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Ida Ehmcke
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Ida Ehmcke * 1896

Rostocker Straße 16 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

HIER WOHNTE
IDA EHMCKE
JG. 1896
EINGEWIESEN 1910
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 16.8.1943
AM STEINHOF WIEN
ERMORDET 30.8.1944

further stumbling stones in Rostocker Straße 16:
Martin Schallmach

Ida Anna Minna Ehmcke, born 24.10.1896 in Hamburg, admitted on 20.9.1910 to the former Alsterdorfer Asylum (‘Alsterdorfer Anstalten’ now Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf), deported to Vienna on 16.8.1943 to the ‘Wagner von Jauregg-Curative and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna’ (‘Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien’, also known as the institution ‘Am Steinhof’) in Vienna, died there on 30.8.1944

Rostocker Straße 16, St. Georg

Ida Anna Minna Ehmcke was born on 24 October 1896 in her parents' apartment at Mittelstraße 11 (now Carl-Petersen-Straße) in the Hamm district of Hamburg.

Her parents, the cab driver Johann Jochim Ludwig Ehmcke, born on 2 May 1870 in Warnekow (today a district of Königsfeld), and Wilhelmine Johanne Elisabeth, née Boldt, born on 5 January 1870 in Hindenberg (today a district of Veelböken), both Lutheran and from places in the northwest of Mecklenburg, had married in Hamburg on 4 July 1895.

After Ida, this marriage produced a further eight children, three of whom died in infancy or early childhood: Emil Johann Friedrich, born on 21 January 1898, Hugo Paul Max, born on 1 August 1899, died on 20 August 1899, Alice Hermine Emma, born on 16 March 1901, died on 5 September 1901, Willi Herman Paul, born on 7 March 1903 at Fruchtallee 76, died on 18 June 1904, Erna Alma Frida, born on 26 October 1905, Frida Anna Dora, born on 7 November 1906, Dora Elsa Frida, born on 4 December 1907.

A report from the Hamburg orphanage also mentions the boy Alfred, born on 18 August 1904, for whom there is no entry in the Hamburg birth registers. He may have been born in one of his parents' home towns in Mecklenburg.

After several moves, mostly in the Eimsbüttel district, the family moved to the St. Georg district around 1905, first to Koppel 2, then in 1907 to Spadendeich 1.

The parents' marriage was not harmonious. Wilhelmine Ehmcke left the marital home several times after assaults by her husband, most recently on 9 July 1907. Johann Ehmcke had beaten his pregnant wife because she had sold beds (i.e. sold them or given them to a pawnshop). It is not known where she stayed until 15 July when she was admitted to the Friedrichsberg State Hospital. Despite being diagnosed with epilepsy, she was released on 20 August and returned to the matrimonial home at Spadendeich 1 in St. Georg. Here she gave birth to her youngest daughter Dora Elsa Frida on 4 December 1907.

On 18 August 1908, Wilhelmine Ehmcke was admitted to St. Georg Hospital because of a leg ailment. She died there on 24 August according to relatives as a result of suicide, but there is no confirmation of this in the files.

When the pregnant Wilhelmine Ehmcke fled the marital home on 9 July 1907, five of the six children were taken into the Hamburg orphanage in Averhoffstraße to prevent their ‘imminent neglect’. The father was unable to look after the children. At the orphanage, it was discovered that all the children were suffering from rickets and skin tuberculosis. It is not known where the sixth child was placed.

Apparently an attempt was made to place the children in family care. No further details have been preserved. It was only noted about Ida Ehmcke in November 1908 that she was not suitable for this. According to a report from the orphanage, she suffered from cramps and was therefore treated in the orphanage infirmary for six weeks. Several seizures, some of them severe, also occurred afterwards.

Considerations in May 1909 to entrust the children to the widower after all had to be abandoned, as he was threatened with a two-month prison sentence if a not yet final conviction for a dispute and brawl between the cab driver and the staff of the Lohmühlen Hospital was upheld in the next higher court.

