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Gerhard Schlie, ca. 1943
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Gerhard Schlie * 1926

Probsteier Straße 20 (Hamburg-Nord, Dulsberg)

HIER WOHNTE
GERHARD SCHLIE
JG. 1926
VERHAFTET
NEUENGAMME
ERMORDET MÄRZ 1945

Gerhard Isidor Schlie, born 29 Mar. 1926 in Berlin, detained at Neuengamme concentration camp in Aug. 1944, presumably perished as Neuengamme concentration camp was evacuated

Probsteier Straße 20

Gerhard Isidor Schlie was admitted to the then Alsterdorfer Asylum (today: Alsterdorf Evangelical Foundation) in 1939. His history was unlike that of the other former residents of the Alsterdorfer Asylum. He was classified as "moronic” because his behavior did not conform to societal norms.

At first Gerhard had "driven his parents to despair”, followed by the caregivers in the many homes in which he lived. He was not very good in school, but he was able to cope with life. Yet he did not survive. Gerhard Schlie spent the final months of his life imprisoned at Neuengamme concentration camp. He had previously served a four-month sentence for defrauding the German Reich. At the Neumünster youth detention facility it was recommended that he be sent to a "youth protective camp”, noting that he was a "half Jew”. Instead of being taken to a concentration camp for young people, Gerhard was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp. He most likely lost his life while the concentration camp was being evacuated. His relatives believe he perished on the "SS Cap Arcona” when it sank.

Before we relate Gerhard Schlie’s life story, we should note that nearly all our knowledge about him comes from his medical files which are held in the archive of the Alsterdorf Evangelical Foundation. Those files have allowed us to paint a picture of the lives of the residents of the then Alsterdorfer Asylum under the conditions of National-Socialist rule. Yet the documents – as comprehensive and detailed they may be individually – contain a problem. The files convey the fate of the asylum’s residents almost exclusively from the perspective of their caregivers and doctors. Their reports nearly always give the impression of being neutral, written with objective distance. The feelings, desires and pain of the patients mostly remain in the dark. Only occasionally does empathy shine through. Yet now and then the residents’ emotions and feelings become recognizable when they are unintentionally reflected in the reports. Not infrequently the expert opinions, reports and comments convey more about their author than the person being evaluated.

This is indeed true of Gerhard Schlie’s story, a young man who only lived for nineteen years, three-quarters of which were spent in homes, reform schools, asylums and prisons. Reports, statements and evaluations of him show his parents’ desperation and his caregivers’ initial friendly openness, cautiously expressed understanding for Gerhard’s attempts to escape and aggression (which more represented cries for help instead of wicked unruliness). Later the documents reflect the professionals’ hard dismissal of him going as far as negative evaluations laden with prejudice from the senior physician of the Alsterdorfer Asylum during the time of National Socialism, Gerhard Kreyenberg. They do not take into account Gerhard Schlie’s frustration and despair resulting from a lack of attention which he attempted to cover up by acting unruly and aggressive.

As a consequence, it is nearly impossible to paint our own, verifiable, picture of Gerhard’s personality. At the same time, the biographer is aware that his own subjectivity has entered into his selection of documents, his understanding of the content of the documents, and into his portrayal of Gerhard Schlie’s story. Gerhard Isidor Schlie’s life story began with the relationship between his mother, the then 21-year-old Maria Witte from Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, and his biological father, the young Jewish Pole Fritz Karger who later was also mentioned in the documents as Israel Karger. Gerhard Isidor Schlie was born in Berlin on 29 Mar. 1926. The relationship between Maria Witte and Fritz Karger appears not to have lasted very long after Gerhard’s birth. Gerhard was given his mother’s last name and was called Gerhard Isidor Witte. Gerhard’s mother earned a living as an office clerk. Soon after his birth, she was forced to give him into foster care for four years.

From 1931 onwards, Gerhard’s living circumstances changed. His mother married the commercial clerk Willy Schlie from Hamburg. Gerhard now lived with the couple. Early in Feb. 1932, Gerhard also took on his stepfather’s last name. He began attending school when he turned six in Apr. 1932. Gerhard went to the 240th elementary school in Berlin-Tiergarten. He brought home satisfactory grades. In June 1932 Gerhard’s first half-brother was born. Just under a year after Gerhard began attending school, the Schlie Family moved to Hamburg and lived at Arnemannweg, north of Osterbek Canal, near Habichtstraße. In Mar. 1933 Gerhard became a pupil at the "Public Elementary School on Amalie-Dietrich-Weg" (today the Lämmersieth School).

