Rolf Krause

Rolf Krause

Rolf Edgar Krause was born on July 22, 1933 in Hamburg, Germany.

He was the second Son of Wilhelm Krause and Anna Krause (née Reimer.)

His Parents married on April 26, 1930 in Hamburg, Germany.

Anna had two Sons from a previous marriage: Wilhelm (born in 1922) and Werner (born in 1924.)

His Parents first Child together, Helga was born in 1931.

Rolf had no complications at his birth.

He was described as being a lively Child.

He learned to walk when he was one and a half years old and started to speak when he was two and a half.

He liked to look at Picture Books, did small errands and obeyed everything he was told to do.

It wasn’t until he was nine years old that he was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

At the time it was not usually called Down Syndrome, but Mongoloid (German: Mongolismus) because the People were said to “have the eyes of Mongolians.”

When Rolf was 6 years old his Twin Siblings, Gerd and Margit were born in 1939.

At the same time Rolf was examined by the Hamburg Social Authority because it was deemed he could not and should not be sent to a Regular German School.

The results of the Testing showed that Rolf was:

“The Boy is quite restless, lively and curious. He is good natured and friendly, but becomes silly in the end. Over all he comes across like a 3-4 year old Child, also in his speech. He pronounces a great number of words correctly, but only in telegram style. He plays quite nicely and can address and name basic things when looking at them. During conversations between Adults, he listens and takes part in these through appropriate interjections. During the physical examination, he takes off the stethoscope and telephones very cutely with it. The Boy is very much in need of love and is very attached to his Mother. During the examination he is initially suspicious, but soon loses his mistrust. Before every new activity, he is full of suspicion which is not lasting long."

Dr. Zahn, the Investigating Assessor of the Hamburg Youth Welfare Office considered it necessary to send Rolf to the Alsterdorf Asylum.

Rolf’s Parents viewed this with suspicion, but believed the Nazi Officials and the Nazi Doctors and hoped Rolf would make progress in his development with the Professional Care at Alstordorf.

On December 28, 1940 Rolf was admitted to the Alsterdorf Asylum.

In his Records at Alsterdorf Rolf was noted as being “well-behaved and obedient.”

Then Walter was called-up to serve as a Private in the Wehrmacht.

While on Leave from the Wehrmacht Walter wrote to the Alsterdorf Asylum regarding Rolf.

In the Letter he wrote that Rolf was becoming “more reserved and quiet” since he was admitted and that was a major change from when he was at home and was a “lively and joyful Boy.”

The Following Month, Anna was informed by Dr. Gerhard Kreyenberg, the Chief Physician of the Alsterdorf Asylum, that Rolf had been transferred to another Department where he seems to be thriving.

On April 20, 1940, Alsterdorf made the following note about Rolf in their record: “Rolf is quiet and well-behaved. He gets pleasure from playing finger games and has become more sociable and trusting.

In April and May 1941 Rolf’s Twin Siblings, Gerd died of “weakness” and Margit died of “Nasopharyngeal Diphtheria.”

In August 1943 Hamburg was heavily damaged by Allied Air Raids and space was needed at the Alsterdorf Asylum (to care for the wounded from the Attacks.)

Pastor Friedrich Lensch, a Pro-Nazi Pastor, decided that the Patients at the Alsterdorf Asylum should be removed to other Places to make way for the wounded.

On August 10, 1943 Rolf was one of the 113 Children removed from the Alsterdorf Asylum and sent to the Nursing and Care Home Mainkofen near Passau.

The Krause Family home was destroyed by the Air Raid and Anna had to flee Hamburg and was unable to prevent Rolf’s transfer.

Anna was now in Leipzig and wanted to visit Rolf at the new Care Home.

Before Anna could get Official Permission to visit Rolf in Mainkofen she learned that he had died.

Rolf Krause died on June 1, 1944 at the age of 10.

His Nazi Death Certificate stated that he was a “Mongoloid Idiot” and he had died from Tuberculosis.

The Mainkofen Asylum was a Nazi Asylum where its Patients were staved to death,

Patients, like Rolf, were given the “3 B-Diet” which consisted of little to no food or water and almost no Personal Care from the Staff.

The effects of the forced starvation and neglect were noted for “Professional Reasons” and when the Patient died they were given an autopsy to continue the study.