Johann Ehmcke entered into a second marriage with Therese Anna Clara Holder, born on 21 March 1887 in Magdeburg, on18 November 1909. Their daughter Else, born in Hamburg on 6 August 1905, was in the care of a family in the then still independent town of Harburg.

A short time later, the orphanage was informed that Johann Ehmcke now was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His wife Clara and the children Ida, Emil, Alfred, Erna, Frida Ehmcke and Else Holder followed him on 18 February 1910 on the steamer Cap Vilano.

Their stay in Brazil was short-lived. The family returned to Hamburg on 18 June 1910. The family situation must have been desolate. In July, Clara Ehmcke initially found accommodation in the work- and poorhouse. She became pregnant shortly after her marriage and gave birth to a son in Eppendorf Hospital on 22 August 1910, who was named Hans Johann Max.

Apparently there was also tension in this marriage. This is also indicated by the different addresses of the father and mother entered on Hans Ehmcke's birth certificate. At the time of his son's birth, the father lived at Oberaltenallee 52, the mother at Rostockerstraße 16 in St. Georg, both probably in sublet.

The welfare administration regarded Johann Ehmcke as a troublemaker. Only later it was recognized that he probably suffered from a mental illness, which ultimately led to his institutionalization in the Friedrichsberg State Hospital.

According to a report in the newspaper ‘Neue Hamburger Zeitung’ of 13 March 1914, quoted by the orphanage, Johann Ehmcke was in a constant dispute with the guardian of his stepchild Else. He had imagined that Else's guardian was having a love affair with her mother, his wife. According to the newspaper report, he tortured his wife and threatened her with death, so that the police had to intervene. The accusations against the guardian proved to be unfounded. In the end, Johann Ehmcke was sentenced to two weeks in prison at first instance. It was said that he presented the image of a man who was obsessed with a fixed idea and could not be convinced. The trial took place during the First World War, so he was suspended in 1915 until the end of the war because some witnesses who had been drafted as soldiers were not available. Apparently, however, the court proceedings were not revived later.

The marriage was divorced in the spring of 1918.

Johann Ehmke was in the Friedrichsberg State Hospital in 1921. There he was judged to have limited legal capacity and to be in need of institutional care for an indefinite period. The family court ordered the suspension of his parental authority (now parental custody) over the children. He remained an institutional patient until his death on 26 October 1931.

We do not know where and how the children of Johann Ehmcke's two families grew up. Only the fate of Ida Ehmcke can be traced. She lived in the orphanage again after returning from Brazil. There is no evidence of contact with her family.

In August 1910, the orphanage's assistant doctor, S. Auerbach, came to the conclusion that Ida Ehmcke needed to be admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum (‘Alsterdorfer Anstalten’, now Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf). The reason given was that the good-natured and approachable child often suffered from epileptic seizures, as a result of which she had already developed severe dementia. As a result, the now 14-year-old was admitted to the Alsterdorfer Asylum on 20 September.

Her medical records reveal the following medical history: Ida Ehmcke suffered epileptic seizures soon after birth, and developmental delays were also observed, which continued in the following years. The girl learned to walk at the age of 2 ¼ and to speak at the age of 1 ¼. She had a heart defect and a curvature of the spine. It is not documented whether a three-month bromine-opium cure to treat the epilepsy at the turn of the year 1910/1911 brought relief.

In the Alsterdorf Asylum, Ida Ehmcke attended the institutional school as she had previously attended the orphanage school. Her teacher described her as a quiet, well-behaved girl. She was attentive and grateful for every kind word. Her performance was better than could be expected from the dull impression she made on the observer. It was difficult to get her to express herself orally and in writing. She had written her last essays independently. Her thoughts were disorganized, but her neat writing and low number of errors were praiseworthy. Her knowledge was quite limited. She achieved no results at all in drawing. This seems to be not only the result of a lack of imagination, but also of a lack of self-confidence. She has gained confidence in arithmetic, but her results in numbers between 1 and 100, multiplication tables and division are weak. Singing: fairly good, religion: weak.

