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© Thomas Seelig
Hugo Hellwig * 1900
Lincolnstraße 9 ggü. Nr. 8 vor Parkplatz (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Pauli)
KZ Neuengamme
ermordet 28.12.1944
Hugo Christian Hellwig, born on 3 Sept. 1900, detained in 1937 and 1938, died on 28 Dec. 1944 in the Neuengamme concentration camp.
Lincolnstrasse, entry to the parking lot (Lincolnstrasse 13)
Hugo Hellwig, a native of Essen, did a two-year apprenticeship as a hairdresser following attendance of the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule). In 1917, he moved to Hamburg, where he found work as a hairdresser. From May 1917 until Jan. 1918, he fought in World War I. Afterward he worked in his mother’s candy store. On 28 Mar. 1923, Hugo Hellwig was sentenced to payment of 30,000 RM (reichsmark) or 300 days in prison due to a property offense. In 1924/1925, he worked as a temporary waiter in the "Gemütliche Klause” restaurant and from 1925 until 1932 in the "Klein Trocadero” bar (also called "Zum kleinen Trocadero”) – both meeting places for homosexuals run by his mother.
On 1 Sept. 1937, Hugo Hellwig was sentenced by the Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht) to a three-month prison term because of repeated offenses according to Sec. 175 of the Reich Criminal Code (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch – RStGB), old and new edition. The judge interpreted as aggravating his "persistent” denial of the offense; he therefore did not calculate the "protective custody” and pretrial detention endured against the overall penalty. Hellwig was accused of having met up several times with the young male prostitute Johann H. in 1936 in order to have homosexual intercourse. During questioning, H. had named Hellwig as one of his sex partners. In Sept. 1937, Hellwig was sentenced to three months in prison. The appeal proceedings before the Regional Court (Landgericht) did not result in any essential changes.
In Apr. 1938, Hugo Hellwig was again named to police as a client by a young male prostitute. Wilhelm R. stated in evidence that the two had met at the Anker bar in St. Pauli in Feb. 1937. After his arrest, Hugo Hellwig was taken into police "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) to the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp from 14 until 23 Apr. 1938. His trial took place on 25 May 1938 before the Hamburg District Court. He was penalized with a five-month prison term in accordance with Sec. 175 RStGB. An excerpt from the judgment reads, "In light of the conduct he displayed before the court, there was no reason whatsoever to treat Hellwig particularly leniently. The only thing worthy of considering in his favor was the fact that he evidently is a real homosexual and that, incidentally, he may also be deemed a psychopath.”
Immediately upon his release from prison, Hugo Hellwig was taken into police "protective custody” again on 28 Oct. 1938. Until 5 Nov. 1938, he was detained once more in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. At the end of 1938, a third trial due to homosexual acts followed before the Hamburg District Court. The sentence passed was six weeks in prison. Starting on 17 Jan. 1939, he served his sentence in the Glasmoor penitentiary. On 10 June 1940, he was drafted to serve in the military. In Oct. 1944, his name showed up as a new committal with prisoner number 60,938 in the Neuengamme concentration camp, where Hugo Hellwig was murdered on 28 Dec. 1944.
Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: October 2016
© Bernhard Rosenkranz/Ulf Bollmann
Quellen: StaH 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung, Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 b und c; StaH 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 492/38 und 5994/38; StaH 242-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Abl. 13 und 16. Quelle Abbildung Stolperstein: Thomas Seelig.
