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Werner Schuldt
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Werner Schuldt * 1936

Borsteler Chaussee 299 (Hamburg-Nord, Groß Borstel)

HIER WOHNTE
WERNER SCHULDT
JG. 1936
EINGEWIESEN 1937
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 7.8.1943
HEILANSTALT EICHBERG
"KINDERFACHABTEILUNG"
ERMORDET 24.9.1943

Werner Schuldt, born on 18 Mar. 1936, admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten) on 29 Oct. 1937, "transferred” to the "Eichberg State Sanatorium” ("Landesheilanstalt Eichberg”) on 6 Aug. 1943, died on 24 Sept. 1943

Borsteler Chaussee 299 (former maternity home)

Werner Schuldt was born on 18 Mar. 1936 in the former Finkenau Women’s Hospital in Hamburg-Uhlenhorst. His mother, Gretchen Elfriede Martha Schuldt, who was born in Hamburg on 3 Aug. 1895, found herself in difficult circumstances. She suffered from severe neurodermatitis for several years, which forced her to stay in hospital several times, including at the University Dermatological Clinic in Hamburg-Eppendorf. Her biological parents had passed away and she lived with her stepmother until the latter refused to take her back in 1931 following a hospital stay. After losing this accommodation, Gretchen Schuldt was taken in by the "Girls’ Shelter of the Volkswacht-Bund reg. soc. ("Mädchenschutzheim des Volkswacht-Bundes e.V.”) at Alexanderstrasse 23 in the St. Georg quarter. By her own admission, she had no other family ties. Nor is anything known about any contact with the child’s father.

Gretchen Schuldt had attended the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule) up to the second grade (corresponding to today’s seventh grade) and then always worked in a household. Until the end of Jan. 1936, she was employed as a "laundress” at the Vier Jahreszeiten Hotel. She did not feel comfortable there because, according to her, she was teased by the other house staff and she did not know how to defend herself. From the beginning of Feb. 1936, she worked as a "domestic employee” at the Finkenau Women’s Clinic.

Gretchen Schuldt hoped to live with her newborn child in a maternity home at first and then return to work later. She then wanted to put her child in care until she could take him home again. In fact, after his birth, Gretchen Schuldt and her little son Werner were taken in by the maternity home of the "League for Maternity Protection in Hamburg reg. soc.” ("Bund für Mutterschutz in Hamburg e.V.”) located at Borsteler Chaussee 299, which was in the immediate vicinity of the Gross Borstel nursing home. There they both stayed until Werner Schuldt was separated from his mother on 16 Apr. 1937 and transferred to the orphanage at Averhoffstrasse 5 in Hamburg-Uhlenhorst. He was perceived there as a physically and mentally retarded boy. His mother was described as "good-natured” but also "limited.”

Six months later, on 29 Oct. 1937, the Hamburg youth welfare office transferred Werner Schuldt to what was then the Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten; today Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf). According to the Alsterdorf patient file, the boy, by then one and a half years old, showed no reaction whatsoever. Werner could barely hold his head upright, made no attempts to speak, and could neither walk nor sit upright. In Aug. 1938, attempts to walk were observed, and in Apr. 1939, progress in speech attempts was noted.

Werner was ill several times, however: By the end of 1940, he suffered from gastroenteritis and twice from influenza. Starting in mid-1941, according to reports about him, Werner attended the kindergarten of the Alsterdorf Asylum with pleasure. Staff noted that he was timid and clumsy at small manual skills, but also content, quiet, and affectionate. Although Werner made further progress in the following months in speech and independent eating, among other things, and continued to be described as quiet, affectionate, and tolerable, his attendance at the kindergarten ended in Apr. 1942 because of what was described as a lack of space and Werner’s ineptitude.

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg in July/Aug. 1943 ("Operation Gomorrah”), the Alsterdorf Asylum also sustained bomb damage. After consulting with the public health authorities, the institutional management took the opportunity to transfer some of the residents who were considered to be "weak in labor performance, in need of care, or particularly difficult” to other sanatoriums and nursing homes.

Werner Schuldt’s stay in Alsterdorf ended on 7 Aug. 1943, when the following note appeared in his patient file: "Transferred, since the Alsterdorf Asylum has been destroyed. Kreyenberg.”

With four transports between 7 and 16 August, a total of 468 girls and women, boys and men were transferred to the "Eichberg State Sanatorium” ("Landesheilanstalt Eichberg”) in the Rheingau, to the "Kalmenhof sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Kalmenhof”) near Idstein in the Rheingau, to the Mainkofen "sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Mainkofen”) near Passau, as well as the "State Sanatorium Am Steinhof” in Vienna. Werner Schuldt was one of the76 children and men who were transported to the "Eichberg State Sanatorium” on 7 Aug. 1943.

What was then the "Eichberg State Sanatorium” had served as an intermediate facility for the Hadamar "euthanasia” killing center during "Operation T4” ("Aktion T4”). After the official stop of the "euthanasia program” in Aug. 1941, murdering continued in Eichberg itself, specifically through systematic malnutrition and overdosed medication in combination with neglect in nursing care. Thirty of the boys and men "transferred” from Hamburg to Eichberg perished in the short period until Oct. 1943.

Werner Schuldt died on 24 Sept. 1943.

The only known fact about the further fate of Werner Schuldt’s mother is that she passed away in Hamburg on 28 Dec. 1983.

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

Stand: May 2021
© Ingo Wille

Quellen: Adressbuch Hamburg 1931; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 6347 Geburtsregister Nr. 2025/1895 Gretchen Elfriede Martha Schuldt; Standesamt Erbach Rhg. Nr. 561/1943 Sterberegisterauszug Werner Schuldt; Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf, Archiv, Sonderakte V 021, Werner Schult; Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr – Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, 3. Aufl., Stuttgart 2016, S. 283 ff. (darin insbesondere S. 299 ff.); Hygiene und Soziale Hygiene in Hamburg, Hamburg 1928, S. 446,439.