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Ella Rieber
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Ella Rieber * 1894

Falkenried 18 (Hamburg-Nord, Hoheluft-Ost)

HIER WOHNTE
ELLA RIEBER
JG. 1894
EINGEWIESEN 1931
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
´VERLEGT‘ 16.8.1943
´HEILANSTALT`
AM STEINHOF / WIEN
TOT AN DEN FOLGEN
25.7.1945

Ella Andrea Rieber, born 10.11.1894 in Tondern, patient in several institutions from 1928 to 1943, from the former "Alsterdorf Asylum” ("Alsterdorfer Anstalten” now the Alsterdorf Protestant Foundation), "transferred" to Vienna on 16. 8.1943 to the "Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien" (also known as the "Am Steinhof" institution), died there on 25.7.1945

Falkenried 18, Hoheluft-Ost

Ella Andrea Rieber was born on 10 November 1894 in the town of Tondern, then part of the German Empire and now part of Denmark. Until March 1905, her surname was Petersen, like her unmarried mother Anna Gesine Christine Petersen. After her mother had married the labourer Johannes Christian Rieber, Ella Andrea bore the surname "Rieber" without being adopted.

Ella Rieber grew up as the eldest child in a large family with seven half-siblings. Her birth was accompanied by complications. At the age of five, she began having seizures, which a doctor recognised as "epileptic". Her school attendance, accompanied by more frequent "seizures", lasted only two days in total.
Ella Rieber was not employed but stayed at home.

In 1927, doctor H. Grote from Westerland/Sylt declared it necessary to institutionalise Ella Rieber. He explained that she was "stupid", clumsy, slow and hardly spoke. She did housework at home, quite well, but not always, as "twilight states" often prevented her from working. She had no knowledge of school at all. In recent years, she had suddenly become "angry" when something was forbidden to her. She would then grab something and lash out at her mother. She has had epilepsy for years, with twilight states and attacks on her surroundings.

The 34-year-old Ella Rieber was admitted to the Schleswig State Sanatorium (Landesheilanstalt Schleswig-Stadtfeld)) on 27 August 1928. In an admission report the 153 cm tall woman was described as a "weakly built girl in moderate nutritional condition and of healthy appearance". She was said to be "anxious and shy", but took a "lively interest" in her surroundings, had difficulty in understanding questions, but answered them quickly. If she was unable to answer a question, she was said to have laughed "embarrassedly stupidly" to herself.

About a month later, on 20 September 1928, Ella Rieber was transferred to the Klosterhof private institution (Privatanstalt Klosterhof also known as the Pfengsche Anstalt). The reason for this is not recorded. The Klosterhof home, which was founded in 1907 and still exists today, is located on the outskirts of Schleswig in a very scenic location, just a 15-minute walk from the city centre. Ella Rieber seems to have fared relatively well there. When she was told in June 1931 that she could move to the Alsterdorf Asylum in Hamburg (Alsterdorfer Anstalten now the Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf) at her sister's request, she is said to have cried and preferred to stay with Mrs Pfeng, the head of the institution.

Ella Rieber's mother died in November 1929. Her widowed sister Auguste Wittenburg was the only relative who, as far as can be seen from the medical records, had maintained contact with Ella Rieber.

Ella Rieber was admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum on 29 July 1931. The diagnosis was "epilepsy with congenital feeblemindedness". She was often visited by her sister. After disputes with other residents, she had to go to the guard room (Wachsaal) several times. In 1933, the staff recorded a continuous bath of 2 ½ hours.

Since the 1910s, restless patients were isolated in "guard rooms" and treated with permanent baths, sleep and fever cures. The Alsterdorf Asylum introduced these measures at the end of the 1920s. Over the course of the 1930s, their function changed: patients were now primarily sedated here, with medication or by means of restraints and other treatments. Those affected often perceived this as punishment.

Ella Rieber suffered from asthma. She was often transferred to the infirmary because of this illness. She survived pneumonia in 1934. Periods of restlessness culminated in attempts to jump out of the window.

In 1943, Ella Rieber was able to take over personal hygiene herself. Helping with housework such as drying dishes, sweeping etc. alternated with periods of agitation and times when she lay "suffering in bed".

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 ("Operation Gomorrha"), the Alsterdorf Asylum also suffered bomb damage. The head of the institution, SA member Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took the opportunity 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 with the approval of the health authorities. On 16 August 1943, 228 women and girls from Alsterdorf and 72 girls and women from the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home were "transferred" on one of these transports to the "Wagner von Jauregg sanatorium and nursing home of the city of Vienna" ("Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien" also known as the "Am Steinhof" institution). Ella Rieber was among them.

The reports about Ella Rieber in Vienna were essentially similar to those of the Alsterdorf Asylum. Falls were mentioned twice, which led to haematomas on her head. Her weight, which was recorded as over 60 kg in Hamburg, had dropped to 41 kg by the end of 1943.

At the beginning of 1945, it was noted that Ella Rieber was severely demented, very emotionally impaired and had no information about the course of her life.
In July 1945, it was stated that she was "severely deteriorated" and had several seizures both during the day and at night. As a result of skin damage caused by bedsores (decubitus), she suffered from severe pain. Her weight was reduced to 31 kg.

Ella Rieber died on 25 July 1945, the causes of death being diagnosed as epilepsy, imbecility and decubitus, as well as intestinal inflammation and marasmus (malnutrition).

During the first phase of Nazi "Euthanasia" from October 1939 to August 1941, the institution in Vienna was an intermediate institution for the Hartheim killing centre near Linz. After the official end of the murders in the killing centres, mass murders continued in previous intermediate institutions, including the Vienna institution itself: through overdoses of medication and non-treatment of illness, but above all through food deprivation.

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

According to her medical records, Ella Rieber was only visited by her sister Auguste Wittenburg in the Alsterdorf Asylum, who continued to care for her after the end of the war. She had obviously not been informed of her death. In response to an enquiry on 4 April 1946, she received the answer "that your sister [...] died of a severe intestinal catarrh in the above-mentioned institution on 25 July 1945. She was buried as a free corps at the central cemetery [...]."

Ella Rieber never lived outside an institution in Hamburg. Her sister was the one who kept in touch with her in Hamburg. That is why a stumbling block commemorates Ella Rieber at her sister's home at Falkenried 18 in Hoheluft-Ost.

Stand: October 2025
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Adressbuch Hamburg (mehrere Jahrgänge 1928 bis 1935); Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf Archiv, Sonderakte V 252 (Ella Rieber). 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.