Family life with Gerhard and his parents will not have been very harmonious. Files from the authorities characterize Gerhard as quarrelsome, disobedient, uncontrolled, willful and given to fantastic boasting.

Because he was difficult to discipline, he was put into corrective training in 1934. He spent the years from 1934 to 1936 at Niendorf young people’s home and at the orphanage of Hamburg’s Youth Services at Averhoffstraße 7.

That was followed by a brief period from Dec. 1936 until early June 1937 in which Gerhard attended the Graudenzer Weg School (today Alter Teichweg School). During those six months he was back living with his parents and his half-brothers on Schlettstädter Straße on the Dulsberg. His family had grown in the meantime. In Mar. 1934 and Dec. 1936 two more half-brothers were born. In the 1920s over the course of the development of Dulsberg, so-called small apartments had been built on Schlettstädter Straße where the Schlie Family now lived. The living conditions must have been rather tight for the Schlie couple and their four boys. It is easy to imagine that the close living quarters contributed to many a conflict.

With regard to later, much different characterizations and descriptions of him, at this point we want to highlight his mother’s evaluation of Gerhard on 26 Feb. 1937. In a "report by the parents for healthcare and welfare purposes”, they described Gerhard in one word, "normal”.

From early June 1937, Gerhard again attended the youth welfare office’s school at Averhoffstraße 7. He was back to being a ward at the home on Averhoffstraße. On 3 Jan. 1938 he was transferred to the school of the Landheim am Ochsenzoll at Langenhorner Chaussee 59. Presumably he was also a resident of the Landheim during that period, one of nineteen homes run by Hamburg’s youth welfare office.

His time at Landheim am Ochsenzoll was already over in Feb. 1939, after a little over a year. Gerhard moved to a school in Hanover. The circumstances of that move and his address there are not known. His stay in Hanover did not last long either. He returned to the Niendorf Jugendheim. Upon his release from the home, a welfare report noted: "Since the Schlies refuse to take Gerhard back home, it might be advisable to have the boy undergo psychiatric evaluation so that Gerhard can be placed at the Alsterdorfer Asylum.”

The home director of the Niendorf Jugendheim had previously described Gerhard as "a lying, sneaky, dirty half-Jew”.

It is not known how Gerhard was assessed during his many other stays in homes. One can assume that he was not an easy pupil. Yet at this time at the latest was when the discrimination began for being a "half-Jew”, to which every negative attribute was likely attached.

On 6 Nov. 1939, the Hamburg Youth Welfare Office wrote of Gerhard Isidor Schlie: "Since it is no longer tenable to keep the very unintelligent and difficult half-Jew living in a home community and he cannot be released into the care of his parents, it will be necessary for him to be housed in an asylum."

On 8 Nov. 1939, an "independent medical examiner" from the Hamburg Welfare Office declared that based on an "examination undertaken, he would need to be admitted to the Friedrichsberg State Hospital/Alsterdorfer Asylum at the welfare office’s expense […] because of difficulties in his character. Main symptom of illness: a very unintelligent, difficult character, uncorrectable half-Jew."

On 23 Nov. 1939, Gerhard Isidor Schlie became a resident of the Alsterdorfer Asylum. Roughly at that time the Schlie Family moved to Probsteier Straße 20 on the Dulsberg. Gerhard was now 13 years old. His diagnosis upon admission to the then Alsterdorfer Asylum was noted as "debility”. That term stood for "mild mental handicap” or "minor low intelligence”. Whether or not that could have been an appropriate diagnosis, each reader will have to decide for him or herself by reading Gerhard’s grades in school and his further biography in the somewhat more than five years remaining of his life.

