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Bruno Kempe * 1873

Pappelallee 48 (Wandsbek, Eilbek)

HIER WOHNTE
BRUNO KEMPE
JG. 1873
VERHAFTET 1942
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
TOT AN HAFTFOLGEN
7.10.1942

Bruno Kempe, born 3 April 1873 in Frankenstein/Saxony, died 7 October 1942 of the effects of imprisonment

Pappelallee 28 (Pappelallee 48)

"It is unbelievable that a man who claims to adore the Führer can still accept money from a Jew today”, Kriminaloberassistent Nagel wrote in his report on the interrogation in the case of the arrest of Bruno Kempe.

Neither in this report nor elsewhere can any evidence of Bruno Kempe’s adoration of Hitler be found; however, there is his confession of having accepted money from Helene Herz, a "full Jew”- once 5 RM for a treatment according to the principles of Christian Science, and then an envelope with 100 RM on the day of her deportation. Undercover investigations following a denunciation had led to his arrest and committal to the Fuhlsbüttel Police Jail. And a large amount of cash was discovered when his apartment was searched. The police insinuated that the money came from criminal actions, namely the continuous activity as a practitioner. i.e. a pastoral healer by prayer according to the teachings of Christian Science, regardless of the fact that Bruno Kempe had declared a year before that he was no longer practicing.
The course of the first half of Kempe’s life was very inconsistent before he found his vocation as practitioner of the Church of Christian Science. He was the second of five children of the farmer Ernst Kempe and his wife Auguste Wilhelmine, née Wolf from Frankenstein near Freiberg in Saxony. His family belonged to the Lutheran Protestant Church; Bruno Kempe attended the village elementary school and the Bürgerschule (a municipal secondary school) in Freiberg for an additional year, followed by a three-year apprenticeship as a gilder. After working at the workshop where he had learned his trade for five and a half years, he moved on, first to then Saxon capital of Dresden, then to Vienna and finally to Paris to gain additional experience in his trade. Suffering from a nervous disorder, he returned to the family farm and stayed there until it was sold in 1903. With inherited capital, he set out on his own as a fruit farmer in Eschede near Celle. Seeking cure for a stomach illness, he entered the "Jungborn” sanatorium in the Harz Mountains, where he met his first wife, a fellow patient. Their common illnesses induced Kempe to study the Bible and become familiar with Mary Baker Eddy’s "Christian Science", a teaching of healing humans by spiritual powers according to Biblical tradition. Not leaving it at private studies, he enrolled in the training to become a Practitioner of Christian Science, making his living as a healer from 1913 on. In 1914, his wife died in Braunschweig.

At the beginning of World War I, Bruno Kempe moved to join his sister in Hamburg, who was married to the model manufacturer Max Walter and lived at Bartholomäusstrasse 90 in South Barmbek. Regardless of his age of almost forty years, he served in the army with the engineering corps of Minden in Westphalia in 1916/17. Upon his return to Hamburg, he attended the services of the Christian Science Church and joined the "First Church of Christian Science Hamburg”. There, he met Elisabeth Dwenger, twelve years his junior, daughter of Chief Police Inspector Johann Dwenger from Hamburg-Borgfelde and his wife Anna, née Görtz. Elisabeth Dwenger had been trained as a kindergarten teacher and worked in her profession until she fell ill in 1906, only starting to work again in 1914, now in an office. They got married on September 28th, 1920, Bruno Kempe giving his profession as "Representative of Christian Science”, at that time the designation of a practitioner of Christian Science. Their son Hans was born the following year, their daughter Ruth on June 24th, 1923. As Bruno Kempe had a rich life experience, dealt with the suffering lovingly and knew how to encourage and animate people, he was very well received and became the regional head of Christian Science. In 1930, the family moved to Pappelallee 48 in Eilbek, where son Hans died of meningitis two years later at the age of eleven.

