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Mathilde Hedewig, 1908
© Archiv Ev. Stiftung Alsterdorf

Mathilde Caroline Hedewig * 1883

Spitalerstraße 8 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg-Altstadt)

HIER WOHNTE
MATHILDE CAROLINE
HEDEWIG
JG. 1883
EINGEWIESEN 1899
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 1943
AM STEINHOF/WIEN
ERMORDET 5.10.1943

Mathilde Caroline Hedewig, born 12 Oct. 1883 in Hamburg, institutionalized 30 May 1900 at the then Alsterdorf Asylum, moved 16 Aug. 1943 to Wagner von Jauregg Mental and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna, died 5 Oct. 1943

Spitalerstraße 8 (Spitalerstraße 47)

Mathilde Hedewig was 15 years old when she was institutionalized at the then Alsterdorf Asylum (today called the Alsterdorf Evangelical Foundation) on 4 July 1899, based on a "Physikat”, an evaluation by a medical officer at the "General Poorhouse” who diagnosed her as an "imbecile”. After returning to her family for a short stay that year on 16 Aug., she was institutionalized a second and final time on 30 May 1900. Her father had died shortly before then on 17 Feb.

Her parents, the cooper (storage manager) Franz Martin Hermann Hedewig (born on 20 Nov. 1853) and Caroline Friedericke, née Brumm (born on 14 Aug. 1858), wed in Hamburg on 3 July 1881.

Mathilde was born the second of their four children in Gänge District of Hamburg Altstadt at Spitalerstraße 47, house 40 in the former Steinstraßen Arcade. At the time of her birth, 57 families were living in the unhealthy, poorly lit, cramped, small houses and shacks along the arcade. The living conditions were impoverished and the children often contracted rickets, tuberculosis of the lung and diphtheria. One of Mathilde’s siblings died at an early age of diphtheria.

According to her medical report, Mathilde Hedewig was very prone to illness. She was at times undernourished which led her to be admitted to the hospital for treatment on several occasions. She suffered from a "weak heart” and fainting episodes. A nurse described her as follows: "Pat.[ient] occasionally [has] strange episodes of feeling weak and has to lie down, but they do not appear to be epilepsy. Pat.[ient] announces them before they happen. Evidently they are hysteric episodes.”

The evaluation of her intelligence sounded like a reproach, "Very poor reading skills, cannot even write her name correctly. She can’t do any math, no skills.”

Mathilde Hedewig was given the job of peeling potatoes for the asylum, and each morning she helped the nursing staff care for and dress the "other children”. She was described as calm, content and always willing to help, yet also, as frequently mentioned, overly sensitive and very nervous. In early 1932 she was transferred to the so-called TB ward due to her poor general condition and the doctors suspected she had an active tuberculosis infection. After periods of rest and once she gained weight, the illness was arrested.

In Aug. 1935, after having been described as very weak, she suffered a "collapse”. Several weeks later it was noted: "Likes to lie in her deckchair or take a walk, can no longer work.” However she was still given the task of peeling potatoes and other small jobs until late in 1942.

In her final evaluation she was then described as very negative, quarrelsome and even as unsavory.

In July/Aug. 1943, following heavy air raids on Hamburg which also damaged the Alsterdorf Asylum, the director at the time Pastor Friedrich Lensch made use of permission from the health department and took the opportunity to have patients unable to work removed to other facilities.

Mathilde Hedewig was one of the 228 women and girls who were transferred to the Wagner von Jauregg Mental and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna on 16 Aug. 1943. She had spent 44 years of her life in Alsterdorf.

Upon her arrival in Vienna, she was so weak that she was unable to withstand the neglect of the care staff for very long, neglect which included withholding food and intentional reduction of body temperature. A mere two months later Mathilde Hedewig died in Vienna on 5 Oct. 1943. Her official cause of death was pneumonia.

Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: April 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2047 u 4321/1883; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2628 u 751/1881; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 7932 u 445/1900; Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf, Patientenakten der Alsterdorfer Anstalten, V 320 Mathilde Hedewig; Wunder: Exodus, S. 213–219.