In spelling, his grades fluctuated between 3 and 4 (where 1 is the best and 5 is failing), in math between 2 and 4, reading between 2 and 3, history between 2 and 4, conduct/participation between 1 and 4, diligence between 2 and 3, orderliness between 2 and 5. Twice Gerhard had to repeat a class. He received his best grades at the school in the orphanage on Averhoffstraße during the school years 1935/1936 and 1936/1937. During that period when his teacher did not change, he mostly had twos and threes. His evaluation at the start of his stay at the Alsterdorfer Asylum sounded unusually positive: "His behavior in the observation room is satisfactory. He is a bright boy, cries easily, at times insubordinate.”

Here we can see that Gerhard was by no means just an unruly boy, as the authorities portrayed him.

Yet by mid Jan. 1940, the tone changed. The managing senior physician of the Alsterdorfer Asylum Gerhard Kreyenberg wrote in a statement for the Hamburg Criminal Investigation Department, "He [Gerhard Schlie] is thoroughly capable of understanding the unlawfulness of his actions. Harsh punishment of this half-Jew inclined to criminal activity is absolutely necessary.”

Behind this was a major conflict. The following account is in Gerhard’s file: "The patient and H… Sch… attacked the patient Z…, H…, in the basement of the home. They hit his face and inflicted bite wounds on the thumb of his right hand. When confronted, the patient became insolent and said: ‘The beast will get more of that.’ The patient was moved to the observation ward.”

The observation ward referred to the department in the asylum where "agitated” patients were sedated with medication, restraints and other measures and punishments were administered like withholding food and clothing.

The descriptions of Gerhard became increasingly negative: "devious", "frequent backtalk", "very brazen", "challenging and insolent replies". In Mar. 1940 social services of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg held firm by their reasons for admitting Gerhard Schlie to the Alsterdorfer Asylum: "Based on the expert medical opinion from the youth welfare office from 6 Nov. 1939 following the examination undertaken, admission of Gerhard Schlie, born on 29 Mar. 1926 in Berlin, to the Alsterdorfer Asylum is necessary due to uncorrectable behavior, at the expense of the welfare office. Main symptom of illness: very unintelligent, difficult character, insincere, deceitful, endlessly filthy, disturbs corrective work in normal groups. Half-Jew with pronounced foreign racial characteristics.”

In contrast, Gerhard’s academic knowledge at the time was evaluated as relatively good. On 23 Mar. 1940 he was discharged from school: "Is interested in current affairs and likes to read good books. He wants to be released from the asylum soon to learn a trade.”

In the summer of 1940 Gerhard was a ward of the Brüderhof near Harksheide (today northern Norderstedt).

Brüderhof was located in the Harksheide "Zwickmoor", the largest part of which had been purchased by "Rauhen Haus" in 1925. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a use, the "Rauhen Haus” leased the estate to the Alsterdorfer Asylum in 1939. Residents were subjected to heavy physical labor at the Brüderhof. At times, the Brüderhof was used as a training facility of the Zionist HeHalutz. The "Brüderhof" no longer exists today, only the street "Zwickmoor".

After a brief time, Gerhard Schlie returned to the Alsterdorfer Asylum. The reason was noted in a handwritten comment:
"Report on Schlie. He is not suitable for this enterprise since he repeatedly provoked his companions recently, and we had a lot of trouble re-establishing order.
So I will use this opportunity to send him back to the asylum since he has a fever and complains of side cramps.
Brüderhof, 15 June 1940
A. Ruck"

In Jan. 1941 Gerhard was moved to Moorhof near Kayhude.

The Alsterdorfer Asylum acquired Moorhof in the 1930s. The precipitating factor was the idea that patients could contribute to their upkeep by working. Gerhard was also not suitable for Moorhof and was once again sent back to the Alsterdorfer Asylum in June 1941.

A little later his caregivers speculated Gerhard might look for an opportunity to leave the Alsterdorfer Asylum. Hence he was admitted to Lindenhof – an earlier department of the Alsterdorfer Asylum "to prohibit him from escaping”. Their speculation was not unfounded. In Jan. 1942, Gerhard walked away from the Alsterdorfer Asylum at the fall of darkness. He took the "outskirts train” (an old term for Hamburg’s S-Bahn) to Poppenbüttel. At each station, Gerhard changed cars and emptied out the ashtrays. In Poppenbüttel itself he entered parked train cars and emptied their ashtrays too. "He returned home with a rich plunder of butts.”

