentration camp, Robert Rönnau apparently decided to end his life.


Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2018
© Bernhard Rosenkranz (†)/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: StaHH, Polizeibehörde – Unnatürliche Sterbefälle, 1540/41; StaHH, 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung, Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 d; StaHH, 242-1II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Ablieferungen 13 und 16.