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Rolf Krause, August 1941
© Ev. Stiftung Alsterdorf

Rolf Krause * 1933

Gertigstraße 31 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
ROLF KRAUSE
JG. 1933
EINGEWIESEN 1940
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 10.8.1943
HEILANSTALT MAINKOFEN
ERMORDET 1.6.1944

Rolf Edgar Krause, born on 22 July 1933 in Hamburg, admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum (now Protestant Alsterdorf Foundation/Evang. Stiftung Alsterdorf) on 28 Dec 1940, "transferred" to the "Nursing and Care Home" Mainkofen on 10 Aug 1943, murdered on 1 June 1944

Gertigstrasse 21

Rolf Krause was the second child of Wilhelm Walter Krause (born 1904) and Anna Frida Wilhelmine, née Reimer (born 1901). The parents had married in Hamburg on April 26, 1930. Their first child, Helga, was born in 1931. Rolf's mother had given birth to two sons in her previous marriage, Wilhelm (born 1922) and Werner (born 1924).

After his commercial training, Rolf’s father worked as a shipping clerk (commercial clerk for the shipment of freight) and went to sea for a short time. During the global economic crisis at the end of the 1920s and in the course of the 1930s, Walter Krause was unable to find any lucrative work. The Krause family was supported by the welfare authorities with interruptions since 1931. They lived in a two-room apartment at Gertigstrasse 21 in the Winterhude district. According to statements made by his mother at the time of his admission to the Alsterdorf Asylum, Rolf’s birth was not attended by any complications. She described him as not being as lively as other children. When he was nine or ten years old, she had noticed that he was retarded in his development. An examination revealed that Rolf had been born with Down Syndrome (Trisomie 21). In the case of such children a change in their genes influences their physical and mental development. Rolf was treated with so called gland preparations. He developed into a lively and cheerful child. He learned to walk at the age of one and a half and started to speak when he was two and a half. He liked to look at picture books, played on the street like other children and could also run small errands. Rolf was described as a tidy and alert boy, who obeyed to the letter.

When Rolf was six years old, his twin siblings Gerd and Margit were born on 9 Dec. 1939. Rolf was now of school age, but, as a social administration employee noted in June 1940, he was not yet able to attend school. He was not capable of education and it was even questionable whether the school kindergarden would admit him. In her judgement, the twins Gerd and Margit had developed well after initial difficulties. Rolf was a kind brother to them, but sometimes he put toy building blocks and other objects into their mouths.

Perhaps on the basis of this report, the Hamburg Social Authority arranged for a psychiatric examination to clarify whether Rolf could be admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum as a "custodial case”. The result of the examination was: "The boy is quite restless, lively and curious. He is good natured and friendly, but becomes silly in the end. Over all he comes across like a 3-4 year old child, also in his speech. He pronounces a great number of words correctly, but only in telegram style. He plays quite nicely and can address and name basic things when looking at them. During conversations between adults, he listens and takes part in these through appropriate interjections. During the physical examination, he takes off the stethoscope and telephones very cutely with it. The boy is very much in need of love and is very attached to his mother. During the examination he is initially suspicious, but soon loses his mistrust. Before every new activity, he is full of suspicion which is not lasting long.” Based on the result of this examination, Dr. Zahn, the investigating assessor of the Hamburg Youth Welfare Office considered it necessary to accommodate Rolf in the Alsterdorf Asylum. Rolf is "[mentally] back and not to be encouraged at school". He would now begin to endanger his siblings. (The twins died shortly after one another in April and May 1941, Gerd of "weakness” and Margit of "nasopharyngeal diphtheria” as was noted in the entries in the Register of Death.)

Rolf’s parents saw the admission of their son to the asylum with some scepticism. However, they hoped that there would be progress in his development as the result of the professional care which they expected there. In the meantime, Walter Krause had been called up to the army as a private. In addition, the nine-year-old Helga was sent away by the NSV (National Socialist Welfare Work) and could no longer pay attention to her brother.

Rolf was allowed to spend Christmas 1940 at home. On 28 Dec., he was admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum. Shortly after his admission, Rolf fell ill with inflammation of the lung. After his recovery, it was noted in his patient file: "Pat.[ient] can eat unaided, lets us know his needs, can occupy himself with his toys, heeds minor instructions and carries these out”. Also in Alsterdorf, Rolf was perceived as "well behaved and obedient”.

Rolf’s parents were concerned about their son. Walter Krause wrote to the Management of the Alsterdorf Asylum: "On the occasion of a short stay here, following an official military trip, I came to know that my son, Rolf, has become constantly more reserved and more quiet since his admission to the asylum. I would like to point out that my son was always lively in and around the house and when playing in the street he was only in contact with healthy children. In no way it was our intention to remove our son from home, the motivation was solely for him to slowly learn something in the asylum. I would respectfully request you to consider putting the boy into a group of similar children. For my wife and I are very concerned that Rolf should gradually start to speak more coherently and also that he feels happy there. Not, however, that the boy becomes quieter day by day. I would ask you to inform my wife whether a change can be made.”

