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Robert Hoch
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Robert Hoch * 1907

Kottwitzstraße 16 (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

HIER WOHNTE
ROBERT HOCH
JG. 1907
EINGEWIESEN 1920
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 10.8.1943
HEILANSTALT MAINKOFEN
TOT 9.8.1945

Robert Christian Hoch, born on 21.1.1907 in Hamburg, admitted to the former Alsterdorfer Anstalten (now Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf) on 20.5.1920, transferred to Mainkofen near Passau on 10.8.1943, where he died on 9.8.1945.

Kottwitzstraße 16 (Hoheluft-West)

Robert Christian Hoch, born on January 21, 1907 in Hamburg, was the youngest of six children of the married couple Johann Friedrich Hoch, born on Oct. 17, 1864 in Nuremberg, and Friederike Luise, née Heins, born on Oct. 10, 1868 in Hamburg. The couple had married in the Hanseatic city on May 31, 1890, shortly after their first child, daughter Margarethe Sophie Louise, had been born on May 17, 1890. They were followed by son Johann Friedrich (1892), son Carl Hermann (1893) and daughter Anna (1898). Another son died 14 days after his birth.

The family lived in Altona at Lerchenstraße 20 and 22 for a few years from 1890, and four of their six children were born there. In 1897 or 1898, the family moved to Hamburg, initially to Bornstraße 10, Haus 3, in the Rotherbaum district. From 1901 they lived at Margarethenstraße 40 and from 1906 at Tresckowstraße 53, both addresses located in Eimsbüttel. Robert Hoch was born there.

Robert's father, Johann Friedrich Hoch, worked as a fitter for the longest time of his life. In contrast, Johann Friedrich Hoch's occupation was listed as "engineer" in the Hamburg address book since 1902. He then owned a garage business, first shown in the address book as "J.F. Hoch & Co., Hühnerposten 7, proprietors J.F. Hoch and Heinrich Möller," in 1911. The family probably moved to Hühnerposten 9 in the Hammerbrook district near Hamburg's main train station in 1911, i.e. in the immediate vicinity of the business. That year, Johann Friedrich Hoch died on August 1, not yet 47 years old.

His widow now had to care for the underage children alone, who were not yet working. She initially lived with them at Hühnerposten 9. After Johann Friedrich Hoch's death, the garage business passed completely into the hands of his former partner.
According to the Hamburg address book, Friederike Luise Hoch then ran a coffee shop at Schanzenstraße 6 for about two years and then lived with her children at Blücherstraße 30, which at the time belonged to the Eppendorf district, today the extension of what was then Kottwitzstraße in Hoheluft-West. She went to work to support herself and her children. She had no one to look after Robert.

Robert Hoch had been diagnosed with Down syndrome (trisomy 21) shortly after his birth, for which only the earlier term "mongolism" was used in his patient file.

It is not noted why Robert Hoch was admitted to the Alsterdorf Institutions on May 20, 1920. His patient file indicates that prior to this he played with children of younger ages and was able to do small shopping. He had attended the "auxiliary school" in Eiffestraße, but had not learned to read or write. (in German "Hilfsschule" was a name no longer used today for independent schools for children who, for various reasons, were not considered capable of attending elementary school).

Robert Hoch had suffered corneal inflammation in his left eye in 1919, which had led to scarring on the cornea and impaired vision. In Alsterdorf he was described as a very shy child, but good-natured, clean, tolerable, presentable and always in good spirits. He dressed himself and helped make beds. An attempted school visit had been unsuccessful.

Again and again Robert Hoch had to be admitted to the infirmary because of various illnesses. These impairments probably did not change his friendly nature. Several times employees noted that Robert Hoch was quiet, did not cause any difficulties, helped a little with the housework and with feeding the patients. His mother often requested home leave for her son.

After the Alsterdorf institutions had suffered damage during the heavy Allied air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 ("Operation Gomorrha"), the director of the Alsterdorf institutions, SA member Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took advantage of this situation and asked the Hamburg health authorities for permission to remove about 750 institution residents because they had been made homeless by the bombing. As a result, between August 7 and 16, 1943, three transports with a total of 469 girls, boys, women and men left Alsterdorf in different directions, including a transport with 113 men, adolescents and boys on August 10, 1943, with the destination "Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Mainkofen" near Passau. Among them was Robert Christian Hoch.

