Friedrich Zerrenner
* 1897

Friedrich Zerrenner, born 19.8.1897 in Hamburg, admitted on 18.11.1907 to the former Alsterdorfer Anstalten, transferred on August 7.8.1943 to the Eichberg State Hospital, murdered on 19.12.1943 in the Weilmünster State Hospital

Großneumarkt 45, (formerly Kirchenstraße 5)

Friedrich Zerrenner was the eldest of the children of Heinrich Arnold Friedrich Zerrenner (born 2 July 1868, died 3 April 1951) and Wilhelmine Auguste Jacobine, née Clausen (born 14 November 1870, died 5 February 1953), who survived after their birth. Seven of his siblings are said to have died of congenital weakness. His parents had married in Hamburg shortly before Friedrich's birth on 27 February 1897, and both lived in the Gängeviertel neighborhood at Rademachergang 57 at the time.

Friedrich's father was a dockworker and came from Lengerich in the Tecklenburg region. His mother came from Pulvermühlen in Schleswig, she was a worker. The family's financial circumstances were difficult. Friedrich's parents lived apart from time to time. On 16 August 1907 the guardianship authorities withdrew custody of their children. They placed them in “otherwise” care. An employee of the youth welfare office considered it proven that Friedrich's father, who had no regular income, was “addicted to drink” and neglected the children's upbringing to a “high degree.” The parents were judged very negatively.

On 18 November 1907, Friedrich was transferred from the “public orphanage” to what was then known as the Alsterdorfer Anstalten (now the Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf). The referring doctor described the then ten-year-old boy as “utterly childish,” considered him “idiotic,” and found it incomprehensible how Friedrich, who attended a special school, could have kept up at all.

In “Alsterdorf,” Friedrich then attended the play school. His teacher there noted in an assessment that he was making ‘progress’ and showing through his “good answers” that he was making an effort, but that memorization was difficult for him. Friedrich Zerrenner suffered from several infectious diseases and often had to be hospitalized.

But according to one report, he was employed as an “assistant boy” in 1925, behaved well, was independent, and kept his department tidy. In his spare time, he volunteered to help with “carbolic driving” (carbolic is an outdated term for phenol, an organic compound that was used for lighting at the time (coal gas)).

At the age of 40, at the end of 1937, Friedrich Zerrenner was declared “completely unfit” for military service. Five months later, on 13 May 1938, he was forcibly sterilized at the University Hospital in Eppendorf.

From August 1942 onwards, his assessments became significantly more negative. They now stated, among other things, that he was “unable to hold down a regular job; mostly wanders aimlessly around the institution grounds” and “cannot be called upon to do anything, becomes easily agitated when teased by others, special attention must be paid to his cleanliness and tidiness, both in terms of his body and his clothing.”

On 7 August 1943 Friedrich Zerrenner was among the 76 male patients who were transported to the Eichberg State Hospital in the Rheingau region. Founded in 1849 as a sanatorium and nursing home, the Hessian institution served as a stopover for transfer to the neighboring Hadamar killing center during the first phase of “Euthanasia.”

However, Friedrich Zerrenner did not die at Eichberg, but was among the eleven patients who were transferred on 13 October 1943, to the Weilmünster State Hospital, which had also been set up as a collection point.

There, as in the Eichberg facility, the killings continued even after the official end of “Euthanasia” in August 1941. The most common cause of death was undersupply caused by neglect, starvation rations, and the administration of excessive doses of medication.

Friedrich Zerrenner died on 19 December 1943, less than a month after his arrival at the Weilmünster State Hospital. Allegedly from epilepsy.

Translation: Ingo Wille