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Theo Lorenzen * 1939

Langenhorner Chaussee 560 (Hamburg-Nord, Langenhorn)

ERMORDET IN DER
"KINDERFACHABTEILUNG"
DER HEIL- UND PFLEGEANSTALT
LANGENHORN

THEO LORENZEN
GEB. 10.5.1939
ERMORDET 24.5.1942

further stumbling stones in Langenhorner Chaussee 560:
Gerda Behrmann, Uwe Diekwisch, Peter Evers, Elke Gosch, Claus Grimm, Werner Hammerich, Marianne Harms, Hillene Hellmers, Helga Heuer, Waltraud Imbach, Inge Kersebaum, Hella Körper, Dieter Kullak, Helga Liebschner, Jutta Müller, Ingrid Neuhaus, Traudel Passburg, Edda Purwin, Angela Quast, Erwin Sänger, Hermann Scheel, Gottfried Simon, Monika Ziemer

Theo Lorenzen, born on 10.5.1939 in Hamburg, killed on 24.5.1942 in the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” (Kinderfachabteilung)

Asklepios Clinic North Ochsenzoll,
Henny-Schütz-Allee, memorial house 25, entrance Langenhorner Chaussee 560

Theo Lorenzen was born on May 10, 1939 in the Finkenau Women's Clinic in Hamburg. He was the first child of Ella Friederike, née Behrens, and the technician Ernst Friedrich Lorenzen. His mother, already 35 years old, breastfed him for six weeks. Theo initially lived with his parents in Erichstraße and was baptized an Evangelical Lutheran. The parents noticed that their child was not developing properly.

When Theo was one year old, he was admitted to the Eppendorf University Children's Hospital on May 28, 1940 with a high fever, bronchitis and dyspepsia (digestive disorder). He was not yet able to sit and could not hold his head up on his own. There the parents were told that their son was suffering from mental weakness. Cured of bronchitis, he was discharged home after two and a half weeks on June 14, 1940.

In order to check Theo's developmental condition, the parents turned to Prof. Dr. Rudolf Degkwitz at the children's clinic at Eppendorf University Hospital. During the consultation on August 1, 1941, he diagnosed Theo with a "developmental disorder of a cerebral [brain-related] nature” and said that such children often occurred in tall, robust women; his advice was that the best thing to do was to have another pregnancy.

The next year, Theo was admitted to the "Langenhorn Sanatorium and Nursing Home” on April 21, 1942 with a certificate from Dr. Käthe Waller and a diagnosis of "Mongoloid” (Down syndrome). Dr. Knigge noted in the admission record that the mother was now six months pregnant again and could no longer keep up the upbringing of the child, who was "incidentally quite good-natured and friendly. [...] The parents agree to any treatment.”

One month later he recorded:
"29.V.42. Must be transferred to M 5 because of scarlet fever.
24.V.42. Died of scarlet fever and otitis media [inflammation of the middle ear], diagnosis: Mongolide idiocy. Dr. Knigge”

Theo Lorenzen died on May 24, 1942 at 0:30 in the "Langenhorn auxiliary hospital”.

In the death certificate, Dr. Sönnichsen gave "Mongoloid idiocy scarlet fever” and "bedsores” as the cause of death. The certificate for the Blohm & Voss company fund read: "[...] that the child Theo [...] was not in the children's ward of the Langenhorn institution as a preservation case, but for treatment. The child died of scarlet fever in the meantime, which prevented the planned treatment of the child. Head physician of the children's ward”.

The indication "bronchopneumonia” as the cause of death is missing here. Whether the transfer to ward M 5 because of "scarlet fever” was a cover-up cannot be proven, but it can be assumed. Theo Lorenzen was presumably killed by Friedrich Knigge in the "children's ward of the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home” with Luminal injections, a sleeping pill.

Theo was 3 years and 14 days old.

Five days later, his cremation took place on May 29, 1942 at 8:30 am and the funeral service between 9:35 and 10:30 am "with candlesticks, plants and harmonium or organ music” in the Ohlsdorf crematorium. On June 17, 1942, his ashes were buried in the family grave at Ohlsdorf Cemetery, which his grandfather had chosen for his wife, himself and his children when he died in 1929, grave location Bn 60, No. 98/III, top left. His grandfather Carl A. J. Lorenzen had died a year before him, on August 16, 1941. The grave site is no longer preserved.

After the war, Friedrich Knigge commented on the accusations of murder and euthanasia in the "children's ward” at Langenhorn Hospital. In a letter dated June 13, 1945 to the criminal investigation department via Prof. Rudolf Degkwitz, now a senior official of the Hamburg health authorities, he only admitted to euthanasia in ten to eleven "mentally ill and deformed” children, which he considered to be justified by the order of the Reich Committee. He concealed the name of Theo Lorenzen.

In his letter to the public prosecutor dated November 5, 1947, a list of 16 names included Theo's surname; Knigge stated for these cases that he had not killed these children, although the parents had given their consent:
"Dear Mr. Public Prosecutor!
I would kindly ask you to check the medical files to see that a further 16 parents consented to the 'treatment' and thus gave me the order for euthanasia:
1. Zapf 2. Ziemer 3. Cordes 4. Lorenzen 5. Boehm 6. Diekwisch 7. Gosch 8. Schulz 9. Knudsen 10. Nonnsen 11. Fokuhl 12. Meyer 13. Meibohm 14. Oje 15. Würflinger 16. Groß.
In all these cases the order was not carried out, in some cases to the obvious disappointment of the parents. The great willingness of the parents must have reinforced the impression for me and my department at the health authority that we were not only acting in the true interests of the child socially, but also legally.”

Translation: Beate Meyer
Stand: November 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: StaH, 213-12 Staatsanwaltschaft, 0017 Bd. 001, Bayer Dr. Wilhelm, u. a., S. 126 f.; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterbefallsammelakten, 64217 u. 439/1942 Theo Lorenzen; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 9933 u. 439/1942 Theo Lorenzen; StaH, 352-5 Standesämter, Todesbescheinigungen, 1942 Sta 1b Nr. 439 Theo Lorenzen; StaH, 352-8/7 Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, Abl. 2000/01 Nr. 12 Akte 29713; Standesamt Hamburg 6, Geburtsregister, Nr. 1246/1939 Theo Lorenzen; Archiv Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Beerdigungsregister Feuerbestattungen, Nr. F 3206, Grabbrief 33553/1929.