Anna Katschenka

Anna Katschenka (born April 3, 1905 in Vienna ; † January 3, 1980 in Vienna) was an Austrian nurse in the children's institution " Am Spiegelgrund " and involved in the National Socialist children's "euthanasia" .

Life

Anna Katschenka is described by her former teacher and superior of the nursing school of the city of Vienna-Lainz, Theodora Kurer-Weiss, as one of the best pupils, who was superior to the others through her intellect, but also through her strong character traits. Katschenka had a social democratic background and was not a member of a Nazi organization. However, she was divorced from a Jewish man.

Participation in euthanasia

Katschenka first worked at the Karolinen Children's Hospital . Then from 1941 to 1945 she switched to the children's institution “Am Spiegelgrund”. The reason seems to have been the close relationship with her former boss Erwin Jekelius , who also let her in on the processes in the children's clinic and committed to secrecy:

“A few days after my employment at the Steinhof, Dr. Calling Jekelius into his ordination reminded me of my oath of service and of my duty to always maintain official secrecy and explained to me that I must never talk about the incidents in the institution or ask unnecessary questions. He said that I have now seen the poor children in the institution who absolutely cannot be helped, and I have seen how he deals with these cases [...]. Dr. Jekelius further explained to me at the time that children who absolutely could no longer be helped were given a sleeping pill so that they could 'fall asleep' painlessly. Later, a related law should be created, for which one would have to collect documents beforehand in order to make the law bite-sized for the general public. According to her information she was obliged to maintain secrecy about her activities. "

- Matthias Dahl: The killing of disabled children in the institution "Am Spiegelgrund" from 1940 to 1945.

Katschenka worked “Am Spiegelgrund” as a deputy head nurse; the management of the nursing service was head nurse Clara Bertha held, the sister of 1942 psychiatrist acting as director of Steinhof Hans Bertha . From the correspondence with the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft (RAG) “Heil- und Pflegeeanstalten” it emerges that doctors and nurses in the children's department were granted special payments for their activities; Gross received 200 RM , the head nurse Bertha 150 RM and the sisters Katschenka, Gragolj (Kraguly) and Dworschak each received 100 RM.

Katschenka also proved to be compliant with the system in other respects. In March she denounced the police officer Josef Milz, who was on duty at Spiegelgrund and who had expressed himself critically about the treatment of the patients. He was then arrested by the Gestapo, sentenced under the treachery law , and sent to the SS camp in Danzig. After four months he was released on probation at the front , was taken prisoner by the Soviets and only returned to Vienna after the end of the Second World War.

Processing after 1945

During the People's Court Trial in Vienna against Ernst Illing , Marianne Türk and Margarethe Hübsch , the nurse Katschenka was also heard as a witness on July 16, 1946. During the trial, Kachenka became involved in contradictions and was arrested at the court. In her first interrogation on July 27, 1946, she pleaded guilty to having been involved in "accelerating the death" of children; she also testified that she had given false testimony in the trial against Illing and comrades.

On January 8, 1948, the Vienna Public Prosecutor brought charges against the former nurse Katschenka for the crime of manslaughter . Katschenka had admitted before the People's Court that she had carried out 24 "accelerated deaths" on children. She received the killing orders from her superior Erwin Jekelius , in two cases from Heinrich Gross , and later from Ernst Illing . Katschenka showed remorse during the people's court process because of the killings she had carried out: “All the work was a heavy psychological burden for me. Today I see that I made punishable by me and regret my sins most deeply. "On April 9, 1948 Katschenka been to eight years in heavy prison convicted. The act was assessed as manslaughter and not as murder , since until 1997 the case law assumed that the mentally ill or weak could not be committed murder in the sense of an insidious killing, since those affected “lacked insight”.

After four years (including pre-trial detention), Katschenka was conditionally released from prison on December 24, 1950 with a probationary period until 1955. On June 1, 1951, she was able to start her work as a qualified nurse in Vienna's St. Anna Children 's Hospital. In 1956 she was described by the Vienna-Margarethen Police Department as "of good repute, calm and decent". In the St. Anna Children's Hospital, she was considered a "prudent, hardworking and conscientious person". In her petition for clemency, in which she applied for the lifting of the legal consequences of her conviction in 1956, she describes herself as a “decent person” who “will be worthy of support”.

In the verdict against Katschenka there is the subordinate clause that “other nurses refused to cooperate despite orders”. The institution for children "Am Spiegelgrund" was closed on June 30, 1945. The staff was taken over by the sanatorium “Am Steinhof”. It can be assumed that more of these people were involved in the murder of the 789 disabled children who died there; a total of around 90 people are involved in child euthanasia. Some who were investigated evaded the law enforcement authorities by fleeing: Maria Bohlrath (born July 10, 1918, child nurse), Erna Storch (born January 18, 1916, nurse), Emilie Kraguly (born September 4, 1914, nurse) and Klara Kleinschmittger (born August 23, 1909, infant sister). These women were wanted until 1958, but could not be identified.

Katschenka was supposed to testify as a defense witness on February 22, 1980 in the libel trial of Heinrich Gross against Werner Vogt , but died on January 3 , 1980.

literature

• Matthias Dahl: The killing of disabled children in the institution "Am Spiegelgrund" 1940 to 1945. (PDF)
• Gerhard Fürstler, Peter Malina: "I was only doing my job ": On the history of nursing in Austria. Facultas Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85076-619-5 .
• Karin Jirku: Coming to terms with National Socialism in Austrian nursing. Diploma thesis, Vienna 2010 (PDF; 1.2 MB)
• Michael Mann: The dark side of democracy: explaining ethnic cleansing. (PDF; 167 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oliver Lehmann, Traudl Schmidt: In the Fangs of Dr. Large. The abused life of Friedrich Zawrel . Czernin Verlag , Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7076-0115-3 , p. 160 .
2. ↑ Michael Mann: The Dark Side of Democracy - Explaining Ethnic Cleansing (PDF; 167 kB) assets.cambridge.org. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
3. ↑ Gerhard Fürstler: The participation of Austrian nurses in crimes against humanity in the time of National Socialism I illustrated in six NS (euthanasia) trials after 1945 (PDF; 38 kB) oegkv.at. Retrieved on August 18, 2011.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Karin Jirku: Coming to terms with National Socialism in Austrian Nursing , Vienna 2010.
5. ↑ Oliver Lehmann, Traudl Schmidt: In the Fangs of Dr. Large. The abused life of Friedrich Zawrel . Czernin Verlag , Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7076-0115-3 , p. 160 .