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Willi Willmer * 1900

Brauhausstraße 32 (Wandsbek, Wandsbek)

1938 KZ Neuengamme
ermordet 23.03.1943

Willi Karl Ernst Willmer, born on 19 May 1900 Wandsbek, imprisoned in 1936 and 1938, murdered on 23 Mar. 1943 in the Neuengamme concentration camp

Brauhausstrasse 32 (Holstenstrasse 34)

Willi Willmer was born in Wandsbek as one among four children of his family. He left the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule) at the age of 14 and subsequently worked as a messenger, casual laborer, and steward. He was caught in the clutches of the criminal investigation department for the first time in 1936 because he got involved with a male prostitute who walked the streets around Hamburg central station. The Hamburg Regional Court (Landgericht) sentenced Willi Willmer to 18 months in prison.

After his release in 1937, he was unemployed most of the time. As a previously convicted "175er” [in reference to Sec. 175 of the Reich Criminal Code], he no longer got any permanent employment, living on casual jobs and getting on the "wrong track.” He was punished several times for property crimes.

In 1938, the criminal investigation department again became aware of Willi Willmer. This time, he had to answer to the Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht) for "unnatural sexual offenses” ("widernatürliche Unzucht”) with a male prostitute. The previous convictions had an aggravating effect, so that he was sentenced to two years in prison for violating Sec. 175 of the Reich Criminal Code (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch – RStGB). A passage from the verdict reads as follows: "It seemed necessary … to impose a prison sentence of two years on this accused, who has a relevant criminal record and is a parasite to the public [Gemeinschädling], especially with regard to Germany’s youth.” After being released from the Wolfenbüttel penitentiary, Willi Willmer was taken to the Neuengamme concentration camp on 28 Apr. 1940, where he was murdered on 23 Mar. 1943.

Since Willi Willmer’s last residence of his own choosing was at Holstenstrasse 34 (now Brauhausstrasse 32) in Hamburg-Wandsbek, the Stolperstein is meant to commemorate his fate there accordingly.


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

Stand: May 2019
© Bernhard Rosenkranz(†)/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: StaHH, 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafakten, 7600/ 38.