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Paul Seyer * 1899

Steindamm 3 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

Verhaftet 1937, 1939 und 1941
KZ Fuhlsbüttel
KZ Neuengamme
ermordet 10.02.1943

Paul Gerhard Seyer, born on 2 Mar. 1899, arrested in 1935, 1937, 1939, and 1941, died on 10 Feb. 1943 in the Neuengamme concentration camp

Steindamm 3

A native of Bremen, Paul Seyer grew up with a foster mother, since his biological mother had passed away very early on and his father, a basket weaver, was missing. After attending the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule), he worked as a messenger and took music lessons in his spare time until he was drafted into military duty in 1917. After his discharge from military service in 1921, Paul Seyer went to Hamburg, where he earned a living as a musician (violinist), including as a bandleader in coffee houses. On the side, he attended the local music conservatory.

In 1931, he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, treated until 1933 in the Lungenheilstätte Geesthacht, a lung clinic. Afterward, he practiced his profession again, until being reported on 14 Oct. 1935 by a man who felt harassed by Seyer’s attempts to initiate contact at the men’s public restroom on Brandshofer Schleuse (a canal lock). The Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht), presided over by Judge Dr. August Sommerkamp, sentenced him in October of that same year to six weeks in prison for assault and battery in accordance with Sec. 185 of the Reich Criminal Code (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch – RStGB). For good conduct, the sentence was suspended until 30 Nov. 1939 and commuted into a period of probation. After his release from prison, Seyer worked as a bandleader again, before being admitted to the lung clinic in Mölln in 1937. On the doctors’ advice, he gave up his work as a musician and found employment as an advertiser with the Hamburger Tageblatt.

In July 1937, hanging out at the men’s restroom on Brandshofer Schleuse once again turned out to be his undoing. The lock keeper had observed him with a sex partner and denounced him to police. As a result, Seyer was arrested and detained from 24 July until 22 Sept. 1937 in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp and afterward, until 1 Nov. 1937, in the Hamburg-Stadt pretrial detention facility for suspected "unnatural sexual offenses” ("widernatürliche Unzucht”). Due to lack of evidence, the Hamburg District Court acquitted him. After his release from prison, he worked as an advertiser for Schacht Publishers.

In 1939, he stood trial twice before the Hamburg District Court on charges of "unnatural offenses” in accordance with Sec. 175 RStGB. Probably two male prostitutes had identified him as a sex partner during interrogations. On 15 May 1939, he was sentenced to eight months in prison and on 14 August of that year to 15 months in prison overall, taking into account the previous sentence. On 4 Jan. 1940, he was sentenced to an additional penalty of three months in prison, also in accordance with Sec. 175 RStGB.

Since 15 Nov. 1940, Paul Seyer was in freedom again. At the end of November, he found a job as a porter at the Passagetheater on Mönckebergstrasse. After initiating contact with a co-worker, a 16-year-old bellhop of the movie theater ([who quoted him as saying] "he could be his darling and tread in silk and velvet”), and the attempt to perform sexual acts on him, the boy denounced him to the theater management.

From 8 until 13 Mar. 1941, Seyer was detained in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp as a police "protective custody prisoner” ("Schutzhäftling”). On 12 Apr. 1941, Dr. Hans Koopmann prepared a forensic pathologist’s report. He stated that Paul Seyer, aged 42 at the time, had had "about 20 partners so far” and had maintained "a relationship with a pianist once for seven years.”

The report goes on to say, "The criminal-biological prognosis must necessarily turn out unfavorable. The homosexual disposition of S. already constitutes a rather firm and long-established fixed tendency (nearly 20 years). Therefore, it is unlikely that S. will stay clear of homosexual acts in the future. Thus, security measures are recommended from the forensic pathologist’s perspective. The best security measure to be considered is voluntary castration. In case of voluntary castration, other security measure might be waived. I therefore reach the following expert’s opinion: 1) S. is responsible for his actions, 2) He is a bisexual masturbator, 3) Security measures are favored.”

On 2 Sept. 1941, the trial took place before the Hamburg Regional Court (Landgericht). The sentence was as follows: two years in a penitentiary with subsequent preventive detention on charges of attempted offenses in accordance with Sec. 175 a Item 3 of the RStGB and completed offense in accordance with Sec. 175 RStGB as well as Secs. 20 a, 42 e, 43, 73, and 74 RStGB. Thus, the court followed the recommendation of the expert witness Hans Koopmann.

Paul Seyer began serving his sentence on 16 Feb. 1942 in the Emsland camps III Brual-Rhede and from 18 Mar. 1942 onward in V Neusustrum. On 6 Jan. 1943, he was registered as a new admission with prisoner no. 13,501 in the Neuengamme concentration camp. He was murdered there on 10 Feb. 1943.


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

Stand: January 2019
© Bernhard Rosenkranz(†)/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: StaHH, 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 650/36 und 1813/42; StaHH, 242-1II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Ablieferungen 13 und 16; StaHH, 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht –Verwaltung, Ablieferung 2, 451 a E 1, 1 b; StaHH, 331-1II Polizeibehörde II, Ablieferung 15 vom 18.9.84, Band 1.