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Ella Herre
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Ella Herre * 1930

Wördemanns Weg 19-29 (Eimsbüttel, Stellingen)

HIER WOHNTE
ELLA HERRE
JG. 1916
EINGEWIESEN 1930
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 16.8.1943
AM STEINHOF WIEN
TOT AN DEN FOLGEN 1945

Ella Herre, born on 19 Aug. 1916 in Hamburg, admitted to what was then the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten) on 15 Sept. 1930, transferred to the "Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg – Heil- und Pflegeanstalt,” a "sanatorium and nursing home,” on 16 Aug. 1943, died on 10 Nov. 1945

Wördemannsweg 19-21, Stellingen

Ella Herre was born on 19 Aug. 1916 Hamburg. Her mother, Gretchen Emilie Emma, née Sznyta, widowed name Päper, born on 28 June 1884 in Stralsund, and her father, the widowed shipyard worker Andreas Wilhelm Herre, born on 11 Mar. 1871 in Hamburg, were married on 12 May 1917. The couple lived at Bartelsstrasse 31 in today’s Sternschanze quarter, later at Herrlichkeit 61 in Hamburg-Altstadt. After the marriage was divorced in Aug. 1920, Ella’s mother remarried in 1925. Fritz Junge, her new husband, was appointed Ella Herre’s guardian.

Ella’s father also entered into a new marital union. He married Auguste Homann in 1929. This marriage was short-lived, as Andreas Wilhelm Herre died in Eppendorf General Hospital on 18 Nov. 1930.

We do not know which parent Ella Herre lived with after her parents divorced. According to her patient file, she had been a resident of the former "Krüppelheim [cripple home] Alten Eichen,” located at Wördemannsweg 19/29 in Stellingen, then part of Altona, since the first quarter of 1926. This institution was run by the Inner Mission. In addition to surgical-orthopedic treatment, the work of the "Krüppelheim” focused on an institutional school and a training workshop. It is not clear from the documents still available why Ella Herre was admitted there. A physical limitation was not noted.

On 11 July 1930, the medical officer of the welfare authority by the name Peter stated, "The best would be [...] accommodation in Alsterdorf. I cannot believe in any significant educational ability. Incidentally, if this [educational ability] still exists, Alsterdorf in particular would be very suitable.” Ella Herre’s admission to the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten; today Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf) took place on 15 Sept. 1930.

After her admission to Alsterdorf, it was noted that the 14-year-old girl knew her name, place of birth and birthday, but could not read the clock or solve simple multiplication tables such as 2 times 2. Ella reportedly settled in well in the new environment, but she was very shy and answered questions only hesitantly and quietly.

On 29 Mar. 1931, Ella Herre was confirmed in Alsterdorf. The Alsterdorf Asylum invited Ella’s former caregiver from "Alten Eichen” to attend: "It would be a pleasure for us, as it would be for Ella Herre, if the nurse who was closest to her during her stay there would like to attend the confirmation ceremony [...] and also participate in the following lunch. May we hope that the nurse in question, whose name we unfortunately cannot give, will accept the invitation?” It has not been handed down whether eventually the nurse from Alten Eichen attended.

In mid-1933, Ella was reported as sewing ribbons "well and neatly” onto other work pieces. Apparently, although she had wished to learn to weave, she had struggled even with the simplest beginnings. She had forgotten things very quickly. Ella was reportedly a quiet, shy, "secretive,” and "hidden” child, characteristics that were not explained. Also in early 1934, she was characterized as good-natured, agreeable but predominantly phlegmatic. These descriptions were repeated until 1943, when apparently staff had to keep a constant eye on her, since otherwise she liked to stay near "male charges.”

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg in the summer of 1943 ("Operation Gomorrah”), the Alsterdorf Asylum also sustained damage on the night of 29/30 July 1943, and then again on 3/4 Aug. 1943. The director of the institution, Pastor Friedrich Lensch, asked the public health authorities for approval to transfer 750 patients, allegedly to make room for wounded and bomb-damaged persons. With three transports between 7 and 16 August, a total of 468 girls and women, boys and men were transferred to the "Eichberg State Sanatorium” ("Landesheilanstalt Eichberg”), to the Kalmenhof near Idstein in the Rheingau, to the Mainkofen "sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Mainkofen”) near Passau, as well as the "Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg – Heil- und Pflegeanstalt,” a "sanatorium and nursing home,” also called Asylum "Am Steinhof.”

Ella Herre was one of the 228 girls and women transported to Vienna on 16 Aug. 1943. With the entry indicating, "Due to severe damage to the Asylum by air raid, transferred to Vienna. Dr. Kreyenberg,” the Alsterdorf section of her patient file ended.

The characterizations of Ella Herre made in the Alsterdorf Asylum were repeated in Vienna. Although she recalled having traveled by train, she seems not to have been aware of the change of location. She continued to imagine herself in Alsterdorf. She was later described as "poorly oriented,” laughing to herself for no reason, and not giving accurate answers to questions.

Ella Herre survived the end of the war in Vienna. As late as July 1945, she was described as in the years before. In the course of 1945, the weight of the woman, by then 28 and 29 years old, respectively, dropped from 41 kilograms (about 90.5 lbs) in January to 28 kilograms (slightly under 62 lbs) in September, when the last entry was made in her weight table. In October, Ella Herre was diagnosed with typhoid fever. She apparently died of this disease on 10 Nov. 1945.

In the "Am Steinhof” Asylum, patients were systematically killed by overdosing on medication, by not treating illnesses, and above all by depriving them of food. Of the 228 girls and women from Alsterdorf, 196 had died by the end of 1945. The weight loss, the cause of which – as Ella Herre’s patient file shows – was apparently not investigated, may have contributed to the fact that she had little, if any, resistance to the typhoid fever.

How and by what means Ella Herre’s mother and stepfather became aware of the death of their daughter and stepdaughter, respectively, is not clear. On 3 June 1947, Grete and Fritz Junge asked the Alsterdorf Asylum why they had not been informed earlier about Ella Herre’s death. The Alsterdorf Asylum referred to the institution "Am Steinhof,” which should have transmitted the news. Perhaps, the reply continued, this had actually been done and the message had not reached its destination because of the events at the time. The part of the patient file that originated in Vienna, however, contains no indication that any attempt was made to notify Ella’s mother of her daughter’s death.

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

Stand: May 2021
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Adressbuch 1930; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3303 Heiratsregistereintrag Nr. 179/1917 Andreas Wilhelm Herre/Gretchen Emilie Emma Päper; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3511 Heiratsregistereintrag Nr. 512/1925 Gretchen Emilie Emma Päper/Fritz Junge; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 13200 Heiratsregistereintrag Nr. 612/1929 Andreas Wilhelm Herre/ Auguste Sophie Dorothea Homann; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 9850 Sterberegistereintrag Nr. 2190/1930 Andreas Wilhelm Herre; Wunder/Genkel/Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart, 3. Auflage, S. 283 ff.; Ute Christiansen, Das Krüppelheim "Alten Eichen", in Projektgruppe für die Vergessenen Opfer des NS-Regimes (Hamburg), Verachtet, verfolgt, vernichtet. Zu den "vergessenen" Opfern des Nationalsozialismus, Hamburg 1988, S. 125 ff.