The following month, Rolf’s mother was informed by Dr. Gerhard Kreyenberg, the chief physician of the Alsterdorf Asylum, that her son had settled in well, that he had been transferred to another department, found stimulation there from the other children and the nursing staff and now attends play school. Two reports from the play school are included in Rolf’s patient file. On 20 April 1940 it was said: "R.[olf] is quiet and well behaved. Whilst the other children paint, sew or sing, he sits well behaved at his place with his arms folded. He builds houses and towers from small building blocks. He gets pleasure from finger games. In dealing with his classmates, he is amicable and always happy and satisfied when he can thread beads”. Very good progress in his development was recorded. He had become more trusting and sociable. He was still linguistically reticent, but could now speak clearly.

The Alsterdorf Asylum was damaged during the heavy air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 ("Operation Gomorrha”). In addition, victims of the bombing were due to be admitted. Allegedly in order to create space, the head of the asylum, Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took the opportunity with the agreement of the health authority to transfer several hundred patients of both sexes to other asylums. The selected patients were considered to be "capable of only limited work, in need of great care or particularly difficult”.

Rolf Krause was one of the 113 children, youths and adults, who were transferred from the Alsterdorf Asylum "to ease the burden there” to the Nursing and Care Home Mainkofen near Passau on 10 Aug. 1943. The Krause family’s home in Gertigstrasse was also affected by bomb damage. Evidently, Rolf’s mother had fled from Hamburg and had not been able to prevent her son’s transfer. On 11 Oct. 1943, she sent an enquiry to the Alsterdorf Asylum from Collmen-Böhlitz in Leipzig district and asked for the address of the Nursing and Care Home Mainkofen. She asked whether visits there would be possible and she finally got the address.

On 27 Oct. 1943, Anna Krause received news from Mainkofen. "Your son, Rolf, has settled in well here and is fine. You can visit your son at any time. The visiting hours are from 9-11 and 13-17. Mainkofen is on the Regensburg-Plattling-Deggendorf Line. The railway station is Pankofen. There is no accommodation here. You would have to register in advance with a hotel in Plattling or Deggendorf. I would ask you always to address any enquiries about the pat.[ient] to the Management of the Nursing and Care Home Mainkofen”.

According to his patient file, Rolf’s development progress stopped in Mainkofen. It was noted in the medical record eight months after his transfer: "There are no special features to be noted regarding the patient’s stay here. The boy shows little interest in his surroundings, his play instinct is also hardly developed, his language is scarcely understandable. Physically he has declined a lot lately. In addition to diarrhoea, he has a characteristic lung finding, which undoubtedly stems from a specific lung process.”

Rolf Krause died two months later on 1 June 1944. On his post mortem certificate, he was stated as suffering from "Mongoloid Idiocy” and cause of death was given as "tuberculosis of the lung”.

The Mainkofen Asylum belonged to those establishments in which the death of patients of both sexes was willfully induced through food deprivation (starvation diet, meat and fat free nutrition – described in Mainkofen as "3-b diet”), nursing neglect and administration of drug overdoses. From 1943 to 1945, 762 patients of both sexes died in Mainkofen in the so-called starvation houses. Bowel Catarrh, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia in particular were recorded as the ostensible causes of death.

Rolf Krause’s mother was informed of his death by the Management of the Alsterdorf Asylum. "Since we do not know whether you have received the news directly, we would advise you that the Management of the Nursing and Care Home Mainkofen has informed us that your son Rolf died of tuberculosis of the lung on 1 June 1944. With our sincere sympathy [your] Director”.

On 3 June 1944 the administration in Mainkofen sent a telegram to Rolf’s mother in reply to her request for the transfer of the urn to Hamburg. "Transport of the body not possible as RB [Reichsbahn] will not accept the transfer due to the strained transport situation. Burial here”. Rolf was buried two days later in the cemetery of the institution. His parents asked for his grave to be specially marked. The remains would then be returned after the end of the war, but this did not happen even later on.

Fourteen days after Rolf’s funeral, Anna Krause sent a parcel of toys to Mainkofen. She was living in Hamburg again as a subtenant at Gertigstraße 15. She included a letter. "Sadly my little Rolf can no longer share in the joy which we wish to all the little children from Hamburg”.

In 1977, Anna Krause wanted to visit her son’s grave and approached the Registry Office responsible in Nattenberg. "I would like to learn whether the children from Hamburg have a specific grave, even if they are all buried together beneath one mound”. But Rolf’s grave no longer existed. Anna Krause received the answer that "the part of the cemetery in which this grave was located was abandoned several years ago”. It was not until October 2014 that the Home’s cemetery, which had been neglected up till then, was redesigned into a dignified place of commemoration and learning.

Translated by Steve Robinson

Stand: July 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf, Archiv, Sonderakte 81; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 13618 u 2867/1901; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 9922 Nr. 800/1941; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 9919 Nr. 276/1941; StaH 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen 52534; Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr. Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, 3. Aufl. Stuttgart 2016, S. 315 ff.; www.mainkofen.de/gedenkstaette (Zugriff 11.2.2020).