What might have induced him to take that "field trip"?

In contrast to earlier characterizations, Gerhard was described in Feb. 1942 as "fairly bright”, he "was employed by a book binder for some time … where he proved to be pretty useful”. He is quite active, frequently argues and likes to have the last word. If he is not supervised, he often does stupid things, angers his fellow patients such that he easily gets into fights with them. He keeps himself and his belongings clean.”

Shortly thereafter, Gerhard sold another patient, who was thirteen years his senior, a bowl of soup for 1 RM. This "act" would become important later on.

In June 1942 the caregivers again gave him a negative assessment: Gerhard "works in the power house, his output is nearly zero even though he is capable of working since he is mentally and physically up to the job. If we say something to him about it, he laughs and says: ‘Who here at Alsterdorf can force me.’ On the ward he creates a lot of problems, lies, cheats and steals. Persuades his fellow patients to steal for him. He only wears what he likes."

As mentioned at the outset, we unfortunately can only report how Gerhard Schlie was evaluated by his caregivers at the Alsterdorfer Asylum.

We only know statements from Gerhard himself if his caregivers reported them in their context. His sentence "who here at Alsterdorf can force me” makes clear that Gerhard was a good judge of his circumstances. What he appears not to have yet gained was a sense of the fundamental precariousness of his situation.

According to a report in his medical record, Gerhard again walked away from the asylum on 22 Oct. 1942 around 5 p.m. and came back at 6:30 p.m.: "According to him he … learned today in a talk that he is a half-Jew. He allegedly took off out of shame, but came back of his own volition.”

Despite all the difficulties that his caregivers had with him, a certain human compassion shines through in some reports which was entirely missing from the managing senior physician Kreyenberg. In connection with documentary evidence of Gerhard Schlie’s military service obligation, Hamburg’s Police President requested supplementary information on Gerhard’s history of military service in June 1943. Kreyenberg wrote in response:

"Diagnosis: Debility
The patient is extremely impudent, at times creating enormous difficulties since his head is full of stupid ideas, he provokes his fellow patients and frequently gets into fights with them. It is only possible to let him work under strict supervision. Patient is a half-Jew and frequently develops virtually Jewish business acumen, like when he sold another patient who was still hungry his bowl of soup for 1 Mark. Patient is not suitable for military service due to his symptoms." Kreyenberg withheld that Gerhard was probably put up to that "business transaction” by someone else, according to his caregivers.

One month later, on 25 July 1943, the air raids of "Operation Gomorrah" began dropping on Hamburg. The Dulsberg, where Gerhard’s family lived, was largely destroyed. His mother and three half-brothers were saved by a timely evacuation to Bayreuth.

After one bombing, Gerhard left the Alsterdorfer Asylum on 27 July 1943. A note in his medical file reads: "(2 days ago, heavy air raid). Patient likely escaped due purely to curiosity since he doesn’t have any close relatives in Hamburg.” Curiosity? No relatives in Hamburg?

In contrast to earlier occasions, Gerhard did not leave the Alsterdorfer Asylum for just a couple of hours. Five weeks later, on 1 Oct. 1943, officials at the Alsterdorfer Asylum apparently no longer believed in a speedy return of their escaped ward and informed Gerhard’s parents "that your son Gerhard escaped from our institution during days of catastrophe. Should you know the whereabouts of your son, please let us know.”

At that point in time, Gerhard was already in Niebüll in North Friesland. In a document dated 5 Aug. 1943, the head official of Niebüll certified that Hans-Jürgen Gerhard Schlie, residing with the farmer Franzen, Kirchenstraße, had registered for issue of a military record sheet. Take note: The allegedly moronic Gerhard Isidor Schlie changed his first name to Hans-Jürgen.

