Erwin Jekelius

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erwin Jekelius (born June 5, 1905 in Sibiu ; † May 8, 1952 in the Soviet Union ) was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist at the time of National Socialism and involved in euthanasia crimes as a T4 expert .

Life

Jekelius, who holds a doctorate in medicine, got his first job in 1931 at the curative education station of the University Children's Clinic in Vienna , where he worked until 1936. From 1933 Jekelius was a member of the NSDAP and the Fatherland Front . At the instigation of the President of the Evangelical Upper Church Council, Jekelius got a job as a medical officer for the City of Vienna. In March 1938 the Wehrmacht invaded Austria; It was followed by the annexation of Austria .

From 1938 Jekelius was a specialist in nervous diseases and from the beginning of November 1938 temporarily headed the outpatient clinic for nervous patients of the workers' health insurance fund in Vienna. In addition, he took over - from 1938 initially on a temporary basis and officially from March 20, 1939 - the management of the drinking sanctuary “ Am Steinhof ” in Vienna. After the outbreak of the Second World War , Jekelius was drafted into the Wehrmacht , but in mid-April 1940 he was again employed in the Main Health Office of the City of Vienna, where from June 2, 1940 to the beginning of August 1941 he headed the “Mentally Ill, Psychopath and Addict Care” department. A preliminary investigation initiated at this time due to 'fornication against nature' according to StGB § 129 was discontinued in August 1940.

From July 24, 1940 to 1941, Jekelius worked at the Viennese municipal youth welfare institution " Am Spiegelgrund " as medical director. During the Second World War, at least 789 disabled and / or behavioral children were killed in the children's department of the institution through the administration of sleeping pills, malnutrition or hypothermia as part of child euthanasia .

From October 14, 1940, Jekelius worked on patient registration forms as a T4 expert as part of the T4 campaign and decided, based on the files, which patients should be gassed in the Nazi killing centers as a "euthanasia case" . Jekelius also worked with other medical professionals (e.g. Berthold Kihn , Friedrich Mauz , Kurt Pohlisch ) on a euthanasia law (“Law on assisted suicide for the terminally ill”). This law was passed in October 1940 but did not take legal effect.

At the turn of the year 1941/1942, Jekelius was released from his position as director of the institution "Am Spiegelgrund" due to a dispute with the district youth welfare office because he exceeded the right to punish minors entrusted to him. Disciplinary proceedings initiated against him were dropped in November 1942. After a provisional representation, Ernst Illing succeeded Jekelius from the beginning of July 1942 . Another reason for being drafted into the Wehrmacht was an intimate relationship with Paula Hitler , Adolf Hitler's sister , whom he got to know in business contexts. Paula Hitler intervened with Jekelius on behalf of Aloisia Veit , a mentally ill cousin of Hitler, who was threatened with being transported to the Nazi killing center in Hartheim and who was actually gassed there on December 14, 1940. Paula asked Adolf for permission to marry Jekelius; this refused. Paula obeyed and then broke off her engagement with Jekelius. Another disciplinary proceeding initiated in October 1943 and subsequently discontinued related to an “improper” reply from Jekelius to the health officer.

At the beginning of 1942, Jekelius was called up again as a military doctor and was finally a member of a Cossack division . From August 1943 to November 1943 and from the beginning of July 1944 he worked as chief physician in the neurological ward of the Lainz retirement home , and a post as director of the Rosenhügel mental hospital was promised. He was also a member of the Vienna Anti-Social Commission. Jekelius was arrested in 1945 while fleeing by Red Army soldiers and sentenced to 25 years of forced labor in Moscow in 1948 for involvement in euthanasia crimes. He died of bladder cancer in a Soviet labor camp in May 1952 .

In the summer of 2005, the interrogation protocols of Jekelius were discovered in a Moscow archive, in which he incriminated himself and the doctor Heinrich Gross under him :

1941 , “after the arrival of Dr. We started in our clinic with the extermination of the children [...] my assistant Dr. Gross had completed a practical course on killing children. Every month we kill between 6 and 10 children ... Dr. Gross worked under my direction. He killed the children on the basis of his experience and instructions. After the introduction of Luminal (via the anus) into the child's organism, the child fell asleep immediately and remained in this state for 20-24 hours. Then inevitably death occurred. ” In a few cases, according to Jekelius, the dose was insufficient, then Dr. Gross injected a deadly morphine-based cocktail "to achieve the goal in consultation with me" .

In addition, during the interrogation, Jekelius confessed to having classified thousands of patients who were gassed in the Nazi killing centers as euthanasia cases.

literature

  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= Fischer 16048. The time of National Socialism ). 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
  • Ernst Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. The "destruction of life unworthy of life" ; Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag, 1983; ISBN 3-10-039303-1 .
  • Ernst Klee: What they did - what they became. Doctors, lawyers and others involved in the murder of the sick or Jews . 12 edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-24364-5 .
  • Michael Hubenstorf: Continuity and Break in Medical History. Medicine in Austria 1938 to 1955. In: Friedrich Stadler (Ed.): Continuity and break. 1938–1945–1955 Contributions to Austrian cultural and scientific history , LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7489-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Asperger fields: Hans Asperger (1906–1980, life and work). In: Rolf Castell (Ed.): 100 Years of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, V & R-Unipress, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89971-509-5 , p. 102.
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 286.
  3. ^ A b c d Michael Hubenstorf: Continuity and rupture in the history of medicine. Medicine in Austria 1938 to 1955. In: Friedrich Stadler (Hrsg.): Continuity and break. 1938–1945–1955: Contributions to Austrian cultural and scientific history. LIT Verlag, Berlin-Hamburg-Münster 2004, p. 328 f.
  4. ↑ a b c Ulrich Weinzierl : A terrible psychiatrist. In: Die Welt from November 14, 2005.
  5. ↑ Guido Knopp (Ed.): Secrets of the "Third Reich" , 2011
  6. ↑ a b "Euthanasia" .
  7. ↑ Quoted in: Ulrich Weinzierl: A terrible psychiatrist. In: Die Welt from November 14, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Jekelius, Erwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian psychiatrist and Aktion T4 expert
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Sibiu
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1952
Place of death Soviet Union