Close to people | Stories from Bethel
Exhibition: Insights into children's lives during the Nazi era
Irma - "Incompatible. Good pupil"
"Very quarrelsome, talks a lot and likes to tattle" - this is what Irma's patient file says. Irma suffered from severe seizures as an infant and was brought to Bethel in 1930 at the age of seven because her parents felt that the upbringing of her five siblings was at risk. She was diagnosed with epilepsy at Bethel. Irma was admitted to Haus Bethsaida, where she lived for several years and attended the institutional school.
The same descriptions appear again and again in the entries in her file. It seems that Irma had a very "lively, cheerful nature" on the one hand; on the other, she was characterised as "quarrelsome", "intolerable" and "stubborn". This had a negative impact on her interactions with the other children: she danced around on their noses, gave them nicknames, hit them for no reason and constantly played pranks. However, the file also mentions her good school performance. Irma enjoyed reading and maths and was always promoted to the next class. She participated actively and was a hard-working pupil, as is noted in many places in the file.
Irma's file shows a bit of everyday life in an institution like Bethel - despite her seizures, Irma was able to go to school in Bethel, learnt, knitted and crocheted. Later in life, she became increasingly demented, making it difficult for her to perform cognitive tasks. Apart from the first seven years, she lived her entire life in Bethel, where she finally died in 1977.
Heinz - Living and dying in Bethel
Heinz, born in 1920, was admitted to Bethel in August 1936. His mother sent him to Bethel as she was no longer able to care for him herself. This was not only due to his seizures, but also to his lack of speech and tendency to play pranks. To enable him to be admitted to Bethel, his mother reported more severe symptoms to the authorities, which led to him being placed in the closed Neu-Ebenezer home.
As Heinz was classified as "dangerous to the public" and "hereditarily ill", the hereditary health court in Bielefeld issued an order for forced sterilisation, which was carried out in Bethel in April 1939. In the preliminary assessment in 1941, Heinz was classified as Category I and was at risk of being murdered in the "euthanasia" programme. His mother was also aware of this and offered to take Heinz back at any cost, knowing that children were being murdered in other institutions. The mother's concern and efforts for her son were recognised in Bethel as extraordinary.
In the end, however, Heinz was able to escape "Aktion T4" at Bethel. Nevertheless, death caught up with him. In 1942, he lost 12 kilograms, but was "otherwise in good health." However, after injuring his hand following an epileptic seizure, his condition increasingly deteriorated. He had a fever, boils and refused to eat. He died in December 1942. Cause of death: "Circulatory insufficiency with advanced epileptic infirmity [...]".
"In Memory of the Children" is the title of the travelling exhibition of the German Society for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), which is now on display at the Bethel Main Archive in Bielefeld. The exhibition focuses on the crimes committed against children by paediatricians during the National Socialist era. For the duration of the exhibition until 17 June, the Bethel Main Archive is also showing the accompanying exhibition "It was all life that was in him". It uses historical files to outline the lives of children and young people in Bethel at this time.
The travelling exhibition and accompanying exhibition can be seen from 2 May to 17 June from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, at the Bethel Main Archive, Bethelplatz 2, 33617 Bielefeld. Further information about the exhibition is available online at www.hauptarchiv-bethel.de
This story simply told
The Bethel Main Archive is showing a new exhibition. It is about the lives of children during the National Socialist era. Historical files were looked at for this purpose. They tell, for example, about the lives of Irma and Heinz. Both children lived in Bethel. Irma also went to school in Bethel.
Would you like to find out more?
Contact us
Main Archive of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel
Bethelplatz 2
33617 Bielefeld
0521/144-3506
Offers & services
The main archive is the contact point for everything to do with the history of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. It is responsible for archiving all areas of work at the Bethel, Sarepta and Nazareth Foundations and for the Board of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. Everything that documents the development of the foundations since their establishment is permanently stored, made accessible, scientifically utilised and presented here.