According to the school report of 1912, Ida Ehmcke made quite pleasing progress. She had taken part in lessons lively and eagerly and had confidence in her teacher. She did not stand out from the other children, was communicative, compliant and pleasing, always obedient and willing. Her eyes lit up with enthusiasm during lessons. She was good at sewing.
Ida Ehmcke's schooling ended in 1913 and it was said that the 16 1/2 years old had reached the end of her education.

In 1919, she was treated with a second course of bromine-opium. If this brought about an improvement in her illness, it was not permanent, as a number of further convulsions were documented in 1923 and from 1925 to 1930.

In February/March 1930, Ida Ehmcke was given Nervinum, a homeopathic medicine for the treatment of nervous disorders. After that, she is said to have initially remained seizure-free. The cramps started again in September 1930 and prevented her from doing housework. According to reports about her, she took care of her own hygiene during this time and was ‘clean and tidy in every way’. She was ‘eagerly’ engaged in needlework, sometimes designing embroidery patterns herself and embroidering the designs. Her behavior was peaceful, friendly and good-natured.

Ida Ehmke was not allowed to attend the funeral service for her deceased father on 31 October 1931. The asylum wrote to her sister Frida, ‘Unfortunately, as a severe epileptic, we were unable to have your sister Ida brought to Ohlsdorf, especially in the bad weather.’ The distance between the institution and the cemetery was about 20 minutes on foot.

Ida Ehmcke's behavior changed over the course of the 1930s. According to the reports in her medical records, she resisted the instructions of the care staff and withdrew. In 1932, she was found in a dark corner of the cellar. She repeatedly acted ‘defiantly’, spent long periods of time on the toilet and had to be forcibly removed from there. At times she did not eat. She later declared several times that she wanted to be sensible again. This pattern of behavior continued until 1936. Apparently no attempt was made to find an explanation for the change in behavior.

In 1937, Ida Ehmcke occupied herself with handicrafts and small helpings. She behaved ‘inconspicuously, so that she was hardly noticed’. From 1940 to 1942, she continued to take care of her personal hygiene independently, kept her clothes clean, and was calm and agreeable. Even for this period of positive development, the medical file contains only descriptions and no attempt to explain her behavior.

The entries in Ida Ehmcke's medical file ended abruptly on 16 August 1943:
‘Transferred to Vienna due to severe damage to the institutions by air raid. Attn. Dr. Kreyenberg’.

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 (‘Operation Gomorrah’), the Alsterdorf Asylum also suffered bomb damage. The head of the institution, SA member Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took the opportunity, with the approval of the health authorities, to get rid of some of the residents who were considered ‘hard to work, in need of care or particularly difficult’ by transporting them to other sanatoriums and nursing homes. On 16 August 1943, one of these transports ‘transferred’ 228 women and girls from Alsterdorf and 72 girls and women from the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home to the ‘Wagner von Jauregg Sanatorium and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna’ (also known as the ‘Am Steinhof’ institution) in Vienna. Ida Ehmcke was among them.

When she arrived in Vienna, Ida Ehmcke weighed 50 kg. There she was described as ‘poorly oriented’ and had to stay in bed. The negative descriptions also predominated during the admission meeting on 26 August 1943: ‘disoriented, poor gait, almost impossible to walk alone. Stupid. Intelligence questions are not answered. In need of care, pure. Good-natured.’
The diagnosis was: epilepsy, congenital feeblemindedness. The term ‘feeblemindedness’, which is no longer used today, referred to a reduction in intelligence or congenital intelligence deficiency.

In January 1944, Ida Ehmcke had to stay in the ‘guard room’ (Wachsaal). Restless patients were isolated there and treated with permanent baths, sleep and fever cures. From the 1930s onwards, patients were mainly sedated here, sometimes with medication, sometimes with restraints or other measures. Those affected often perceived this as punishment.

Ida Ehmcke also suffered epileptic seizures in Vienna, was - as mentioned - considered to be poorly oriented and allegedly needed extra help with her care. On 31 January 1944, she was transferred to ‘Infection Pavilion’ 19, and thus was the place where the death was brought about. In July, she weighed only 38 kg, almost a quarter less than when she arrived.

