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Hanne Lore Pianka * 1926

Rahlstedter Straße 47 (Wandsbek, Rahlstedt)

HIER WOHNTE
HANNE LORE
PIANKA
JG. 1926
EINGEWIESEN 1936
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
‚VERLEGT‘ 16.8.1943
´HEILANSTALT`
AM STEINHOF / WIEN
ERMORDET 8.3.1944

Hanne Lore Pianka, born 10.3.1926 in Reinfeld, Schleswig-Holstein, admitted to various institutions several times since 1933, transferred to the ‘Wagner von Jauregg – Curative and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna’ (‘Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien’, also known as the institution ‘Am Steinhof’) in Vienna on 16.8.1943, died there on 8.3.1944

Rahlstedter Straße 47, Rahlstedt

Hanne Lore Pianka was born on 10 March 1926 in Reinfeld, Schleswig-Holstein, the daughter of Martha Pianka. She initially developed normally. However, from the age of two, her mother noticed seizures. As a result, according to her mother's reports, Hanne Lore lost the ability to speak and walk that she had already acquired. In spring 1931, the parish nurse in Reinfeld recommended that she be institutionalised because of her frequent seizures, but this did not happen at first.

Hanne Lore's mother married the labourer Friedrich Wedel probably in Reinfeld in June 1931. We do not know the exact date of the marriage. The family now settled at Wandsbekerstraße 47 (today Rahlstedter Straße 47) in the municipality of Rahlstedt, which at that time still belonged to the Stormarn district in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.

In mid-1932, the head of the ‘Welfare Centre for the Hard of Hearing and Deaf’ (Fürsorge für Schwerhörige und Ertaubte in Hamburg) stated that Hanne Lore could not hear any sounds and therefore could not speak. The child had to be labelled deaf and dumb. He recommended that she be admitted to the deaf-mute kindergarten at the state deaf-mute centre in Schleswig. Gerhard Kreyenberg, a doctor from the former ‘Alsterdorf Asylum‘ (‘Alsterdorfer Anstalten‘, now ‘Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf‘), called in by the Rahlstedt community nurse, came to the conclusion that six-year-old Hanne Lore was deaf and dumb, combined with seizures and irreparable deafness as a result of a brain infection suffered at the age of two and a quarter, which now required institutionalisation.

Kreyenberg recommended to postpone Hanne Lore's imminent school enrolment by a year. Her mother agreed to keep the girl at home, but her stepfather strongly objected. Hanne Lore suffered from seizures every fortnight or so, usually at night, and disturbed the neighbours by crying loudly. This also affected their married life. There were often arguments between him and Hanne Lore's mother because of the child.

Kreyenberg recommended postponing Hanne Lore's imminent school enrolment by a year. Her mother agreed to keep the girl at home, but her stepfather strongly objected.

Hanne Lore suffered from seizures every fortnight or so, usually at night, and disturbed the neighbours by crying loudly. This also affected their married life. There were often arguments between him and Hanne Lore's mother because of the child.

On 15 March 1933, at the insistence of her mother and stepfather, Hanne Lore Pianka was admitted to the kindergarten at the State Deaf and Dumb Institution in Schleswig, but was released back to her parents on 30 May 1933. Hanne Lore's teacher at the deaf and dumb institution reported that she had suffered three seizures during her time at the school for the deaf and dumb. The physically well-developed Hanne Lore made an awkward and clumsy impression. She knew how to distinguish between praise and blame. Even without hearing tests, he was convinced that Hanne Lore's hearing organ was fully developed. Despite the hearing ability he assumed, her vocal utterances had been limited to shrieks in the heat of the moment.

As she had not been able to grasp and imitate the simplest positions of the speech implements, she had lacked the prerequisites for articulation lessons and thus also for further lessons in the deaf and dumb centre. Her continued stay at the deaf and dumb centre would have meant an unnecessary burden that could not be justified in the interests of the other children.

In Rahlstedt, however, the community nurse was of the opinion that the girl could not remain in the home of her mother and stepfather, who had discriminated against Hanne Lore compared to her three-year-old half-sister and had also mistreated her.

After another consultation with the Alsterdorf doctor Kreyenberg, Hanne Lore Pianka was admitted to the Schleswig-Hesterberg State Sanatorium and Nursing Home for young people on 31 August 1933. We do not know when she was released from there. In any case, Hanne Lore returned to live with her family in Rahlstedt in April 1935. During the visits of the parish nurse, she suffered several convulsions. She judged that the stepfather had hated Hanne Lore from the beginning, while the mother had given Hanne Lore all her love and suffered greatly from the fact that her husband only cared about their child and mistreated Hanne Lore.

From 17 October 1935, Hanne Lore was accommodated in the Heiligenstedten State Home (Landesheim Heiligenstedten) not far from Itzehoe in what is now the district of Steinburg in Schleswig-Holstein. Around 200 mentally handicapped children and adults lived there. Hanne Lore is said to have been constantly on the move, knocking over chairs, hitting and pinching children in the facility located in the castle there. She is said to have desperately tried to make herself understood by signing. On 22 December 1935, she was given leave of absence with the aim of being released and was picked up by her mother from Heiligenstedten. We do not know the reasons for her admission to this particular institution and the end of her stay there, which lasted only two months.

