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Valerin Golubew * 1944

Wasserkamp (Hamburg-Nord, Ohlsdorf)

HIER INTERNIERT
ZWANGSARBEITSLAGER
WASSERKAMP
VALERIN GOLUBEW
GEB. 8.1.1944
ERMORDET 21.3.1944

further stumbling stones in Wasserkamp :
Wassili Efimow

Valerin Golubew, born 8.1.1944, murdered 21.3.1944

Wasserkamp (Hamburg-Nord, Ohlsdorf) Forced Labor Camp

Valerin Golubev was born on January 8, 1944 in Oredehs/Leningrad. His mother Olga Smirnov (born 12.5.1913 in the village of Iwanowska/Leningrad) was of the Greek Orthodox faith and, according to the entries in her son Valerin's death documents, was married to Nikolai Golubew, whose whereabouts were given there as unknown. However, Olga Smirnov is listed in the register of foreigners as single and without a child. Deported to Hamburg from her native Russia/the former Soviet Union with her young son Valerin, Olga Smirnov was forced to work at the Ohlsdorf cemetery for the company Gustav Sundermann, Baumschulen und Gärtnerei (= tree nursery and markt garden) Lokstedt, Hauptstraße 13 (now Niendorf, Tibarg). She was housed with Valerin in the Wasserkamp camp in Hamburg-Klein Borstel.

The food and living conditions there were completely inadequate for Valerin. On March 20, 1944, he and his mother were admitted to Langenhorn General Hospital, Valerin with a diagnosis of "pneumonia" and his mother with "breast inflammation". He died there one day later on March 21, 1944 at 7:00 am.

In the hospital's death notice, the cause of death is given as "pedatrophy" (emaciation - the most severe degree of nutritional disorder) and "pneumonia" and Blumenthal as the undersigned doctor.

Valerin was 2 months, 1 week and 6 days old

Nine days after his death, his burial took place on March 30, 1944 at the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location Q 39, row 2, no. 7. At the end of 1959, the grave was levelled together with at least 146 graves of the children of forced laborers in area Q 39. The remains of only eight graves had previously been moved to area Z 35 and four graves to area Bp 74. Valerin's remains were moved to the collective grave Z 35, row 8, no. 38 on July 7, 1959, together with those of three unknown deceased. A gravestone slab with his name engraved on it and his date of birth and death still commemorates him there today.

Olga Smirnov was released from hospital to the Wasserkamp forced labor camp four days after the death of her son Valerin. His father's whereabouts were also recorded as "unknown" at this time. It is possible that the Nikolai Golubew (born 8.12.1916 in Kiev) listed in the records of the Langenhorn General Hospital was Valerin's father. He was admitted there on July 19, 1943 and released after three weeks to the "Neugraben training camp", Harburg treatment center.

Further family connections can be assumed from records in the foreigners' registration file: Nicolei Golubew (born May 10, 1939 in Leningrad) is probably Valerin's older brother by five years or a close relative. According to hospital records, he was admitted to hospital on November 6, 1944 with first and second degree burns on his hands and neck. He was taken to the Alsterdorf General Hospital with first and second degree burns to his hands and feet and released back to the Wasserkamp camp on December 12, 1944. He is not registered in the register of foreigners.

Boris Smirnov (born June 25, 1941 in Leningrad) may also have been a child of Olga Smirnov. He was accommodated in the Wasserkamp camp at the same time as she was, on February 22, 1944, but was not registered in the register of foreigners without any information about his parents.

Stand: August 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: StaH, 131-1 II, 518 Listen der während des Zweiten Weltkrieges in Hamburg verstorbenen und beigesetzten ausländischen Zivilarbeiter, S. 75, 259; StaH, 131-1 II, 519 Listen der von 1940 in Hamburger Krankenhäusern behandelten Ausländer, nach Nationalitäten geordnet, S. 161; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 9951 u. 488/1944 Valerin Golubew; StaH, 332-5, Sterbefallsammelakten, 64351 u. 488/1944 Valerin Golubew; StaH, 352-8/7 Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, 184 Bd. 2, S. 20; Archiv Friedhofsverwaltung Ohlsdorf, Beerdigungsregister 1944, Buch D, S. 68, 104; ITS Archives, Bad Arolsen, Valerin Golubew Sterbeurkunde Copyof 2.2.2.4 / 77084774, Olga Smirnow Doku Copyof 0.1 / 60509191, Copyof 0.1 / 57094291; Margot Löhr: Die vergessenen Kinder von Zwangsarbeiterinnen in Hamburg, 2 Bde., Hamburg 2020, Bd. 1, S. 245 (Gustav Sundermann), Bd. 2, S. 514–516 (Valerin Golubew); Friederike Littmann: Zwangsarbeit in der Hamburger Kriegswirtschaft 1939 – 1945, http://www.zwangsarbeit-in-hamburg.de, eingesehen am: 28.2.2022.