Ernst Sorger

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Ernst Sorger (born November 19, 1892 in Alt Zedlisch ; † August 9, 1945 in Liebenau (Graz) ) was an Austrian psychiatrist and senior professor at the "State Irren-Sanatorium and Nursing Institution" Feldhof near Graz as well as the chairman of the "Hereditary Biological Inventory “In Styria.

Life

From 1921 Sorger worked as a psychiatrist in the Feldhof sanctuary and nursing home (HPfA). From 1932 to 1944 Sorger was the primary physician in the women's department at the HPfA. He joined the NSDAP in 1935 and later worked as a speaker at the NSDAP's Racial Policy Office . In the SA he rose to the rank of Sanitätsobersturmführer. Sorger was also head of the “Erbbiologische Inventory” in 1940 and as such one of the “most exposed racial psychiatrists” and a strict advocate of forced sterilization .

Sorger switched from the SA to the SS and, as an SS doctor, achieved the rank of SS Obersturmbannführer . In 1944 he succeeded Oskar Begusch in the Feldhof institution , who had been the institution's director since 1939 and who had died in 1944 as a result of an appendix operation.

From September 2, 1940, Sorger belonged to the group of T4 experts for the T4 campaign . These "reports", which were mostly made on the basis of the files, were well paid: for 100 registration forms the experts received 100 Reichsmarks (RM), for 2000 registration forms 200 RM and for over 3500 registration forms 400 RM. With Begusch, Sorger also carried out so-called on-site selections in smaller infirmary and nursing homes; This was an Austrian peculiarity, which consisted in the fact that the general assessment procedure was partially replaced by the work of so-called "flying medical commissions".

On May 28, the first transport with 200 patients from Graz to the killing center in Hartheim started . For this selection activity, Sorger was released from the prison service three days a week. In addition to the psychiatric illness, the ability to work in the institution and the amount of care required were decisive criteria for the selections. By June 1941 another 13 transports had left for Hartheim. Of the 1174 documented patients, 601 were men and 573 women, but the total number is estimated at around 1500 patients.

In 1945 Sorger was investigated for the killing of 13 disabled children. But he committed in 1945 before the completion of the process in August suicide ; this also caused further surveys to stall. The responsibility of the other doctors and nurses involved could now be blamed on the two deceased former directors, while the others relieved each other.

literature

  • Wolfgang Freidl and Werner Sauer (eds.): Nazi science as an instrument of destruction. Racial hygiene, forced sterilization, human experiments and Nazi euthanasia in Styria. Facultas Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85076-656-X .
  • Clemens Jabloner et al .: Final report of the Historians' Commission of the Republic of Austria: Asset deprivation during the Nazi era as well as provisions and compensation since 1945 in Austria. Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56744-6 .
  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Styrian "Provincial Insane Sanatorium and Care Institution" Feldhof
  2. ↑ a b Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 588
  3. ↑ Eberhard Gabriel, Wolfgang Neugebauer (ed.): From forced sterilization to murder. On the history of Nazi euthanasia in Vienna. Part II, Vienna 2002, p. 415.
  4. ^ Wolfgang Freidl and Werner Sauer: Nazi science as an instrument of destruction. Facultas Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2004.
  5. ↑ Clemens Jabloner et al .: Final report of the Historians' Commission of the Republic of Austria: Deprivation of property during the Nazi era as well as provisions and compensation since 1945 in Austria. Oldenbourg, Munich [u. a.]: 2003.
personal data
SURNAME Sorger, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Old Zedlisch
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1945
Place of death Liebenau (Graz)