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Ludwig Döpking * 1881

August-Krogmann-Straße 100 (Versorgungsheim Farmsen) (Wandsbek, Farmsen-Berne)

entrechtet gedemütigt
Flucht in den Tod 03.10.1936

further stumbling stones in August-Krogmann-Straße 100 (Versorgungsheim Farmsen):
Richard Elkeles, Wanda Hoffmann, Martin Lentfer, Gustav Remi

Ludwig Erhard Döpking, born on 10 Apr. 1881 in Hamburg, detained in 1936, suicide in the local pretrial detention facility on 3 Oct. 1936

August-Krogmann-Strasse 100

Ludwig Döpking was born as the son of the fitter Wilhelm Döpking and Anna, née Blei, at Nagelsweg in Hamburg-St. Georg on 10 Apr. 1881.

We know little about his subsequent life and work history, as the only source on Ludwig Döpking’s fate of persecution is the slim prisoner’s personal file. His last residential address was at the Farmsen care home (Versorgungsheim Farmsen),with the exact reason for his committal unclear.

Under the Nazi regime, persecution of "asocials” ("Asoziale”), which included, for example, beggars, vagrants, and homeless persons, was tightened. They were committed to "welfare institutions,” one of which was the Versorgungsheim Farmsen in Hamburg. In official usage, they were called "volunteers.” These "volunteers” were in danger of being legally incapacitated. So far, no comprehensive research has been done into conditions at Farmsen; however, the recently published study by Uwe Lohalm on National Socialist welfare politics in Hamburg provides important new insights.

According to the prisoner’s personal file, Ludwig Döpking was arrested in Hamburg on 13 Aug. 1936 at 4 p.m. on suspicion of having committed "unnatural sexual offenses” ("widernatürliche Unzucht”) pursuant to Sec. 175 a of the [Reich] Criminal Code ([Reichs-] Strafgesetzbuch – StGB). He was placed under custody in the Holstenglacis 3 pretrial detention facility, where he awaited trial before the Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht), Department 131, which served as a lay judges’ summary court. On 3 Oct. 1936, he committed suicide in his cell. Döpking hanged himself using his suspenders. According to the death certificate of the records office, his occupation was indicated as "wine cooper” and as his "regular residence” the Farmsen care home.

There, in front of today’s nursing home, a Stolperstein commemorates his fate. The brass plate of the stone carries the inscription "flight to death.”

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

© Bernhard Rosenkranz(†)/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: Uwe Lohalm, Völkische Wohlfahrtsdiktatur, Öffentliche Wohlfahrtspolitik im nationalsozialistischen Hamburg, Hamburg/München, 2010; StaH, 242-1II (Gefängnisverwaltung II), Ablieferungen 12, Döpking und 16; StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 1052 (Eintrag Nr. 1565) und 1991 (Eintrag Nr. 245).