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Mutter Henni Hellmers mit der kleinen Hillene
Mutter Henni Hellmers mit der kleinen Hillene
© Privatbesitz

Hillene Hellmers * 1940

Langenhorner Chaussee 560 (Hamburg-Nord, Langenhorn)


ERMORDET IN DER
"KINDERFACHABTEILUNG"
DER HEIL- UND PFLEGEANSTALT
LANGENHORN

HILLENE HELLMERS
GEB. 23.9.1940
ERMORDET 1.12.1941





further stumbling stones in Langenhorner Chaussee 560:
Gerda Behrmann, Uwe Diekwisch, Peter Evers, Elke Gosch, Claus Grimm, Werner Hammerich, Marianne Harms, Helga Heuer, Waltraud Imbach, Inge Kersebaum, Hella Körper, Dieter Kullak, Helga Liebschner, Theo Lorenzen, Jutta Müller, Ingrid Neuhaus, Traudel Passburg, Edda Purwin, Angela Quast, Erwin Sänger, Hermann Scheel, Gottfried Simon, Monika Ziemer

Hillene Hellmers, born on 23.9.1940 in Leer, killed on 1.12.1941 in the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” (Kinderfachabteilung)

Asklepios Clinic North Ochsenzoll,
Henny-Schütz-Allee, memorial house 25, entrance
Langenhorner Chaussee 560

Hillene Hellmers was born in Leer on September 23, 1940. She was the first child of Henni Erna, née Schulte, and the machinist Wilhelm Gerhard Hellmers. Her parents lived in Ockershausen, Leer district. Hillene was baptized Evangelical Lutheran. She was born two months prematurely and had a severe breech birth. Her mother was anesthetized twice during the delivery. Afterwards she was too weak to breastfeed her daughter. Hillene was born with an open back and was operated on immediately after birth. She remained in hospital for six weeks. Her legs were paralyzed.

With a certificate from the state health department, Hillene was admitted to the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” at the age of one on November 18, 1941. She only lived there for two weeks. She had not yet suffered from any infectious diseases. The diagnosis was "status post myelocele” (operated on; protrusion of the spinal cord due to a defect in the bony spinal canal caused by a blockage of the neural tube), "hydrocephalus” (hydrocephalus, a pathological enlargement of the fluid spaces of the brain [cerebral ventricles] filled with cerebrospinal fluid) and "cysto-pyelitis” (simultaneous or secondary, ascending or descending inflammation of the urinary bladder and renal pelvis).

Hillene was loved by her family, as expressed in the later obituary. Her parents brought her with great hope to the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home”. A week later, she was x-rayed in the "Children's Specialist Department” of the "Rothenburgsort Children's Hospital”. As a letter from Dr. Wilhelm Bayer, head physician of the Rothenburgsort Children's Hospital, to Dr. Knigge, State Hospital, documents, Hillene Hellmers was supposed to stay in Rothenburgsort on November 27, 1941. Dr. Bayer, who had been responsible for the killing of over 56 children in his "children's department”, complained to Dr. Knigge in a letter dated 27 November 1941 regarding Hillene's stay there: "[...] the nurse did not want to leave the child here. Was she not oriented accordingly? Even with the previous child, whose stay here was agreed between us, there was - as I am told - a considerable fight between the accompanying nurse; the nurse did not want to leave the child there under any circumstances.” But even this attempt by the nurse did not save Hillene.

On the same day and the next, Knigge's notes recorded fever and vomiting, and a high temperature on November 29 and 30. On the last day of Hillene's life, December 1, 1941, he recorded: "lay quiet and breathing heavily, did not cry or moan. At 8 p.m. the child died, very quietly”.

Hillene died four days after the "treatment” on December 1, 1941 in the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” at 8 p.m. in House 10.

Knigge carried out a necropsy without consulting the parents. He recorded the following: "The autopsy revealed purulent cysto-pyelitis and bronchopneumonia of the lower lobe as the cause of death”. The death certificate he issued, however, read: "Status after myocele, cysto pyelitis”. It can be assumed that he deliberately omitted the "bronchopneumonia” (pneumonia), a reference to killing with Luminal.

Knigge killed with Luminal injections, a sleeping pill. Fever and pneumonia were the result; the children suffered a slow and agonizing death. In most death certificates, or here in the case of Hillene in the dissection protocol, the addition "bronchopneumonia” indicates this killing.

Hillene was 1 year, 2 months and 8 days old.


On December 8, 1941 at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, she was buried in her hometown surrounded by her family. The obituary dated December 6, 1941 read: "Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, the Lord took our little Hillene back to Himself. She was the joy of us all for only one year and two months. Rest gently, you little darling. In silent mourning Willi Hellmers and Mrs. Henni, née Schulte, and relatives.”

After the war, Friedrich Knigge commented on the accusations of murder and euthanasia in the "children's ward” at Langenhorn Hospital. In a letter dated June 13, 1945 to the criminal investigation department via Prof. Rudolf Degkwitz, senior official of the Hamburg health authorities, he only admitted to euthanasia in ten to eleven "mentally ill and deformed” children, which he considered to be justified by the order of the "Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Suffering”. He concealed the name of Hillene Hellmers.

The daughter of Hillene's late-born brother read out the following words at the Stolperstein dedication on October 25, 2017: "Today I'm standing in for my dad, who unfortunately can't be here today. He would have loved to meet his sister and give her a big hug. She was a beautiful girl with blonde curls and a radiant smile. It's nice that we can remember Hillene again today and it's a shame that my grandparents can no longer experience this memorable day.”

A photo in loving memory of Hillene has been preserved in the family to this day.

Translation: Beate Meyer 2024
Stand: November 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterbefallsammelakten, 64155 u. 692/1941 Hillene Hellmers; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 9926 u. 692/1941 Hillene Hellmers; StaH, 352-5 Standesämter, Todesbescheinigungen, 1941 Sta 1b Nr. 692 Hillene Hellmers; StaH, 352-8/7 Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, Abl. 2000/01 Nr. 30 Akte 29179; Standesamt Leer, Geburtsregister, Nr. 313/1940 Hillene Hellmers. Vielen Dank an Karl-Heinz Hellmers!

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