Walburga Kessler

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Walburga "Wally" Kessler (born October 9, 1918 in Burgberg im Allgäu ; † July 31, 1944 in Irsee ) is a German victim of the Nazi racial hygiene . She was murdered at the age of 25 in the course of the " euthanasia murders" in the Irsee sanatorium .

Life

Walburga Kessler was the daughter of Adolf and Julianna Keßler (née Schmid). She was born after her grandmother Walburga Schmid. Prinzing (1864–1949) named. Walburga Wally was the fifth of seven children in the Keßler family. From birth, Walburga Kessler (Keßler) could neither hear nor speak due to cerebral palsy and could not walk independently. Walburga Kessler therefore had to be carried by her mother.

In 1928 the mother died in Sonthofen . The following year her father took her to the Jesuheim in Lochau . The Keßler (Kessler) family had Austrian citizenship and homeland rights in the Kleiner Walsertal . Walburga's grandfather, Franz Leopold Keßler, and his parents Joachim Keßler and Maria Barbara Keßler , née Schugg , were born in Riezlern . After Austria's annexation in 1938, Walburga Kessler was classified as "crippled", "incapable of education" and "incurable" by the local doctor based on an official medical report. On February 27, 1941, she was picked up by the German Red Cross and transferred to the Valduna sanatorium in Rankweil . There she was referred to as a “deaf-mute idiot” on March 24, 1941 and transferred to the sanatorium in Hall in Tyrol . In the medical file it was noted: “Walburga Kessler was bedridden, behaved quietly, did not need any medication, was completely in need of care and assistance. Whenever Walburga saw the doctor or someone from the staff approaching her, Walburga would laugh happily, for example, to make it clear when she had had enough while eating, and was happy when someone had something to do with her. Cried when leaving the institution, but seemed to understand that she was leaving here ”.

On September 2, 1941, Walburga Kessler was transferred to the Kaufbeuren sanatorium and then to Irsee . In the Irsee institution she was malnourished with a special, fat-free starvation diet (so-called e-food ) on the unauthorized initiative of the institution director Valentin Faltlhauser as part of the Brandt campaign . By telegram dated July 31, 1944, the father was informed that Walburga was critically ill and that a visit could not be permitted due to the risk of infection. Another telegram followed two hours later with the news of his death. Walburga Kessler was murdered at the age of 25 on July 31, 1944 by the nurse Pauline Kneißler on the ward in the main building of Irsee Monastery . In the registry of the dead at the Irsee sanatorium , the cause of death was " suspected type ". The corpse certificate was issued and signed by the senior physician of the Irsee Lothar Gärtner sanatorium and nursing home with the note that the cause of death was " heart failure " .

Walburga Kessler was buried in the patient cemetery behind the Irsee monastery church, which has been home to a memorial by the Allgäu artist Martin Wank for the victims of the murders since 1981 . During the trial of the doctors and nurses at the Irsee hospital for their involvement in euthanasia crimes, the court was given a list of 200 murder victims in 1948, which also included the name of Walburga Kessler.

Memorial stone for euthanasia victims in Kaufbeuren

In 2014, her name was subsequently added to a memorial for euthanasia victims on the grounds of the district hospital in Kaufbeuren .

Commemoration

Stumbling stone in Irsee
Stumbling Stone in Castle Hill

In memory of Walburga Kessler, two stumbling blocks were laid on the initiative of her great-great-nephew and with support. Once at her family's place of residence in Burgberg and at her place of death in Irsee. Her name is also immortalized on a memorial stone in Irsee and since March 2014 on a memorial in Kaufbeuren. The memory of Walburga Kessler and the other victims of the murders in Irsee is also preserved through film and video reports about the stories of suffering in the hospital and about the laying of the stumbling blocks.

See also

Web links

Commons : Walburga Kessler  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Magdalene Heuvelmann: " ... the right of home in local communities acquired under Austrian law - Walburga K. (1918–1944)" In: The Irseer Totenbuch - chronological register of the dead of the Irsee sanatorium from 1849 to 1950. 1st edition. Grizeto Verlag, Irsee 2015, ISBN 978-3-9816678-2-0 , pp. 406-408

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Magdalene Heuvelmann: The Irseer Totenbuch: chronological register of the dead of the Irsee sanatorium from 1849 to 1950 . 1st edition. Grizeto, Irsee 2015, p. 406 ff .
  2. ↑ Cordula Eberle: NS euthanasia in the 3rd Reich - Walburga Kessler. Retrieved January 3, 2018 (German).
  3. ↑ a b The "nursing home" was her death sentence. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Allgäuer Zeitung, July 15, 2014, archived from the original on December 29, 2015 ; accessed on December 29, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bv-opfer-ns-militaerjustiz.de
  4. ↑ Michaela Kiermeyer: Memory of "unworthy life" . In: Bayerische Staatszeitung , No. 40 of October 2, 2015, p. 12. Retrieved on January 4, 2018
  5. ↑ Michael Cranach, Hans-Ludwig Siemen: Psychiatry in National Socialism: The Bavarian Hospitals and Nursing Centers between 1933 and 1945 . Oldenbourg-Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-71451-7 , p. 396 .
  6. ↑ a b Matt Kessler - biography of Walburga Kessler  ( 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. , accessed December 28, 2015@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gedenkort-t4.eu  
  7. ↑ Magdalene Heuvelmann : The Irseer Totenbuch - chronological register of the dead of the Irsee sanatorium from 1849 to 1950 . 1st edition. Grizeto Verlag, Irsee 2015, ISBN 978-3-9816678-2-0 , p. 425-426 et al. 456 .
  8. ↑ Magdalene Heuvelmann: The Irseer Totenbuch - chronological register of the dead of the Irsee sanatorium from 1849 to 1950 . 1st edition. Grizeto Verlag, Irsee 2015, ISBN 978-3-9816678-2-0 , p. 302-303 et al. 406-408 .
  9. ↑ Der Kreisbote: "New stumbling blocks in Irsee" , accessed on December 28, 2015
  10. ↑ kriegstote.org: Walburga Kessler , accessed on December 29, 2015
  11. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Places of Remembrance: Remembrance of the "euthanasia" victims in Irsee , accessed on December 29, 2015
  12. ↑ dkp-muenchen.de: New Stolpersteine ​​im Allgäu , accessed on December 28, 2015
  13. ↑ Everything sick is burden , ARD film by Ernst Klee and Gunnar Petrich, 1988, 4:50 to 12:12, accessed on December 29, 2015
  14. ↑ Relocation of the Stolpersteine ​​on September 14, 2015 , accessed on December 29, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Kessler, Walburga
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kessler, Wally (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German victim of the National Socialist racial hygiene as part of the "Aktion Brandt"
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Burgberg in the Allgäu
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 1944
Place of death Irsee