Margarete Hielscher

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Margarete Hielscher (born September 12, 1899 in Arnsdorf , district of Hirschberg in the Riesengebirge , † April 13, 1985 in Stadtroda ) was a German doctor who was involved in Nazi crimes as part of the " child euthanasia " program .

Life

The daughter of the merchant and community leader Otto Hielscher attended elementary school in her place of birth from 1905 to 1912 , then the Lyceum in Liegnitz for a year and finally the secondary school in Hirschberg , where she completed her school career in 1919 with the Abitur . Hielscher then completed a degree in medicine at the Universities of Breslau and Munich , which she graduated with a state examination in 1927. She completed her medical internship u. a. in the sanatorium and nursing home in Hildburghausen . From mid-May 1928, Hielscher worked as a trainee in the department for “ mentally ill ” women in the state sanatorium in Stadtroda and became an assistant doctor there at the beginning of April 1929. From 1930, Hielscher worked as a doctor in the youth psychiatric department of the Stadtroda State Hospitals, where she later worked as a senior physician.

She was awarded a doctorate in 1930 at the University of Jena with her dissertation "The sterility of the feeble-minded for racial and social reasons". med. PhD .

During the time of National Socialism , she joined the NSDAP in 1937 and also became a member of the National Socialist Medical Association and the NSV . Hielscher was appointed medical advisor in 1938 and was a medical assessor at the Hereditary Health Court in Jena .

During the Second World War , from 1943 to 1945, under the clinic director Gerhard Kloos , she headed a - euphemistically called - “ children's department ” at the Thuringian state hospitals in Stadtroda, which was affiliated with the youth psychiatric department. Of the children admitted there, at least 72 died. a. through food deprivation and / or fatal luminal administration .

“Intellectually, there is a high degree of nonsense (idiocy), which is to be regarded as exogenous with regard to neurological and encephalographic findings. With its total helplessness and need for care, the child is pure custody. In our opinion, it is completely unfit for education. "

- Margarete Hielscher in one of the 73 reports she wrote on the killing of a child entrusted to her.

After the end of the war, she joined the SPD and became a member of the SED after the merging of the SPD and KPD . She was also a member of the DFD , DSF and DRK .

Hielscher remained active at the Stadtroda Hospital and retired there in March 1965 as a senior physician in the children's department.

In December 1946, Hielscher was only interrogated by the police in Stadtroda as part of the prison crimes in Stadtroda with two former head guards. From 1965 it came into the focus of the Stadtroda district office of the MfS , which began investigations against the former clinic manager Kloos and other former prison staff ( operational process Ausmerzer ). In November 1964, the incumbent clinic director of the Stadtroda hospital, Erich Drechsler , reported to the MfS information from the clinic archive about euthanasia crimes during the Nazi era.

Although there was a sufficient suspicion of Hielscher's involvement in the killing of children in the children's department of Stadtroda, Hielscher was not brought to justice " to avoid discrimination against the GDR ".

literature

  • Matthias Wanitschke (Ed.): Sources for the history of Thuringia. Archived murder: The SED state and the Nazi "euthanasia" crimes in Stadtroda , State Center for Civic Education Thuringia, Erfurt 2005. ( (pdf), 3.19 MB )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Population register Arnsdorf 1927 in the Hirschberg / Riesengeb district. (PDF file; 45 kB)
  2. ↑ Jürgen John , Rüdiger Stutz : The Jena University 1918–1945 . In: Traditions - Brüche - Wandlungen, Die Universität Jena 1850–1995 , Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20248-4 , p. 380.
  3. ↑ Quoted in: Henry Leide: Nazi Criminals and State Security - The Secret Past Policy of the GDR , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-35018-X , p. 345.
  4. ↑ Kerstin Schneider : Euthanasia. Archived murder . ( Memento from August 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Stern . July 27, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Hielscher, Margarete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and euthanasia perpetrator
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Arnsdorf , district of Hirschberg in the Giant Mountains
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1985
Place of death Stadtroda