Nothing is known about Elisabeth and Bruno Kempe’s reaction to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. In 1934, Bruno Kempe became a member of the Nazi welfare association NSV, and daughter Ruth joined the Nazi girls’ association BDM.
Already one month before Christian Science was forbidden on July 14th, 1941, the Gestapo launched an investigation against Bruno Kempe, confiscating textbooks and other material. He was forbidden "any further practice as a practitioner in The First Church of Christ Scientist” and forced to sign a declaration that he would comply with this order. On account of his age of 68 years, he was released from custody after a few hours. Reacting to the interrogation with fierce abdominal pains, he sought and found relief from a friendly female practitioner colleague, who gave him remote treatment. This lady, too, was banned from practicing, so that she treated Kempe without payment. Elisabeth Kempe, however, paid her in kind.

Friends now got Bruno Kempe an office job at the Heinrich Schröder potato wholesale company in Sternstrasse in the St. Pauli district. His salary, along with income from subletting rooms and the daughter’s salary as a stenotypist at Brown, Boveri & Cie. secured the family’s livelihood.
Former patients, however, continued to seek aid against their illnesses and pains from Bruno Kempe. Some came to consult him at home, others he visited at their homes, some he treated by letter or simply by the power of thought, without asking for payment. Voluntary donations he deposited in various bank accounts As an assurance for old age; some patients also brought him produce from their gardens. And he continued to exchange thoughts on issues of Christian Science with others by letter and in personal conversations.
On account of a denunciation, the trade supervisory agency searched his home on May 2nd, 1942 and discovered that he had replaced the previously confiscated textbooks, which was considered to be an indication of his continuing his former activity. To avoid jeopardizing their investigations against Kempe and other practitioners and healers, the Gestapo conducted a further search of his home before September 10th, 1942. Again, textbooks, cash and savings books as well as various letters and documents were confiscated as evidence that Kempe had violated his prohibition to practice and worked to sustain the cohesion of the Church of Christ Scientist. Bruno was ordered home from his job, arrested and brought to the Fuhlsbüttel Police Jail. From there, he was transported to Rothenbaumchaussee 38 for interrogation every day, the former Jewish Community building that now housed Department II B of the Gestapo, in charge of surveilling the churches, the enforcement of the prohibition of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the prosecution of pacifist tendencies, of passport issues as well as the surveillance and prosecution of the Jewish population. The interrogation of Kempe’s wife and daughter revealed that part of the confiscated money belonged to them, had been kept safe for third persons or was not the issue of criminal actions. In the interrogations of Bruno Kempe that lasted several days, the Gestapo mainly insinuated that he aimed to enrich himself by his consultations, and questioned the effectiveness of his treatments. However, the interrogated patients refuted these accusations; the questioned patients included the people who had given Bruno Kempe replacements for the books and writings confiscated by the Gestapo.

Even though his actions were rated as subversive, the investigators did not regard Bruno Kempe as an enemy of the state. Based on this appraisal, Kempe’s appointed attorney Hans Gabain requested that the proceedings be transferred to an ordinary court. The application was approved, and Bruno Kempe was taken from the Fuhlsbüttel Police Jail to the remand center at Holstenglacis. He was in a miserable state. Having weighed 55 kg at his arrest, he was now a haggard 40.5 kg. His attorney applied for his release. On September 30th, 1942, the emaciated Bruno Kempe was declared unfit for imprisonment and taken to the auxiliary hospital at Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer. On October 5th, 1942, the arrest warrant was repealed, and Bruno Kempe returned home, where he died two days later, aged 69.

Translated by Peter Hubschmid

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: AB; StaH 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht Strafsachen 1080/44; 332-5 Standesämter 3382-1026/1920, 4975-129/1966, 7141-304/1932, 7255-698/1942; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 8202; KZ Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, Archiv; VVN, Akte Kempe; Kempe, Elisabeth, Lebenslauf Bruno Kempe; Christian Science Boston/Mass., Archive, The Story of Christian Science Wartime Activities 1939–1946, Boston/Mass.1947; Diercks, Dokumentation Stadthaus, S. 38; VAN-Totenliste, S. 46; persönliche Mitteilungen von Carla von Malapert, Wolfgang Kreul, Christof Krüger.