During her time in Schleswig, the parish nurse in Rahlstedt had already considered having Hanne Lore admitted to the Alsterdorfer Asylum so that her mother could visit her more often. This may also have been the reason for Hanne Lore's brief stay in Heiligenstedten.

Hanne Lore was admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum on 2 January 1936. According to the patient file, she was physically clean when she was admitted and was also wearing clean clothes, but there were uncleaned open wounds on one arm and red spots on her body. Unlike in Heiligenstedten, Hanne Lore needed help with personal hygiene here. However, she apparently observed everything and understood speeches. Seizures were treated with daily doses of Luminal. (Luminal is a tranquilliser and sleeping pill used in the treatment of epilepsy). This barbiturate is said to have made her much calmer. She was able to occupy herself alone, playing with dolls or building blocks and looking at pictures with interest. If something seemed important to her, she would come running with a picture, for example, making happy noises and pointing at it again and again. She was also happy to help with small tasks.

She is said to have fetched crockery as soon as she saw the food trolley.

Hanne Lore was often visited by her mother in Alsterdorf. She would hold both hands in front of her face with joy. Overall, she was described as very affectionate. From around 1940, however, the staff reported many severe seizures, she was very sleep-deprived and increasingly apathetic.

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 (‘Operation Gomorrah’), the Alsterdorf Asylum also suffered bomb damage. The head of the institution, SA member Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took the opportunity, with the approval of the health authorities, to get rid of some of the residents who were considered ‘weak in labour, in need of care or particularly difficult’ by transporting them to other sanatoriums and nursing homes. On 16 August 1943, 228 women and girls from Alsterdorf and 72 girls and women from the Langenhorn Sanatorium and Nursing Home were ‘transferred’ to the ‘Wagner von Jauregg – Curative and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna’ (‘Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien’, also known as the institution ‘Am Steinhof’) in Vienna on one of these transports. Among them was Hanne Lore Pianka.

In a letter dated 24 September 1943, Hanne Lore's mother was informed that ‘the patient has survived the journey well, she has a good appetite, is calm and friendly, but also in need of care. It seems that she has not realised that she has been transferred here. Sincerely yours. Doctor Umlauf’. On 29 September, the following note appears in her medical file: ‘In bed, disorderly, disorientated, cannot say her name, must be cared for.’

At the beginning of February 1944, Hanne Lore Pianka was transferred to the nursing section of the Vienna Asylum. Frequent seizures and vomiting were now recorded. On 8 March 1944, the following entries can be found in the patient file: ‘Since 7 March, continuous seizures. Beginning pneumonia.’ And on the same day: ‘Died at 17:35. Status epilepticus, pneumonia’.

The mother, Martha Wedel, learnt of her daughter Hanne Lore's death by telegraph. She wrote to Vienna on 12 March: ‘I received the news with great shock. I would like to ask you to give me a full report on what our Hannelore died of, was she ill for a long time? How was her illness during the last 8 days? I would have liked to come to the funeral, but I didn't have any money. I am a soldier's wife [...]. I read the telegram all by myself, it is very difficult for me as a mother. Please also send me the death certificate and the number of the grave, because I have an acquaintance in Vienna, a comrade's wife of my husband, who wants to take care of my daughter's grave. Heil Hitler, signed. Marta Wedel

She received the following reply dated 27 March 1944:
‘Your daughter was in unchanged condition until 6 March. On 6 March, as is often the case with your daughter's illness, continuous seizures set in. She had one seizure after another in uninterrupted succession, could no longer be awakened from unconsciousness and died of cardiac insufficiency. The deceased is buried at the Central Cemetery in Vienna. Please contact the administration of the Central Cemetery for the grave number. Please request the death certificate in writing from the registry office for the 14th district of Vienna 13, Penzingerstraße 59.
Heil Hitler!
D.Dept. doctor i.V. Dr Janiczek’

The ‘Wagner von Jauregg – Curative and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna’, established in 1907 on the outskirts of Vienna, became a centre of ‘Euthanasia’ after the annexation (‘Anschluss’) of Austria to the German Reich. People classified as ‘hereditarily ill’ were forcibly sterilised there. From 1940, around 3,200 of the 4,300 patients were transported to killing centres, the majority of whom were murdered at Hartheim Castle near Linz.

After the official end of the first phase of the ‘Euthanasia’ murders in August 1941, the murders of patients continued systematically within the institutions by overdosing them with medication, failing to treat their illnesses and, above all, depriving them of food. Over 3500 patients fell victim to starvation and infections.

By the end of 1945, 257 of the 300 girls and women from Hamburg had died, 196 of them from Alsterdorf.

Stand: January 2025
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf Archiv, Sonderakte V 133 (Hanne Lore Pianka). Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart 2016, S. 35, 283 ff., 331 ff.; https://www.steinburger-geschichte.de/themen/nationalsozialismus/opfer-des-nationalsozialismus-euthanasie-und-zwangssterilisierungen (Zugriff am 6.3.2024).