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Emma Kalek * 1916

Holzdamm 42 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

HIER WOHNTE
EMMA KALEK
JG. 1916
EINGEWIESEN 1925
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 1.8.1941
HEILANSTALT TIEGENHOF
ERMORDET 17.5.1943

further stumbling stones in Holzdamm 42:
Friedrich Kaefer

Emma Kalek, born on 30 Sept. 1916 in Hamburg, admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten) on 30 May 1925, "transferred” on 1 Aug. 1941 to the "Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Langenhorn”), "transferred” from there on 27 Nov. 1941 to Tiegenhof "Gau Sanatorium” (Gauheilanstalt Tiegenhof [Dziekanka]) near Gnesen (today Gniezno in Poland), murdered on 17 May 1943

Holzdamm 42, Hamburg-St. Georg

Emma (Emmy) Kalek, born on 30 Sept. 1916, was one of three children of the "Schauermann” (dock worker who loaded and unloaded cargo ships) Michael Kalek and his wife Marianna, née Grudziecka. Both were of the Catholic denomination. Michael Kalek came from the small village of Maszewo in the Neutomischel District (today Nowy Tomysl in Poland) in what was then the Prussian Province of Posen. Marianna Grudziecka came from Exin (Kcynia), District of Schubin (Szubin), also located in the former Province of Posen. The couple had married on 8 July 1911 in Hamburg. Their three children were born there: Max Michael in 1913 and Emma in 1916, who was probably always called Emmy. We know nothing about the third sibling.

Few details are known about Emma Kalek’s life. What little we do know is taken from a file card that was created for the Hamburg Health Pass Archive, which was set up from 1934 onward for the purpose of a "hereditary biological inventory” of the population. Emma was subsequently admitted to the then Alsterdorf Asylum on 30 May 1925. She was said to have been "difficult” and unable to manage her personal hygiene on her own. The file card entry goes on to say that she "often rages without reason, scratches the other children, tears up a lot of stuff, cannot keep herself busy.”

On 1 Aug. 1941, Emma and several other residents were transferred to the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Langenhorn”) and from there, together with at least another 60 to 70 people, they were transported to the then Gau-Heilanstalt Tiegenhof (Wojewódzki Szpital dla Nerwowo i Psychicznie Chorych "Dziekanka”) near Gniezno on 27 Nov. 1941.

The Tiegenhof Asylum was built between 1891 and 1894, located almost two and a half kilometers (slightly more than 1.5 miles) from Gniezno in the Posen administrative district. Until 1919, beds for about 600 patients were available. After the area was transferred to the restored country of Poland, the institution was renamed Dziekanka. It was one of the psychiatric institutions with the lowest mortality rates in the world. In Oct. 1939, the institution was occupied by the German Wehrmacht, renamed "Gau-Heilanstalt Tiegenhof” and included in the Nazis’ T4 "euthanasia” program. In the book entitled Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr kein Halten (literally, "On this slippery slope, there is no holding on anymore”), Michael Wunder speaks of 1,172 patients murdered in Tiegenhof just for the period from 7 Dec. 1939 to 2 Jan. 1940.

From the two Hamburg asylums in Alsterdorf and Langenhorn, approx. 300 patients were deported to Tiegenhof on 14, 20, and 27 Nov. 1941. Almost all of them were murdered by starvation and/or administration of overdosed drugs such as Phenobarbital (Luminal), scopolamine, and chloral hydrate.

Emma Kalek died on 17 May 1943.

Her last residential address, Thüringer Strasse 69 in Hammerbrook, no longer exists. There is also no address for a Stolperstein nearby. In order to keep the memory of Emma Kalek alive nevertheless, a Stolperstein with her name and the dates significant to her fate was set into the footpath at Holzdamm 42 in the St. Georg quarter.

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

Stand: September 2020
© Ingo Wille

Quelle: StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3184 Nr. 336/1911 Heiratsregistereintrag Michael Kalek/ Marianna Grudziecka; Evang. Stiftung Alsterdorf, Archiv, Erbgesundheitskarteikarte Emma Kalek; Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr, 1. Auflage, Hamburg 1987, S. 181 ff.; Harald Jenner, Michael Wunder, Hamburger Gedenkbuch Euthanasie Die Toten 1939-1945, Hamburg 2016.