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Hans-Joachim Osterried * 1939

Liliencronstraße 130, Säuglingsheim Wilhelmstift (Wandsbek, Rahlstedt)

HIER WOHNTE
HANS-JOACHIM
OSTERRIED
JG. 1939
EINGEWIESEN 1941
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
‚VERLEGT‘ 7.8.1943
‚HEILANSTALT‘
KALMENHOF / IDSTEIN
ERMORDET 11.9.1943

Hans-Joachim Osterried, born 16.9.1939, initially admitted to the Wilhelm Foundation Infant Home in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, from 18.12.1940 in the Hamburg Municipal Infant Home, from 7.9.1941 in the Alsterdorf Institutions (now the Protestant Foundation Alsterdorf), deported on 7.8.1943 to the "Curative Education Institution Kalmenhof" ("Heilerziehungsanstalt Kalmenhof") in Idstein, Rheingau, died there on 11.9.1943

Liliencronstraße 130 (Rahlstedt)

Hans-Joachim Osterried was born as Hans-Joachim Wittkowski on 16 September 1939 in Eppendorf University Hospital. His mother, the typist Maria Anna Wittkowski, born on 12 September in Bunzlau (now Boleslawiec, Poland) and his father, the administrative employee Hans-Günther Alexander Osterried, born on 23 April 1910 in Flensburg, had been living together for some time. After their marriage on 19 March 1940, Hans-Joachim was considered legitimate and henceforth bore the surname Osterried.

Both parents were members of the German armed forces (Deutsche Wehrmacht). Hans-Günther Osterried was stationed in occupied Brussels. We do not know Maria Anna Osterried's place of employment. Hans-Joachim`s fathers place of residence was stated on his birth certificate as Westerland whilst his mother’s place of residence was given as Hamburg-Rahlstedt. We do not know the exact address. The parents were unable to take care of the child themselves due to their separate places of employment outside Hamburg. Hans-Joachim was, therefore, handed over to the Wilhelm Foundation infant home in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, Liliencronstraße 130. A stumbling stone commemorates him there, as this was the only place he did not choose himself, but where he was not yet forcibly housed.

We do not know the exact date of the admission to the infant home. The home management and the parents both noticed that the child was "mentally underdeveloped”. In August 1940, therefore, the infant home arranged for the almost one year old boy to be examined at Eppendorf University Hospital. This revealed that Hans-Joachim`s physical and mental condition was behind the level of development to be expected at this stage. He was said to be able to hold his head up only "wobbling”, could not yet sit up and did not reach out for things. Although there were signs that he was beginning to speak, but he was not yet able to understand words. He was uninterested in his surroundings. Although considering the age of the child it was not yet possible to reach a definite conclusion, it could be assumed that he was "feebleminded”. (The term "feeblemindedness”, which is no longer used today, refers to reduced intelligence or congenital mental deficiency).

In the view of the Wilhelm Foundation, Hans-Joachim`s stay in the infant home was no longer justifiable because of this diagnosis. He was, therefore, transferred to the Municipal Infant Home at Winterhuder Weg 11 in the Uhlenhorst district on 17 December 1940. Here too, the staff were unable to detect any positive development and came to the conclusion that Hans-Joachim Osterried suffered from "moderate feeblemindedness”.

On 7 August 1941, Hans-Joachim Osterried was once again admitted to another institution, this time to the Alsterdorf institutions (now the Protestant Foundation Alsterdorf). There, he was initially admitted to the infirmary as the little boy kept vomiting and could not be fed. Later, a chronic inflammation of the stomach lining was assumed to be the cause.

At the time of his admission to Alsterdorf, Hans-Joachim was described as a quiet, happy child who played with toys and was in touch with his surroundings. Nevertheless, the senior physician, Gerhard Kreyenberg wrote "The patient Hans-Joachim Osterried born 16.9.1939 Hbg. admitted today suffers from imbecility.”

On 20 September 1941, Hans-Joachim Osterried`s father sent a letter to the management of the Alsterdorf Institutions headed "Child Hans-Joachim Osterried, born 16.9.1939” primarily concerning the regulation of the boarding costs. He asked to be informed if there were any changes to the child’s condition. A personal visit would not be possible as he was currently on duty in the occupied territories.

In the meantime, it was noted that the now two years old boy was still being fed with mashed food and had to be cared for completely in terms of his personal hygiene. He did not know what to do with toys. He played only with his fingers.

Hans-Joachim Osterrieds father sent another letter to the Alsterdorf Institutions on 20 October 1941 which once again gave no sign of empathy with his son. "Due to the circumstances, I would ask you to send future letters to my address without the hospital letterhead if possible. The insight of outsiders should not necessarily be required. At the same time, I would be very grateful if you could send me a doctor’s report on the child’s condition as soon as possible and a statement as to whether we can expect any improvement at all in him.”

The patient file contains only one entry about Hans-Joachim Osterried's development in 1942, dated 18 September. "Patient is a recumbent child and in need of full care. For short periods of time, he can sit in bed and can sit up by himself. He is a quiet, friendly child who is aware of his surroundings. He doesn`t know what to do with toys. Most of the time he sucks his thumbs. He is fed on mashed food.”

A year later on 6 August 1943, senior physician Kreyenberg noted, "Relocated as the Alsterdorf Institutions have been destroyed”.

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg in the summer of 1943 (Operation Gomorrha), the Alsterdorf Institutions also suffered damage on the night of 29/30 July and then again on 3-4 August. The head of the institutions, SA member Pastor Friedrich Lensch took the opportunity to get rid of some of the residents who were "unproductive, in need of intensive care or particularly difficult” by transporting them to other Nursing and Care Homes. He asked the Health Authority to approve the transfer of 750 patients, allegedly to make room for wounded and victims of bomb damage. In three transports between 7 and 16 August, a total of 468 girls and women, boys and men were transferred to the "State Nursing Institution Eichberg” near Wiesbaden, the "Nursing and Care Institution Kalmenhof” in Idstein in the Rheingau, the "Nursing and Care Institution Mainkofen” near Passau and the "State Nursing Institution Am Steinhof” in Vienna.

A total of 128 girls, boys and men were transported with the first transport on 7 August 1943 to the Nursing and Care Institution Eichberg in the Rheingau (76) and the Kalmenhof Nursing and Care Institution near Idstein (52). Hans-Joachim Osterried was one of the 52 children who were admitted to the Kalmenhof Nursing and Care Home on 8 August 1943.
Founded in 1888, the Kalmenhof Institution was originally a progressive, education oriented facility for people with mental disabilities. In 1939, it was incorporated into the "Euthanasia” programme of "Aktion T4” (a code name for the headquarters of the "Euthanasia” central office at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin). The patients were transferred from there to the nearby Hadamar killing centre and there murdered. After the official halt to the "Euthanasia” murders in August 1941, the "Reich Committee for Scientific Registration of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses”, a front organization belonging to the "Euthanasia” central office, set up a "childrens ward” at Kalmenhof, where children were killed with overdoses of drugs such as Luminal, Scopolamine or Morphine.
Hans-Joachim Osterried died there on 11 September 1943. The Registry of Deaths entry from the Idstein Registry Office states the cause of death as "Imbecility, chronic gastroenteritis with nutritional disorder, general weak circulation”.

It can be assumed with great certainty that Hans-Joachim Osterried did not die of natural causes.

Stand: August 2025
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Standesamt Idstein, Sterberegisterauszug Nr. 165/1943 (Hans-Joachim Osterried); Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf, Archiv, Sonderakte V 71 (Hans-Joachim Osterried). Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart 2016, S. 289 ff.