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© Staatsarchiv Hamburg
Wilhelm Waltereit * 1893
Harburger Ring 8 / Stolperstein in der Nähe (Harburg, Harburg)
HIER WOHNTE
WILHELM WALTEREIT
JG. 1893
MEHRMALS VERRHAFTET
ZULETZT 1939
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
ERMORDET 3.3.1941
SACHSENHAUSEN
further stumbling stones in Harburger Ring 8 / Stolperstein in der Nähe:
Erich Kromberg
Wilhelm Heinrich Waltereit, b. 8.2.1893 in Harburg, arrested many times, 1937–1940, died on 3.3.1941 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Stadtteil Harburg-Altstadt, Harburger Ring 8 (Friedrichstraße 17)
Wilhelm Waltereit came from a Harburg family of many branches and was the son of Karl Friedrich Waltereit and Henriette, née Belyer. He had six siblings, who in their turn had numerous children of their own. His oldest brother was supposedly a detective inspector; a nephew was the attorney for the Phoenix shopping center.
Wilhelm Waltereit was expelled from the first form of public school in 1908. He did not do further training, but rather worked until 1936, among other jobs, as an errand boy for the office of the Harburg Iron and Bronze works, as a blueprint copier for the firm Christiansen and Meyer, as a worker in the Hamburg rubber comb factory, for the national railroad, and at migrant work sites in Harburg. Despite illnesses, accidents, and serious war wounds, Wilhelm Waltereit steadily held a job, until 1936, when because of wage demands and a subsequent dispute that was decided judicially, he became unemployed. Since that date he received weekly 12.20 RM in unemployment support and an additional 13.40 RM as his "war pension.”
Wilhelm Waltereit remained single. He gave as a reason – aside from an unhappy love affair – the fact that he earned too little to start a family. In a résumé from May 1938, he described the death of his 84-year old mother in 1937 as the heaviest blow to have struck him.
Wilhelm Waltereit was an alcoholic. An examination done at the Langenhorn Institute Hospital in May 1938 reported that, after an "alcohol test” consisting of 1½ bottles of Tarragona wine, which had been ordered by the attending physician (!), he showed no serious effects.
Asked about his sexual orientation in 1937 and 1938, Wilhelm Waltereit disputed homosexual inclinations, presumably in order to defend himself. For in other instances, he conceded homosexual dealings during the First World War in 1917, as well as with two of his nephews in 1932. He was never charged because of these occurrences because by 1937, when he admitted to them, the statute of limitations had passed. In 1920, he had been fined 200 RM for creating a public nuisance. Yet, according to the criminal records statement of 11.30.1937, he was not punished. The information he provides, with the exception of the apparent seduction of his nephew, must be regarded with caution, because it might have been the result of alcohol consumption.
That said: on the evening of 26 October 1937, he, in a state of intoxication, encountered at the Trinity Church in the Harburg inner city a group of nine male youths ranging in age from 14 to 20. According to their report, Wilhelm Waltereit was importunate, grabbed them by the hips, made salacious remarks, promised chocolate and grog, and supposedly gripped the thigh of the youngest of the group. After the youths played along with him, apparently letting him in the group, and having wandered through the western part of the Harburg inner city, they brought him to the police station on the Marienstrasse, and the youngest turned him into to the police.
Until 9 December 1937, he was taken in "protective custody" at the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. During the criminal proceedings Wihelm Waltereit disputed that he had done anything actionable on 26 October 1936; however, he conceded a similar happening in 1936, which he then repudiated in court on 4 February 1938. Thereupon the court suspended the proceedings and ordered further investigations. In the second trial on 14 October 1938, the judge condemned him to six months in jail, with time off for the period of interrogations; thus he was released on the same day.
Just 4½ months later, on 4 March 1939, Wilhem Waltereit was once again put in "protective custody" at the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, where he remained until being sent to interrogation detention on 10 March 1939. On 17 July 1939, he was sentenced by the court because of "an attempted crime against morality,” to 15 months in the penitentiary, which he served in Fuhlsbüttel prison. After this, he was released, not to his Harburg address, but to "P.B.” (police authority). Like many fellow-sufferers, he, too, was presumably sent from the Hütten inner-city police jail to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he wore prisoner number 35047. Inside the concentration camp, on 21 February 1941, he was placed in the infirmary of the prisoner isolation block. where, on 3 March 1941, he allegedly died from "acute cardiac insufficiency.”
Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: May 2019
© Gottfried Lorenz/Ulf Bollmann
Quellen: StaH, 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 9766/38; 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung, Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 b und Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 d; 242-1II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Abl. 13, 16; 352- 8/7 Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, Abl. 1995/2 Nr. 24875; Auskunft aus dem Archiv der Gedenkstätte Sachsenhausen mit Hinweisen auf verschiedene Quellen im FSB-Archiv, Moskau N-19092/Tom 97, Bl. 061; Russisches Staatliches Militärarchiv Moskau 1367/1/54, Bl. 303; Archiv Sachsenhausen JSU 1/97, Bl. 061; D 1 A/1054, Bl. 041; Sterbeurkunde beim Standesamt Oranienburg Nr. 310/1941 (I), Bl. 416; Internationaler Suchdienst (IST) Bad Arolsen Doc. No. 4111113#1 (1.1.38 1/0001-0189/0172/0073), 4085002#1 (1.1.38 1/0001-0189/0046/0197).
