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Anna-Luise Lübcke, 1937
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Anna-Luise Lübcke * 1934

Zimmerstraße 29–33 (Hamburg-Nord, Uhlenhorst)

HIER WOHNTE
ANNA-LUISE LÜBCKE
JG. 1934
EINGEWIESEN 1936
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 16.8.1943
AM STEINHOF / WIEN
ERMORDET 13.1.1944

Anna-Luise Lübcke, born on 3 Jan. 1934 in Hamburg, transferred on 16 Aug. 1943 to the Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, death there on 13 Jan. 1944

Zimmerstrasse 29–33 (formerly: Zimmerstrasse 37)

On 30 Oct. 1943, the Senior Medical Officer (Obermedizinalrat) Ernst Illing, the medical director of the Viennese Municipal Psychiatric Clinic for Children at "Am Spiegelgrund,” signed a report about the nine-year-old Anna-Luise Lübcke from Hamburg. The report was addressed to the "Reich Committee for the Scientific Registering of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses” ("Reichsausschuss zur wissenschaftlichen Erfassung von erb- und anlagebedingten schweren Leiden”) in Berlin, which was dedicated to the hereditary health measures of the Nazi regime. The intention was to be able to kill – under certain preconditions, which also included talks with parents or guardians – seriously disabled infants and small children in a well-disguised process in which the public health departments participated as well. The sentence crucial for Anna-Luise Lübcke’s subsequent fate read, "Although the personality is largely preserved, in light of the seriousness of the physical condition, any school-related or practical educability, as well as even the slightest possible use for work at a later time, can be ruled out.” In the view of Ernst Illing and the Nazi regime, the only persons worth living were those deemed fit for work, independent of personality and character.

Anna-Luise’s mother, Elsa, née Winkel, born on 19 Nov. 1896, had married Arthur Lübcke, a cabinetmaker eleven years her junior, on 12 Mar. 1932. Her father was a coachman residing at Gotenstrasse 6 in Hammerbrook, she lived "auf der Uhlenhorst,” at Immenhof 16 next to St. Gertrud’s Church. Apparently, she had not learned any trade. In terms of occupation, Arthur Lübcke had followed in his father’s footsteps, still living and working with him at the time. The apartment was located at Schötteringskamp 10, the cabinetmaker’s workshop at Zimmerstrasse 35 in the basement of the back part of the house. Elsa Lübcke moved in with her husband.

Until the seventh month, Elsa Lübcke’s first pregnancy went off without any complications, but then serious edemas developed on her face, legs and hands, with her blood pressure extremely increased and seizures occurring. All of this points to eclampsia, as a result of which the unborn child was no longer adequately supplied. Elsa Lübcke went to the Bethanien Hospital for delivery. There, Anna-Luise was born on the calculated date in a spontaneous delivery, though the birth was assisted by forceps. She uttered a first, faint cry, supported by alternating hot and cold baths, only after 20 minutes. Measuring 50 centimeters (approx. 19.5 in) in length, she weighed only 2,150 grams (approx. 1 lb 12 oz). One week after the birth, mother and daughter were discharged to go home. By then, the Lübckes had moved into a ground-floor apartment at Zimmerstrasse 37.

Physically and mentally, Anna-Luise developed slower than other children her age. At the age of one and a half, she began to speak, and when she was two and a half years old, she spoke little and in a barely comprehensible way. She was neither able to sit nor walk or hold her head upright. She also suffered from spastic paralysis of her arms and legs. With a diagnosis of "congenital feeblemindedness, Little’s Disease,” she was admitted to what was then the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten) on 5 Aug. 1936. Before this time, she had only stayed at the children’s ward of St. Georg General Hospital on Baustrasse, today Hinrichsenstrasse, once, for reasons unknown.

During the first year of her stay in "Alsterdorf,” Anna-Luise fell seriously ill several times. Her mother applied to the National Socialist People’s Welfare authority (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt – NSV) for a stay at a health resort with her daughter. The NSV requested information from the managing senior physician of the Alsterdorf Asylum, Gerhard Kreyenberg, as to whether the family could be deemed worthy of assistance in terms of hereditary health. He expressed no reservations, as according to him, Anna-Luise’s condition was not a hereditary disease but damage to the brain because of difficulties during pregnancy on the part of the mother. The mother-child convalescent stay probably did not come about due to further illnesses of Anna-Luise.

Until the end of 1937, Anna-Luise suffered from serious respiratory conditions and other diseases, which in turn caused frequent transfers between the hospital ward and the ward within the asylum with which she was familiar. That her parents could not visit her regularly was an additional strain on her. Because of her frequent illnesses, her baptism had been postponed time and again. Finally, on 30 Jan.1938, the christening took place at the Nikolai Church in Alsterdorf, performed by the head of the institution, Pastor Friedrich Lensch. Since this church was not a parish church along the lines of a parish, Anna-Luise’s baptism was registered at the Barmbek Church of the Redeemer (Heilandskirche), to which the Lübcke family belonged.

On 5 Aug. 1938, for the first time something other than an illness and its treatment was entered in Anna-Luise’s patient file. The passage describes her conduct as follows: "Generally, the patient is rather vivacious, observing her environment closely and striving to imitate everything. She is very busy with her dolls and talks to them. She often tries to get her way by sustained crying. At night, she is not potty-trained and she has to be fed. After visits by her mother, she cries a lot and does not say a word.”