A few days later, the "metalworker apprentice Hans-Jürgen Schlie" received an official identity card, valid until 16 Aug. 1948. With that minimal name change he apparently wanted to liberate himself from the stigma of being a "half-Jew” and probably hoped to finally be able to lead an unencumbered life in that regard when he returned to Hamburg. He came into contact with the Hitler Youth. In Wenzendorf, a small town today in the district of Harburg, he was issued a "Hitler Youth shooting booklet, Region Hamburg (26), Military Training Camp” on 14 Oct. 1943. Gerhard learned the Morse code alphabet. His Hitler Youth athletic score sheet from Sept. and Oct. 1943 shows respectable athletic and cognitive achievements. He ran the 3000 meter race in 11.34 minutes and the 100 m race in 13.4 seconds. In cartography he received a grade of b. He fulfilled the conditions for completing the so-called K certificate of the Hitler Youth with the evaluation "good”. The K certificate was awarded following successful completion of firing and field training as well as for general comportment. In Oct. and Nov. 1943, Gerhard completed a further Hitler Youth training course "with success”, this time at the Military Training Camp II of the Hitler Youth Navy, as it was called back then, in Schlesiersee in Glogau District. His overall grade was "fairly good”. Glogau District was located in what used to be Silesia. It existed from 1816 to 1945 as a Prussian-German district. Schlesiersee (Schlava until 1937) was one of three cities in that district.

These evaluations do not at all match those from the Alsterdorfer Asylum. Immediately after the so-called military training camp, Gerhard worked for the equipment manufacturer E.-Aug.-Schmidt Söhne on Herderstraße in Uhlenhorst. At first he lived in a male dormitory belonging to the company. However the director of the neighboring Hitler Youth home would not stand for that, so Gerhard Schlie registered with the police as living at the Hitler Youth home at Bachstraße 23, also in Uhlenhorst. He gave his first name just as Gerhard and his previous address as a sublet in Altona. Later the director of the Hitler Youth home, Jacobs, wrote: "He adjusted quickly to our orderliness and cleanliness here. I have not heard that any of his comrades complained about him. He was always ready to help his comrades and was courteous towards them.”

His brief period of relatively self-determined liberty ended on 8 Jan. 1944. According to his medical file, it unfolded thus: "After his escape from the asylum, patient rode from Altona to Heide in Holst. He did not pay for the ride since he caught a train intended for evacuees. In Klingsfeld near Heide, he worked for a farmer for a week in exchange for food and shelter. From there he then journeyed on to Niebüll, stayed there roughly a week at the D.R.K. and did not work that week. Then he worked about 4-5 weeks in Niebüll for a farmer by the name of Franz Franzen for meals and accommodation and when he left, the farmer gave him 20 RM. In Niebüll he pretended to be an evacuee and as such managed to procure roughly 80 RM-worth of ration cards.

On 10 Aug. he received a request to return to Hamburg, he received a train ticket and another 20 RM from the NSV. In Hamburg he registered with the labor office, was sent from there to Nagelsweg 10 where he marched off with several other young people to the Glogau military training camp. The course lasted about 4 weeks. After that time, patient came back to Hamburg and again registered with the labor office which sent him to the company Schmidt & Söhne. There he earned an hourly wage of 32 cents, he received room and board at the apprentices’ home at Bachstraße 23. On 12 Dec. patient called in sick and was excused as unable to work. Through his uncle, whom he had sent greetings to, patient was reported to the authorities. The police picked him up at the apprentices’ home and reported the arrest to the asylum.”

At that time the then office for youth welfare and training was located at Nagelsweg 10, part of their remit were the "homes”.

Gerhard’s uncle apparently was not aware of the ramifications of his report, at least so he said later. He also did not find it necessary to inform his brother Willy Schlie and his family about Gerhard’s return.

On the day of his arrest, Gerhard was taken back to the Alsterdorfer Asylum and put in the observation ward. His mother learned of this from a postcard:
"11 Jan. 1944
We hereby wish to inform you that your son Gerhard is back in the Alsterdorfer Asylum as of today.
Heil Hitler"

Nothing good awaited Gerhard at the asylum. He was now set to work in the penal colony, about which no details are known. His spirit of resistance was not yet broken. He was now described as "very slow and lazy”, a person who "opposed every work task assigned to him”, "he has to constantly be pushed”. At the start of Feb. 1944, they wrote: "Extremely stubborn at work, tries to keep other boys from working. Since he holds up the work of the entire gang, he is temporarily being kept on the observation ward and given household chores to do.”

