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Anna Zinke
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Anna Zinke (née Meyer) * 1884

Eddelbüttelstraße 35 (Harburg, Harburg)

HIER WOHNTE
ANNA ZINKE
GEB. MEYER
JG. 1884
EINGEWIESEN 1941
HEILANSTALT LANGENHORN
"VERLEGT" 29.6.1943
HEILANSTALT HADAMAR
ERMORDET 6.7.1944

Anna Zinke, née Meyer, born on 14 Aug. 1884 in Neugraben, admitted to the Eilbecktal Psychiatric Clinic on 27 May 1939, stayed in various institutions, on 29 June 1943 ‘transferred’ to the Hadamar state sanatorium (Landesheilanstalt), murdered on 6 July 1944.

Harburg District, Eddelbüttelstrasse 35

Anna Zinke was born on 14 Aug. 1884 in Neugraben. There she grew up and attended school. After school, she worked as a domestic servant. On 12 Apr. 1909, she married Karl Zinke, who was born on 4 June 1885 in Giesmannsdorf/Neisse District. The husband was a coppersmith by trade and worked for the Reich Railway Corporation. The couple had one daughter (the first-born child had died in infancy).

For treatment of a mental illness, Anna Zinke was admitted to the Friedrichsberg Psychiatric Clinic on 27 May 1939. A short time later – on 14 June 1939 – she was transferred to the Langenhorn "sanatorium and nursing home” (Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Langenhorn) on a collective transport due to lack of space. On 28 Aug. 1939, she was transferred again, this time to the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten).

In a letter dated 18 Sept. 1939, the Reichsbahn-Betriebskrankenkasse (the Reich Railway company health insurance agency – RBKK) refused to cover the costs. The reason given was, "Mrs. Zinke has been ineligible since 26 Aug. [19]39 and is not entitled to treatment in the asylum there at the expense of the Hamburg RBKK.”

On 9 Nov. 1939, Karl Zinke asked for his wife’s discharge. The request was granted, but with the note "that the discharge is only on your own responsibility. You can pick up your wife from there at any time starting Monday, 13th.” On 15 November, Anna Zinke returned to her husband.

However, on 4 July 1941, the "Polizeipräsident [chief of police] Hamburg/Pol.-Amt Harburg” ordered her committed again to the Eilbecktal Psychiatric Clinic, from where she was transferred again to the Langenhorn "sanatorium and nursing home” on 9 Sept. 1941. The welfare administration was informed, "toward completion of the admission protocol,” that the expected duration of her stay in Langenhorn would be about one year.

After almost two years, Anna Zinke was ‘transferred’ to the Hadamar "state sanatorium” (Landesheilanstalt Hadamar) on 29 June 1943. What the relatives did not know was that the Hadamar "state sanatorium” was a killing facility serving as part of the Nazi patient killing operations. People were murdered there using gas, the overdose of medication, and through malnutrition.

The husband and daughter kept in contact with the patient by letter. In a letter dated 22 Feb. 1944, the husband asked the institutional management for a health report on his wife. He also complained that his wife did not answer his letters and those of his daughter. Furthermore, he asked that the patient be informed that the apartment they shared had been partially destroyed by an air raid on 13 Dec. 1943.

Whether Karl Zinke subsequently received a health report or a message from his wife, we do not know.
The Hadamar "state sanatorium” informed him by telegram on 4 July 1944, that Anna Zinke was seriously ill with pneumonia and "since cardiac insufficiency was diagnosed, danger to life cannot be ruled out. Visitation is permitted.”

Two days later, on 6 July 1944, the "state sanatorium” informed Karl Zinke by telegraph of his wife’s death.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2021
© Margrit Rüth

Quellen: StaH 352-8/7 Sign. Abl. 1/1995 Nr. 26080; Adressbuch Harburg-Wilhelmsburg 1937; Hamburger Gedenkbuch. Die Toten 1939-1945, Berlin/Hamburg 2017, S. 597.