In the years 1940 and 1941, Anna-Luise had three bouts of influenza and one instance of diphtheria. Weakened by these illnesses, she had to stay in bed for extended periods in each case. She became very fussy about her food, also not allowing just any assistant nurse to feed her and often quarrelling with them. Her ability to speak had developed well.

Although Anna-Luise was unable to move independently and was extremely limited in her eyesight, she started attending infant school. Her first report card, as it were, the report dated 20 Apr. 1942, read, "Anna-Luise has been attending infant school for some time now, and she enjoys it. She lies on the lounger, observing her environment closely. She is always cheerful and content, loves listening to music, and likes participating in singing short songs. She attentively follows storytelling and the showing of pictures. She is able to speak well.” Half a year later, a report indicated that she was a child confined to bed and completely in need of care, toilet-trained but requiring feeding, adding, "She is very lively, speaks about everything, is interested in everything, and enjoys going to infant school. She is a very content and grateful child, has a good memory, and thus is often able to remind others of something.” At this point, Anna-Luise was eight years old.

At the end of July/early Aug. 1943, Hamburg was largely destroyed by Allied saturation bombing. Anna-Luise’s parents were bombed out in Zimmerstrasse and the mother evacuated; what used to be the Alsterdorf Asylum was damaged. The head of the institution, Friedrich Lensch, arranged for the transfer of several hundred patients to institutions "safe from bombing” ("luftsicher”). On the last of three transports, comprised of 228 women and girls, Anna-Luise arrived at the Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, a "sanatorium and nursing home,” the so-called Steinhof, on 17 Aug. 1943.

During the admission examination on 6 September, the examining personnel recorded that Anna-Luise was poorly oriented, speaking slowly but clearly and being in a cheerful mood. About her own condition, she said herself that she had been seriously ill but had recovered. She showed great interest in her environment, observing everything as she had done before, but she was not able to name items shown her correctly, probably because she was unable to discern them properly. From birth, Anna-Luise suffered from cataracts on both eyes and strabismus. As one result of the physical examination, a pronounced weakness of the arms and legs was determined. In addition, Anna-Luise was not capable of sitting upright or lifting her head independently. Measuring 1.06 meters (approx. 3 ft 5.7 in) instead of 1.31 meters as would have been appropriate to her age, Anna-Luise weighed 18.5 kilograms (40 lb 12 oz), which did correspond to her height, however.

Based on this result, on 25 Sept. 1943, Anna-Luise was transferred to the "Viennese Municipal Psychiatric Hospital for Children” ("Wiener städtische Nervenklinik für Kinder”), the children’s special ward at "Am Spiegelgrund,” which belonged to the institution. Five days later, the report for the "Reich Committee” mentioned at the outset was written. A brief psychological expert’s report dated the following day underlined the extraordinarily serious physical disability, the major eye defect, reaching the conclusion that the linguistic-intellectual development of nearly ten-year-old Anna corresponded to that of a child aged between three and four years. Special mention was made of the fact that she sang melodies slowly but correctly. Whether the report to the "Reich Committee” was actually sent off is not documented.

Anna-Luise underwent an ophthalmological examination. In light of her good intellectual development, an operation was taken into consideration. This did not happen, however, because a few days later, on 12 Nov. 1943, Anna-Luise fell ill with a light case of influenza, which turned into a cold lasting until December. In the meantime, her mother, Elsa Lübcke, had found accommodation in Genthien near Magdeburg and sent Anna-Luise postcards and even a package with sweets. She was so delighted about the package that this was noted in her file and relayed to her mother. Another source of pleasure for Anna-Luise was the visit of a deaconess from Hamburg who had cared for her in the past.

Anna-Luise’s general health was poor when she once again fell ill with the flu, accompanied by a high temperature, on 4 Jan. 1944. Since the fever persisted and became life-threatening, the assistant doctor informed the mother of her daughter’s grave state of health. The influenza developed into pneumonia. Whether lethal medications such as Phenobarbital (Luminal) were administered in this context cannot be clarified based on the patient file or the autopsy report. On 12 January, Elsa Lübcke arrived at the clinic to visit her daughter. In the morning of 13 January, Anna-Luise died. Her brain, like that of many other patients, was removed and parts of it conserved for scientific purposes; the burial of her body took place on the Vienna Central Cemetery.

Antje Kosemund, whose sister Irma Sperling was transferred to Vienna along with Anna-Luise Lübcke and murdered there, and Michael Wunder of the Protestant Alsterdorf Foundation (Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf) succeeded in tough negotiations with what is today the Baumgartner Höhe Viennese Municipal Psychiatric Hospital the surrender of ten identified brain specimens, among them those of Irma Sperling and Anna-Luise Lübcke. In 1996, they were buried in the burial and memorial site of the Hans and Sophie Scholl Foundation [Ehrenfeld der Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung] on the Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg.

Anna-Luise reached the age of ten.


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

Stand: March 2017
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: Hamburger Adressbücher; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 13721-87/1932; Ev. Stiftung Alsterdorf, Archiv, V 161; Kosemund, Antje, Spurensuche Irma, Hamburg, 2. Aufl. 2005; Wunder, Michael, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr, Hamburg, 2. Aufl. 1986; Grabplatte auf dem Ehrenfeld der Geschwister Scholl Stiftung auf dem Ohlsdorfer Friedhof/Hamburg.