Kreyenberg wrote to the Hamburg Criminal Investigation Department on 12 Jan. 1944: "The patient is by nature an exceptionally inferior boy who has dared to con others into giving him money and ration coupons for clothes by giving false information. Moreover he, as a half-Jew, has dared to take part in a course at the military training camp of the Hitler Youth Navy. Patient admitted outright to having pretended to be an evacuee to obtain money, ration coupons and clothes through fraud. He is certainly able to comprehend the unlawfulness of his actions. Severe punishment is absolutely necessary for this half-Jew inclined to criminal activity.
Signed Dr. Kreyenberg
Managing Senior Physician"

Gerhard Schlie who previously had only been described as "moronic" and "intellectually very dim" was "[now] certainly able to comprehend the unlawfulness of his actions". After only 16 days, on 2 Feb. 1944, the senior public prosecutor’s indictment against Gerhard Schlie was presented to Hamburg Region Court: "The ward Gerhard Schlie … is charged with defrauding the Niebüll City Council of 80 RM and the NSV of a train ticket and 20 RM in July/Aug. 1943 by illegitimately masquerading as an evacuee. Offense punishable after pargraph § 263 of the German Penal Code [fraud] in connection with paragraphs §§ 1, 3, 5 R.J.G.G."

The first court hearing on 22 Mar. 1944 had to be suspended due to an air raid alarm. Gerhard had already been taken into custody at that time. The judgment from 24 Mar. sentenced him to four months detention for young offenders. At the end of his patient file from the Alsterdorfer Asylum, a concluding sentence reads: "Effective today he is discharged from the Asylum."

There it also states that Gerhard was to be taken to the Glasmoor work camp after serving his sentence. However Gerhard never reached Glasmoor. After his sentencing, he was immediately transferred to remand prison. After a month he was moved to Neumünster Prison on 22 Apr. 1944. He remained there until 13 July 1944, nearly three months. He served the rest of his sentence at the Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Men’s Prison from 14 July until 21 Aug. 1944.

His last verifiable place of imprisonment was at the Hütten Police Prison. A legal document from Neumünster from 10 June 1944 stated in conclusion: "The grounds for the judgment mention that Schlie is a ‘half-Jew’. … Placement in a youth protective camp appears justified. "

This referred to a concentration camp for young people. However Gerhard was most likely transferred to Neuengamme concentration camp. A postcard from there exists, addressed to his mother, which the Schlie Family kept. It is dated 28 Jan. 1945, sender Gerd Schlie, Hamburg-Neuengamme, Heeresweg 65. Gerhard wrote: "Dear Momma, finally I am allowed to send you a message. These lines are written by a buddy since I have a thing with my hand. Did you receive my last letter? Unfortunately I have not yet received a message from you. How was your Christmas? Did Papa have vacation? I send you my heartfelt thanks for the last package with its tasty contents. The tobacco especially gave me great pleasure. How are the boys doing? And what other news do you have? I can’t wait for the first message from you. Love from your Gerd"

The story of Gerhard Isidor Schlie ends with this last sign of life. His relatives never heard anything more from him. There is no evidence that he perished either during the final months of the war at Neuengamme concentration camp or as the concentration camp was evacuated or during the sinking in the Bay of Neustädt (SS Cap Arcona, SS Thielbeck). His relatives believe the latter explanation most likely.

Over the course of research begun years earlier, the archive of the Neuengamme Memorial notified the grandson of Gerhard’s stepfather Willy Schlie that there had been no killing of prisoners just prior to the evacuation of the camp. The fact that Gerhard Schlie (like other fellow prisoners) could not be found anywhere in the files had to be a consequence of the unmitigated shambles that prevailed prior to and during the closure of Neuengamme concentration camp.

It seems unlikely that Gerhard fled during the evacuation since the evacuation was strictly guarded by the SS. Nor was the archive able to give Willy Schlie’s grandson any evidence or indication that there were any meaningful attempts at escape during the evacuation.

We can be certain that Gerhard Isidor Schlie did not survive the end of the war. He was nineteen years old.


Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: January 2019
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Evang. Stiftung Alsterdorf, Patientenakten der Alsterdorfer Anstalten, 2652 (Gerhard Isidor Schlie)