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Erich Schütt * 1920

Gustav-Falke-Straße 9 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

enthauptet 15.01.1943
Zuchthaus Brandenburg-Görden

Erich Schütt, born on 28 Feb. 1920 in Hamburg, beheaded in the Brandenburg-Görden penitentiary on 15 Jan. 1943

Gustav-Falke-Strasse 9

The worker Erich Schütt grew up in a Catholic family in Hamburg. His parents were the postal secretary Hermann Schütt and his wife Erna, née Hahne. In his family, he was called Ele. With his brother Helmut and his parents, he lived at Gustav-Falke-Strasse 9 in the late 1930s.

When the Second World War started – he was 19 years old at the time – he was drafted for military service. Shortly after the outbreak of war, on 28 Oct. 1939, Erich Schütt’s daughter, Karin Gisela Moldenhauer, was born out of wedlock. The child’s mother was Gertrud Paula Moldenhauer. Due to the war and the ensuing events, a marriage of the young parents did not come about anymore.

In Belgium, Erich Schütt deserted his unit and hid with civilians. His father later stated that the son had left his unit for religious reasons, and his daughter’s mother remembered that he frequently went to church. She seemed to recall that he attended services at a Baptist church.

Erich Schütt did not succeed in hiding for long. He was apprehended and detained in Berlin. A court-martial sentenced him to death for desertion ("Fahnenflucht”). At the age of 22, he was executed in Brandenburg-Görden. In 1946, the urn containing his ashes was transported to Hamburg and buried on the Memorial Grove (Ehrenhain) in Ohlsdorf on 8 September.

On the day of his execution, he wrote a farewell letter to his parents:
"Dear Parents.
Now my last day has come, the state prosecutor paid me a visit, in a few hours I will be executed. By the time you get this letter, I will be at rest already. Please bury me in Hamburg.
Just before, I will take Holy Communion and then – for God’s sake. I am very calm. After all, each one of you has forgiven me and so has the dear Lord.
Send my regards to everyone once more and I wish you all the best, especially those who are soldiers, and may they all come through the war unscathed and bring lots of happiness to you. Take care of my dear Karin, I sincerely ask you, and pray for me that God may grant me eternal rest.
Please write to the brother of Professor Franz Mellemans, Hoegaarden by Fienen; Helmut can arrange the letter, and I am adding a few lines for the loved ones.
Be strong as I am too, I love you very much, now we shall meet again in heaven.
Your Ele”


Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: January 2019
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: StaH 351-11 AfW, 43840; Ursel Hochmuth, Nichts und niemand wird vergessen, S. 113; Datenbank Gedenkstätte Neuengamme; HAB II 1939.