Ida Ehmcke died on 30 August 1944.

According to the entry in the patient file, she had ‘suddenly collapsed unconscious after a bath, the left corner of her mouth was considerably lower, the patient is unresponsive, lying completely limp in bed’. The doctor Barbara Uiberrak recorded the cause of death as: ‘Epilepsy. Congenital weakness due to tuberous sclerosis.’
Chief physician Uiberrak, who was deeply involved in the murder of patients at Steinhof, was also responsible for the autopsy of Ida Ehmcke's body.

One day later, the Alsterdorf asylum received a telegram from Vienna stating: ‘Ida Ehmke, who had been transferred here, died the previous year, no relatives noted here - Wagner Jauregg Sanatorium’.

During the first phase of Nazi ‘Euthanasia’ from October 1939 to August 1941, the institution in Vienna had been an intermediate institution for the Hartheim killing center near Linz. After the official end of the murders in the killing centers, mass murders continued in previous intermediate institutions, including the Vienna institution itself: through overdoses of medication and non-treatment of illness, but above all through food deprivation.

By the end of 1945, 257 of the 300 girls and women from Hamburg who were transferred to Vienna in August 1943 had died, 196 of them from Alsterdorf.

The stumbling stone in memory of Ida Ehmcke is located in front of the house at Rostocker Straße 16 in Hamburg's St. Georg district. Although she never lived there herself, it was noted in her Alsterdorf medical file as the contact address for her family.

Stand: January 2025
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Adressbuch Hamburg (diverse Jahrgänge), StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2397 Geburtsregister Nr. 2537/1896 (Ida Anna Minna Ehmcke), 13621 Geburtsregister Nr. 650/1901(Alice Hermine Emma Ehmcke), 9142 Geburtsregister Nr. 176/1898 (Emil Johann Friedrich Ehmcke), 13095 Geburtsregister Nr. 1709/1899 (Hugo Paul Max Ehmcke), 14017 Geburtsregister Nr. 536/1903 (Willi Hermann Paul Ehmcke), 14432 Geburtsregister Nr. 1354/1905 (Else Holder), 14501 Geburtsregister Nr. 1812/1905 (Erna Alma Frida Ehmcke), 14432 Geburtsregister Nr. 1354/1905 (Else Holder/Ehmcke), 14703 Geburtsregister Nr. 1969/1906 (Frida Anna Dora Ehmcke), 14939 Geburtsregister Nr. 1813/1907 (Dora Elsa Frida Ehmcke), 113993 Geburtsregister Nr. 2633/1910 (Hans Johann Max Ehmcke), 2843 Heiratsregister Nr. 578/1895 (Johann Jochim Ludwig Ehmcke/Wilhelmine Johanne Elisabeth Boldt), 3129 Heiratsregister Nr. 889/1909 (Johann Jochim Ludwig Ehmcke/Therese Anna Clara Holder), 600 Sterberegister Nr. 1468/1908 (Wilhelmine Johanne Elisabeth Ehmcke geb. Boldt), 5257 Sterbergister Nr. 1145/1904 (Willi Hermann Paul Ehmcke), 7123 Sterberegister Nr. 879/1931 (Johann Jochim Ludwig Ehmcke), Standesamt Magdeburg, 10129 Geburtsregister Nr. 797/1887 (Therese Anna Clara Holder), Standesamt Wedendorf, Sterberegister Nr. 9/1901 (Alice Hermine Emma Ehmcke/Boldt); Sammlung Hamburger Passagierlisten (1850-1934) Band 373-7 1, VIII A 1 Band 219, Familie Ehmcke als Passagiere auf der Reise nach Rio de Janeiro ab Hamburg am 18.2.1910 (Zugriff ancestry.de 18.4.2024). Peter von Rönn, Der Transport nach Wien, in: Peter von Rönn u.a., Wege in den Tod, Hamburgs Anstalt Langenhorn und die Euthanasie in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, Hamburg 1993, S. 425 ff.. Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf Archiv, Sonderakte V 358 (Ida Ehmke); Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart 2016, S. 283 ff., 331 ff..