Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Fritz Stemmler * 1894

Immermannstraße 8 (Altona, Altona-Nord)

HIER WOHNTE
FRITZ STEMMLER
JG. 1894
VERHAFTET 20.9.1939
GEFÄNGNIS HOLSTENGLACIS
ERMORDET 5.12.1939

Fritz Georg Karl Stemmler, born on 12 June 1894 in Hamburg, arrested and committed to the Holstenglacis pretrial detention center on 20 Sept. 1939, murdered there on 5 Dec. 1939

Altona district, Immermannstrasse 8

Fritz Stemmler was born on 12 June 1894 in Hamburg. We know nothing about his childhood, youth, and education. He worked as a hunt, estate, and property broker. His last business address was Rathausstrasse 29 in Hamburg.

He was married to Emma, née Thomsen, and the couple was married on 9 Mar. 1935 in Altona. The Stemmler couple lived at Immermannstrasse 8 in Altona.

The reasons leading to Fritz Stemmler’s arrest can no longer be clarified; no indictment or trial records exist (anymore). He was admitted to the Holstenglacis pretrial detention facility on 20 Sept. 1939, with the pretrial detention card bearing the note: "Strictly separate from all political prisoners,” reason for admission: "treachery.”

Family members reported that Fritz Stemmler had had an appointment for a business meeting that was to take place in the hunting lodge of a large Hamburg company. And that he had not returned from there.

His wife later received the news that her husband had died in pretrial detention. The urn, she was informed, could be sent to her, in return for reimbursement of the costs, but there could not be a public funeral service. A burial in the family grave is not documented in the files of the cemetery administration.

The family suspected that careless statements about the invasion of German troops into Poland had led to the arrest, as the host of the meeting was known as a convinced Nazi.

Fritz Stemmler died on 5 Dec. 1939 in the Holstenglacis pretrial detention center; his relatives doubted the official cause of death, "suicide by hanging.”

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

Stand: July 2020
© Margrit Rüth

Quellen: StaH 331-5 Polizeibehörde-Unnatürliche Sterbefälle Nr. 170/40; StaH 242-1 II_27511 / 741-4 Fotoarchiv, A 262; Hamburger Adressbuch 1939.