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Inge Kersebaum * 1938

Langenhorner Chaussee 560 (Hamburg-Nord, Langenhorn)

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

INGE KERSEBAUM
GEB. 17.12.1938
ERMORDET 9.1.1943

further stumbling stones in Langenhorner Chaussee 560:
Gerda Behrmann, Uwe Diekwisch, Peter Evers, Elke Gosch, Claus Grimm, Werner Hammerich, Marianne Harms, Hillene Hellmers, Helga Heuer, Waltraud Imbach, 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

Inge Kersebaum, born on 17.12.1938 in Hamburg, killed on 9.1.1943 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

Inge Kersebaum was born in Hamburg on December 17, 1938. It was a difficult birth. She was the second child of Hella Minna, née Putbreese, and the elementary school teacher Friedrich Christian Artur Kersebaum. She initially grew up with her parents in their apartment in Hamburg-Winterhude, Groothoffstraße 3, 1st floor, with her two older siblings and was baptized an Evangelical Lutheran. She was breastfed by her mother for eight months.

Inge did not develop in line with her age. She was not yet able to lift her head when lying on her stomach. At the age of nine months, Inge was taken to the Rothenburgsort Children's Hospital on August 21, 1939 and remained there until Christmas. The doctors diagnosed "hypothyroidism” (underactive thyroid), which they treated with thyroidin tablets and recommended gymnastics. In the meantime, Inge suffered from "dyspepsia” (indigestion), but this could be treated. The report on the stay in Rothenburgsort states: "The child's general condition became more agile, more interested, it was finally able to lift its head in a prone position and make sparse attempts to sit up. [...] On discharge, the general condition was quite satisfactory. The mother was instructed to continue giving thyroidin tablets.”

On February 20, 1942, at the age of three, Inge was brought to the "Langenhorn Sanatorium and Nursing Home” by her mother with a certificate from Dr. Keck (medical officer, Lappenbergsallee) and a diagnosis of "hypothyroidism” (insufficient supply of the body with the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine). Her father, a former elementary school teacher at the Sachsenstraße school, was a soldier in the Wehrmacht at the time.

Dr. Knigge's report of 15 April 1942 to the "Reichsausschuß zur wissenschaftlichen Erfassung von erb- und anlagebedingten schweren Leiden” (Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Diseases) in Berlin left no hope: "The walking function was only learned at the age of 2 years and 1 month. [...] It has an irritable, malicious temperament and beats other children, of whom it is jealous. [...] A beginning to speak has not yet been observed. The child is indifferent or hostile towards its environment. [...] It tears up laundry and smashes toys. [...] According to the course of the illness and the available findings, idiocy is probably endocrine-based. The child is certainly suitable for treatment.”

In the "Prehistory”, he wrote: "The mother and father agree to any treatment.” In a letter to Friedrich Knigge dated August 10, 1942, Friedrich Kersebaum requested the following, as the previous treatment with tablets had not been successful: "I therefore ask you not to hesitate any longer with a more effective treatment method and will take the liberty of asking about the progress again after some time.” At this time, Hella Kersebaum was about to give birth to her third child.

After a six-month observation period, Knigge stood by his assessment and sealed the killing with a second letter to the Reich Committee on October 7, 1942: "Nothing has changed in the diagnosis of ‘mental developmental disorder’ in hypothyroidism (myxidiotia) made at that time. Even in the time that has since passed, there has been more regression than progress. [...] I would like to point out once again that in view of the present physical and psychological findings, I have no reservations about initiating treatment as soon as possible, which was urgently desired by the father from the outset.”

The records of the last days of Inge's life show that the "treatment” was carried out by Friedrich Knigge:
"6.I.43. Has fever. Bronchopneumonia over the lungs.
9.I.43. Exitus letalis [fatal outcome]
Diagnosis: Myxoedema [edematous swelling of the subcutis caused by hypothyroidism].
hypothyroidism], idiocy (myxidiotia)”.

Inge Kersebaum was killed in the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home”. She died on January 9, 1943 at 12:00 noon in House M 10, Women's Ward II. In the protocol and the death certificate, Knigge gave "myxoedema idiocy bronchopneumonia” as the cause of death. His signature is missing.

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, as in Inge's case, the words "bronchopneumonia” refer to this killing.

Inge was 4 years, 3 weeks and 2 days old.


At 1:30 pm, the parents received a telegram: "Daughter Inge unfortunately deceased, please send birth certificate and parents' marriage certificate to Montag Anstalt Langenhorn”.

On January 15, 1943, the body of Inge Kersebaum was transferred at 12:00 noon from the "Langenhorn Sanatorium and Nursing Home”, House 10, to the cemetery of the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Bergstedt. The funeral with Pastor Hansen Petersen took place at 2:30 p.m., grave location A 6, No. 128. Her grave is no longer preserved.



After the war, on January 18, 1946, in the criminal case against him and others for murder and euthanasia in the "children's ward” of Langenhorn Hospital, Friedrich Knigge gave the following justification in a hearing before the examining magistrate at Hamburg District Court regarding the Inge Kersebaum case: "I reported to the Reich Committee twice. [...] In both cases I pointed out the absolute incurability and the brain disease caused by a failure of important intra-secretory glands. [...] The parents expressed their displeasure at the presence of such a child, and of their own accord, they wondered why children with such terrible conditions could not be relieved of their suffering. I still remember discussing this subject with the mother. The parents' attitude did not require any special consent.”

In a letter to the interrogation on January 18, 1948, the father Friedrich Kersebaum stated, among other things: "Dr. Knigge's claims about our consent are untrue and were never made by us. My wife was far too attached to the child to even entertain such thoughts and also believed that the child's condition could change at the age of 7, as Dr. Keck had once told her.” According to him, when Inge's mother received the news of her daughter's death, she wanted to see her again and came to the hospital two or three hours later with Inge's grandmother Gisela Kersebaum. There, Friedrich Knigge refused them entry: "[...] the child could only be seen after she had been laid out, and that would not be possible now as the child was no longer on the ward. This behavior of Dr. Knigge alienated both my wife and my mother very much.”

Translation: Beate Meyer
Stand: November 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: StaH, 213-12 Staatsanwaltschaft, 0013 Bd. 060 Sonderakte Bd. 40, Schirbaum, Gottfried u. a., Akte 29554, 0017 Bd. 001, Bayer Dr. Wilhelm, u. a., S. 70, S. 138 f., S. 165–167; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterbefallsammelakten, 64247 u. 34/1943 Inge Kersebaum; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 9942 u. 34/1943 Inge Kersebaum; StaH, 352-5 Standesämter, Todesbescheinigungen, 1943 Sta 1b Nr. 34 Inge Kersebaum; StaH, 352-8/7 Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, Abl. 2000/01, 64 UA 5 Akte 29554; Standesamt Hamburg 20, Geburtsregister, Nr. 2066/1938 Inge Kersebaum.