The Mainkofen sanatorium and nursing home, a psychiatric hospital from the Nazi era, was systematically developed into a death facility. From there, during the first phase of the "euthanasia" murders until August 1941, people were deported to the killing facility Schloss Hartheim near Linz and murdered with gas. 604 of them are known by name. After the official end of "euthanasia," the death of patients in Mainkofen was itself deliberately brought about by food deprivation under the "Bavarian Starvation Decree" (starvation diet, meat- and fat-free diet, referred to in Mainkofen as "3-b diet"), nursing neglect and overdosed medication. In Mainkofen, 762 patients died in the so-called hunger houses.

Robert Hoch and his fellow sufferers reached Mainkofen on August 12, 1943. Initially, his patient file merely notes: "12.8.1945 [sic!] Goes today from the Alsterdorf asylums to the asylum here." No further entry was made until August 9, 1945, the day of Robert Hoch's death. Only on this day was it noted in comparative detail: "From a psychological point of view, Pat.[ient] has always presented the same condition since his transfer to the local institution, as was to be expected given the nature of his suffering. Physically, he has often suffered from influenza, bronchitis, and pneumonia according to his medical history in Alsterdorf, which already justifies a certain suspicion of a tuberculous basis for these manifestations. Recently, the patient had severe diarrhea, as it is currently occurring en masse throughout Lower Bavaria; at the same time, however, he had a strikingly high fever and rather rough breathing and gurgling over both lungs at the back and bottom. The fever subsided, as did the wheezing and diarrhea, but the rough, impure breathing sound remained. In general, Pat. remained quite miserable and had to stay in bed. Since the day before yesterday, considerable swelling and redness of the r.[real] side of the face, which looked largely erysipelatous [skin inflammation due to erysipelas], although the findings were not quite clear. Near the r.[real] ear, scratching effects, which could be the starting point of erysipelas. Died today 7:30 am. Cause of death: pulmonary tuberculosis and erysipelas."

The handwriting and the incorrect date of admission indicate that the entry about the admission to Mainkofen was not made until the day of Robert Hoch's passing. It can be assumed that Robert Hoch received little or no health care at Mainkofen.

Robert Hoch lived to the age of 36.

Of the Alsterdorf boys and men who arrived at Mainkofen on August 12, 1943, 74 had died by the end of 1945. As in other death institutions, "pulmonary tuberculosis" repeatedly appeared as the cause of death, forty times among the 74 Alsterdorfers who died at Mainkofen. "Intestinal catarrh" was mentioned fifteen times as the cause of death. Only 39 patients survived 1945, including 15 adults and 24 children and adolescents up to the age of 21. The surviving patients were transferred back to Alsterdorf on December 19, 1947.

Since 2014, a "Learning and Memorial Site" has been located on the grounds of today's Mainkofen District Hospital, where the murdered Mainkofen patients are named and can be commemorated. Another memorial plaque commemorates the more than five hundred young people and adults on whom forced sterilizations were carried out.

Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: February 2022
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Adressbuch Hamburg 1890 bis 1920; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 6274 Geburtsregister 606/1892 Johann Friedrich Hoch, 6283 Geburtsregister 3917/1893 Carl Hermann Hoch, 14862 Geburtsregister 220/1907 Robert Christian Hoch, 8545 Heiratsregister 190/1890 Friederike Luise Heins/Johann Friedrich Hoch, 3269 Heiratsregister 133/1915 Margaretha Sophie Louise Hoch/Ernst Henri Adolph Müller, 8276 Heiratsregister 156/1918 Carl Hermann Hoch/Louise Johanna Auguste Heins, 661 Sterberegister 325/1911 Johann Friedrich Hoch jr., 4600 Sterberegister 192/1944 Friederike Luise Hoch; Harald Jenner, Michael Wunder, Hamburger Gedenkbuch Euthanasie – Die Toten 1939-1945, Hamburg 2017, S. 258. Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart 2016, S. 315 ff.