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Walter Lau * 1906

Kottwitzstraße 19 (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

HIER WOHNTE
WALTER LAU
JG. 1906
MEHRMALS VERHAFTET
ZULETZT 1940
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
FLOSSENBÜRG
ERMORDET 14.8.1942
RAVENSBRÜCK

further stumbling stones in Kottwitzstraße 19:
Alfons Hirschel, Ilse Hirschel, Marion Hirschel

Walter Hermann Lau, born 18 Sep. 1906 in Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad), died 14 Aug. 1942 in the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp

Kottwitzstraße 19 (Blücherstraße 19)

Walter Lau, born in 1906 in Kraußen in Königsberg (present-day Borissowo in Kaliningrad) lived at Blücherstraße 19 in Hamburg-Hoheluft, in a ground-floor apartment with his parents, Hermann, who worked in ship-building, and Emma (Kaufmann) Lau. He had one younger brother and a younger sister. Since he had no professional training, he found odd jobs as a manual laborer, generally in construction.

In the fall of 1937 he was arrested for the first time. He was held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of homosexual activities from 22 October until 10 December 1937 at the Hamburg-City detention center. His trial before the Hamburg district court took place on 9 December 1937, and he was sentenced to one year in prison. He was released on 24 September 1938.

Nine months later, his homosexuality once again came to the attention of the police, and he was held in the Fuhlsbüttel Concentration Camp from 8-10 May 1939. Apparently the charges could not be proved, since there is no evidence that he received any prison sentence.

He again became the subject of an investigation, however, in December 1939, when a former sexual partner identified him in a police photograph catalogue. The former partner testified that he had met Walter Lau in the bar "Kiek ut” on the Zeughausmarkt, a well-known pick-up establishment for both homo- and heterosexuals. They later met again in the "Anker” bar. The records of this investigation show that Lau often met privately with gay men and rent boys. Among these was Heinrich Bode, who often appeared in public as a transvestite (1910-1943, died in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Stolperstein at Stellinger Weg 2, Hamburg-Eimsbüttel).

When Walter Lau did not appear for questioning, the police investigated and discovered that he had been conscripted and assigned to Mödling in the vicinity of Vienna. He was arrested by the Vienna police and transferred to pre-trial detention in Hamburg on 19 April 1940. After extensive interrogation, he admitted to five counts of homosexual contact. The Hamburg district court sentenced him to one year and three months in prison. He served the sentence in the Fuhlsbüttel men’s prison, and was released on 20 July 1941. Walter Lau returned to Vienna, but was then arrested by the Vienna police on 15 September 1941 and sent to the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp. He was given the prisoner number 329, and was listed in the category "protective custody, homosexual.” He was then sent to the Ravensbrück Men’s Concentration Camp on 18 July 1942. The records there list the reason for his imprisonment as "homosexual,” and his prisoner number was 2318. He died there on 14 August 1942.


Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2017
© Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: StaH 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 5727/41; 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung, Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 d; 242-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Ablieferungen 13, 16 u. 1998/1; Auskünfte von Ronny Welsch-Lehmann, Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück vom 19.7.2011, von Johannes Ibel, KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg u. von Rainer Hoffschildt, Hannover.