Ernst Weiss (painter)

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Ernst (Samuel) Weiß (born July 31, 1920 in Calw ; † September 20, 2009 in Wilhelmsdorf , Baden-Württemberg ) was a German painter with intellectual disabilities who, in 1940/1941, narrowly fell victim to the National Socialist euthanasia , the so-called T4 -Action escaped. As a person with mild cognitive and severe hearing impairments, he was considered "deaf and dumb" and unable to educate from an early age. From the age of 7 until his death he lived in the Zieglerschen Anstalten in Wilhelmsdorf. From early youth he was an avid painter. The majority of his approximately 800 drawings that have survived are now in the collection of the Aktion-Kunst-Stiftung in Soest ( North Rhine-Westphalia ).

biography

Childhood and youth

Ernst Samuel Weiß was born as the illegitimate son of Friederike (Frieda) Weiß in Calw and grew up in the household of his grandmother Friederike Hölzle because his mother worked outside the home. His childhood was marked by frequent illnesses. He didn't learn to walk until he was three and could only speak a few words. In 1927 he was admitted to the institution for the deaf and dumb of the Ziegler institutions in Wilhelmsdorf. A report from the Tübingen Mental Hospital had previously confirmed that he was imbecile .

Although he learned cursive and sign language in Wilhelmsdorf, he still lacked language skills, so that the director of the institution, in a report to the youth welfare office in 1937, did not consider him suitable for learning a trade.

Forced sterilization

From then on, white was not only considered deaf and dumb, but also hereditary demon. By order of 15 March 1938, the disposal Hereditary Health Court in Ravensburg for the purposes of the 1933 by the Nazis adopted the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring (GezVeN) the forced sterilization of Ernst White "because of congenital imbecility". The operation was carried out on April 13, 1938 in the city hospital in Ravensburg. Neither the affected persons nor their relatives had an opportunity to appeal against this measure, which was ordered by the relevant hereditary health court.

Victim and survivor of the T4 campaign

As part of the National Socialist euthanasia laws, Weiß became a victim of the so-called T4 campaign in 1941. On March 24th, he was transferred to Weinsberg with 18 other patients from Ziegler's institutions. After a positive assessment by the head of the institution in Weinsberg about Weiss' ability to work with a good physical constitution, he was ordered to move back to Wilhelmsdorf. Weiß was the only survivor of the Nazi euthanasia in the Zieglerschen Anstalten in Wilhelmsdorf. During this time, his mother Frieda Weiß did everything possible to protect her son and to keep control of his whereabouts.

Ernst Weiss as a painter

White is an example of those “euthanasia” victims who survived but remained traumatized throughout their lives. His pictures testify to the will to cope with his stressful memories. He always painted and drew autonomously and evaded all attempts at artistic or therapeutic influence on the part of third parties, so that his pictures can be considered authentic evidence of his (survival) life and his personal self-assertion. A total of over 800 drawings by him are known today. He used commercially available crayons and watercolors as well as the simplest coloring pads, mostly in Din A4 or Din A3.

At first glance, his pictures show the same agricultural landscapes with numerous figures in motion. Given the color, technical simplicity and richness of detail, assigning the image compositions the attribute "naive" does not go far enough. Using complex symbolic motifs, he created pictorial narratives about the circumstances of his life and survival.

The painter motif and the family motif

While the actual landscape representation as well as the human figures, teams of horses and vehicles form the background tableau of his works, he depicts oversized bags, packages, items of clothing and painting utensils in each picture. White used the perspective to emphasize the central motifs for him. With the pictorial elements for the context of painting such as canvases, brushes, pens and color palettes, he represented himself as a painter. The handbags, shirts, coats and z. In contrast, sometimes huge packages symbolize his family and their care.

The handcart-and-cart motif

The numerous, meticulously drawn handcarts and carts indicate the specific work done by Weiß in the intermediate facility in Weinsberg, where he was used for work in the farms belonging to the facility, the gardening and the domain. Here he regularly did agricultural work with the so-called "cart group". The abundance of figures in the pictures pulling or pushing handcarts of all kinds and their almost manic agitation and activity shows that Ernst Weiß was only too aware of the lifesaving importance of his work.

The forest motif

The forest motif is present in almost all pictures, but in its concrete representation it is very different: Accessed by a path and consisting of individual tall trees, the forest appears as a space for walks, as a dark, closed, almost abstractly designed color surface with jagged, On the other hand, it becomes impenetrable when external borders appear repellent.

The picture-in-picture motif

In almost every picture, between numerous people, there is an easel on which there is a picture with typical landscapes of white. A table can often be seen in front of the easel, at which one or more mostly male people sit and look at the picture on the easel. An assessment or examination situation may be staged here, the importance of which Ernst Weiß also emphasized here through the particular size of the execution.

literature

  • Inga Bing-von Häfen: The responsibility weighs heavily ... Euthanasia murders of inmates in the Ziegler institutions. Ostfildern 2013.
  • Bärbel Cöppicus-Wex: Only one returned. On: Memorial site-t4
  • Robert Jütte et al. (Ed.): Medicine and National Socialism. Results and perspectives of research. 2nd edition Göttingen 2011.
  • Jochen-Christoph Kaiser et al. (Ed.): Eugenics Sterilization "Euthanasia". Political Biology in Germany 1895–1954. A documentation. Berlin 1992.
  • Ernst Klee : "Euthanasia" in the Third Reich. The destruction of "life unworthy of life". 2nd edition Frankfurt a. M. 2010.
  • Henry Friedlander : The Road to Nazi Genocide. From euthanasia to the final solution. Berlin 1997.

Movies

  • “Deaf victims of forced sterilization and 'euthanasia' during the Nazi era.” Documentary by Helmut Vogel. Germany 2015. 54 min. Language / Sound: German sign / spoken language and German subtitles. On-line

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ StA Ludwigsburg F 235 III: patient sheets Bü 927: Ernst Weiß .
  2. Inga Bing-von Häfen: The responsibility weighs heavily ... Euthanasia murders of foster inmates in Ziegler's institutions . Ostfildern 2013, p. 85-88 .
  3. documentArchiv.de - Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Offspring (July 14, 1933). Retrieved April 10, 2019 .
  4. ^ Hans-Walter Schmuhl: Forced sterilization . In: Robert Jütte et al. (Ed.): Medicine and National Socialism. Results and perspectives of research . 2nd Edition. Göttingen 2011, p. 201-213 .
  5. ^ StA Sigmaringen Wü 66: Health authorities T 2 No. 371 .
  6. Inga Bing-von-Häfen: The responsibility is heavy ... Euthanasia murders of inmates of the Ziegler institutions . Ostfildern 2013, p. 85-88 .
  7. Bärbel Cöppicus-Wex: Only one returned. In: Gedenkort-t4. Arbeitsgemeinschaft gedenkort-t4.eu, August 16, 2018, accessed on April 3, 2019 .
  8. Ernst Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Third Reich. The destruction of "life unworthy of life" . 2nd Edition. Frankfurt a. M. 2010, p. 212 f .
  9. Hans-Walter Schmuhl: Euthanasia and the murder of the sick . In: Robert Jütte u. a. (Ed.): Medicine and National Socialism. Balance sheet and perspectives of research . Göttingen 2011, p. 214–255, here: 227 .
  10. ^ StA Ludwigsburg F 234 II: State Sanatorium Weinsberg: Patient files men Bü 2543: Ernst White .