Their Relatives were given fake causes of death and not allowed to receive the body or ashes of their loved ones.

The Patients who arrived at Mainkofen were marked for death before they even stepped foot into the Asylum.

On June 3, 1944 Anna received a Telegram response to her request that she receive Rolf’s ashes so she could bury him.

Anna was told that Rolf’s ashes could not be transported to her until after Victory had been received

14 days later Anna sent a box of Rolf’s toys to Mainkofen in which he wrote the following letter: “Sadly my little Rolf can no longer share in the joy which we wish to all the little Children from Hamburg".

Even after the War in 1945 Anna was never given Rolf’s ashes nor was she told where he was buried.

In 1977, Anna visited that Registry Office in Nattenberg to find out where Rolf’s grave was but learned it never existed.

In 2014 the Mainkofen Cemetery, which had been neglected since 1945, was redesigned into a Place of Commemoration.

Rolf Krause was murdered under the Nazis’ Aktion T4 Program.

T4, called so because of the address of its Headquarters in Berlin: Tiergartenstraße 4, saw at least 300,000 Disabled Men, Women and Children murdered throughout Nazi Germany and Austria from 1933-1945.

380,000 Disabled Men, Women and Children were Forcibly Sterilized between 1933-1945.

T4 started In July 1933 with the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" (German: Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses) ordered Forced Sterilization for People with conditions thought to be Hereditary, such as Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, Huntington's Chorea and "Imbecility.”

The Germans first murdered Disabled Children in what they called a “Mercy Death” (German: Gnadentod) and then moved on to the murder of Disabled Adults.

When the Germans started murdering Disabled Adults any Disability (Hereditary or not) was grounds for killing the Person (Blindness, Deafness, Down Syndrome, Amputations (including World War 1 Veterans), etc.

The German Interior Ministry used Special Hereditary Health Courts (German: Erbgesundheitsgerichte), which examined the Inmates of Nursing Homes, Asylums, Prisons, Aged-Care Homes and Special Schools, to select those to be sterilized.

On December 2, 1940 the Catholic Church in the Vatican declared that T4 was contrary to Divine Law and that "the direct killing of an innocent Person because of Mental or physical defects is not allowed".

It was the first time the Catholic Church openly opposed Mass Murder by the Nazis.

In the Summer of 1941 Mass Protests were held across Nazi Germany calling for an end to T4.

It was one of the few times the German People actually stood-up against Hitler and his Policies.

Officially, T4 was ended in August 1941, but Unofficially it continued until Germany was defeated in May 1945.

There were 6 “Euthanasia Centers” in Germany and Austria (Grafeneck, Brandenburg, Bernburg, Hartheim, Sonnenstein and Hadamar) and 13 in German-Occupied Poland.

Disabled Children and Adults were murdered in various ways.

Many were starved to death, some were gassed in Gas Vans and many were given Lethal Injections.

The Germans later used the same methods and the same People to murder other Groups (the Jews, Slavs, Homosexuals, Roma and Sinti, etc.) in Concentration and Deaths Camps.

After Germany’s Defeat in 1945 The Euthanasia Trials (German: Euthanasie-Prozesse) took place to try those responsible for T4.

The Americans and Soviets (and later the West Germans and the East Germans) tried many of the Doctors, Nurses and other helpers involved in Aktion T4.

Several of the Doctors committed Suicide either right when Germany was Defeated in 1945 or shortly before their Trials began.

Philipp Bouhler the Reichsleiter (National Leader) and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He was also the SS official responsible for the Aktion T4 committed Suicide in May 1945 after being captured by the Americans.

As with most things dealing with Mass Murder in Nazi Germany the West Germans gave light sentences to many of the Doctors and Nurses involved.

In November 2010 the German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology (German: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde) apologized for their role in T4.

In 2014, Germany opened The Memorial to the People with Disabilities Murdered by the Nazis on the site of Aktion T4 wartime Headquarters in Berlin.

Hadamar Killing Center in Hadamar, Hessen, Germany  where 15,000 Disabled Men, Women and Children were murdered under T4 continues to be a Hospital (there is a Memorial at the Gas Chamber and Crematorium.)

1,300 Disabled Men, Women and Children were murdered by the Nazis at the Mainkofen Asylum.