Heinrich Bachert
* 1909

Paul Heinrich Wilhelm Bachert, born on 25 Mar. 1909, arrested on 7 Mar. 1945 and detained in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp; transferred on 23 Apr. 1945 to the Neuengamme concentration camp and murdered there

Schenkendorfstraße 19

The married couple Wilhelm and Henriette Bachert lived in Hamburg and had two sons. Otto was born on 13 Oct. 1903, his brother Heinrich followed on 25 Mar. 1909. The family had a small apartment at Desenissstrasse 7.

Both brothers completed apprenticeships as metalworkers, subsequently becoming fitters. Heinrich found a job as an electrician with the Conz Bahrenfeld Company on Gasstrasse in Altona. Heinrich Bachert found his first apartment at Schenkendorfstrasse 19, where he lived until his arrest.

Heinrich’s father Wilhelm was a Protestant and his wife Henriette, née Levy, was Jewish, with the two sons raised in the Christian faith. However, with the “Nuremberg Laws” on race passed in 1935, Heinrich and Otto became “half-Jews” (“Halbjuden”), suffering from hostilities and persecution. In addition, Heinrich was politically active, participating in the illegal work of Germany’s Communist Party, the KPD.

In his private life, Heinrich had found happiness with Grete Ella Schulz. She was three years his junior, Protestant, and a native of Hamburg as well. Engaged since 1938, they faced considerable hostilities, though, the reason why no marriage came about for the time being.

On 4 Mar. 1944, their only child, Heidi Henny, was born. However, in the fall of that year, the family sustained the next heavy blow. Heinrich lost his job on 1 Oct. because he was a “half-Jew” (“Halbjude”) and his political convictions became known. By then, he was also participating in the work of the “Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen” group, a resistance organization in Hamburg.

The Gestapo took notice of Heinrich Bachert in early 1945, arresting him on racial and political grounds on 7 Mar. He was imprisoned at Fuhlsbüttel. Grete hoped to be able to help her fiancé by way of marriage. For that reason, they got married on 1 Apr. 1945, even though this was actually prohibited to them. “Half-Jews” were forbidden from marrying “non-Jews” without special permit, and such a permit was granted only in very rare instances. Just how Heinrich and Grete Bachert succeeded nevertheless in getting married is not known.

Heinrich Bachert was transferred from Fuhlsbüttel to the Neuengamme concentration camp on 23 Apr. 1945. Since then there has not been any trace of him, and he was probably hanged there without any sentence.

His mother Henriette Bachert already died on 3 July 1940 in Hamburg, her husband followed on 3 Aug. 1951. Otto and his wife Hanna survived the Holocaust. Heinrich’s wife Grete and their daughter Heidi also lived through the Second World War. In 1953, Grete remarried and lived in Winterhude.

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