Margaretha Severin
* 1901

Margaretha Severin, born on 6.8.1901 in Hamburg, admitted to the former “Alsterdorf Asylum“ (“Alsterdorfer Anstalten” now the Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf) on 1.5.1917, transferred to Vienna to the “Wagner von Jauregg - Curative and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna” ("Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien") (also known as the “Am Steinhof” institution) on 16.8.1943, died there on 2.6.1944.

Beim Schlump 27

Margaretha Hertha Auguste (callname: Margaretha) Severin was born on 6 August 1901 at the Eppendorf General Hospital in Hamburg. Her mother, Johanna Maria Henriette Severin, born on 18 December 1878 in Lübeck, worked as a cook and maid. She was not married to Margaretha's biological father Richard Prenzlau.

Johanna Severin placed her daughter Margaretha in the care of the seamstress Wilhelmine Jahn, who lived at Barmbekerstraße 165 in Winterhude. Margaretha's grandfather was appointed her guardian. The grandparents, accountant Johannes Carl Wilhelm and Augustine Caroline Catharina Severin, lived at Beim Schlump 27.

Margaretha's mother married Ferdinand Carl Heinrich Ludwig Carow, who was born on 13 September 1873 in Hanover and worked in the diplomatic service, on 26 March 1910 in London.

The Carows had five children in London: Johann Wilhelm Eduard on 28 October 1910, Sophie on 28 February 1912, Franziska on 23 January 1913, and twins Johanna and Nancy on 7 January 1914.

At the beginning of the First World War, the family fled London to Berlin in a hurry and had to leave their belongings behind. However, their income was barely enough to cover their living expenses. When Ferdinand Carow took up a temporary position at the German diplomatic mission in Constantinople in March 1916, his family remained in Berlin. On 11 May 1916 another child, Carl-Ferdinand, was born in Berlin.

Because caring for Margaretha, now fifteen years old, was becoming increasingly difficult, her foster mother wanted to end the arrangement. However, Margaretha's biological mother did not want to take her daughter in, citing her difficult family circumstances. With the help of the “Kinderschutz und Jugendwohlfahrt e.V.” (Child Protection and Youth Welfare Association) in Hamburg, Margaretha Severin was given a place in what was then known as the “Alsterdorf Asylum“ (“Alsterdorfer Anstalten” now the Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf). According to the association's records, the strongly built Margaretha Severin had suffered from convulsions since birth. She learned to walk and talk at the age of three. She attended the “Preschool for Children with Disabilities” with moderate success and the “Special School” until the fourth grade. Her intelligence was rated as low, but her behavior was described as good.

The medical admission form from Alsterdorf dated 22 April 1917, stated the following about her condition: “Almost no knowledge. Paralyzed on the right side. Unable to work. Cannot dress herself. Cramps occur every two to four weeks. Good mood, sometimes tantrums.” The police authorities classified Margaretha Severin as “severely mentally disabled and therefore suitable for treatment at the Alsterdorf Asylum.”

After some correspondence between the „Alsterdorfer Asylum“ and her mother Johanna Carow, particularly regarding her mother's contribution to the costs, Margaretha Severin was finally admitted to the “Alsterdorf Asylum“ on 1 May 1917. When she was admitted to Alsterdorf, she appeared sociable and was mostly in good spirits. Her former foster mother visited her often and even took her on vacation with her. Margaretha's mother was very concerned about her daughter, but was unable to visit her because she had followed her husband to Constantinople, where he had taken up a position as secretary at the German Embassy. The family later moved to Oslo.
There were repeated exchanges of letters between Johanna Carow and the “Alsterdorf Asylum“ regarding payments for board and clothing. Ferdinand Carl Heinrich Ludwig Carow also stood up for his stepchild, whom he had known before the marriage, to the management of the “Alsterdorf Asylum“.

In the early 1930s, the circumstances in the Carow family changed. Margaretha and the maintenance payments for her led to the separation of the couple. From 1931 Johanna Carow lived with her six children in Dresden.

In Hamburg, the “Hamburg Health Passport Archive” ("Hamburger Gesundheitspassarchiv") was established in 1934 for the purpose of conducting a “hereditary biological inventory” of the population. For this purpose, the “Alsterdorf Asylum“ also created index cards (referred to as “hereditary health index cards” or “family tree tables”) on which family trees and brief descriptions of the residents were recorded in consistently derogatory and judgmental language. The “hereditary health index card” for Margaretha Severin is still preserved. It states: "Pat.[ient] is severely disabled due to paralysis on her right side and needs help with personal hygiene. She is also very difficult to keep occupied and does needlework, which she does very slowly. As she is megalomaniacal, disputes often arise. She can become very agitated and then becomes violent. She often swears [using] very ugly expressions.“ The diagnosis given was ”epilepsy, porencephaly, imbecility."
(According to current knowledge, porencephaly is a congenital or prenatal brain malformation.)

During the heavy air raids on Hamburg at the end of July/beginning of August 1943 (“Operation Gomorrah”), the “Alsterdorf Asylum“ also suffered bomb damage. The director of the institution, SA-member Pastor Friedrich Lensch, took advantage of the opportunity, with the approval of the health authorities, to get rid of some of the residents who were considered “unproductive, requiring intensive care, or particularly difficult” by transporting them to other sanatoriums and nursing homes. On 16 August 1943, one of these transports took 228 women and girls from Alsterdorf and 72 girls and women from the “Langenhorn Sanatorium and Nursing Home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Langenhorn") to the “Wagner von Jauregg Sanatorium and Nursing Home of the City of Vienna” ("Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt der Stadt Wien") (also known as the “Am Steinhof” institution) in Vienna.

Among the girls and women transported to Vienna was Margaretha Severin. She died there on 2 June 1944. Margaretha Severin's patient file contains no information about the circumstances of her death.

During the first phase of Nazi “Euthanasia” from October 1939 to August 1941, the institution in Vienna served as a transit facility for the Hartheim killing center near Linz. After the official end of the murders in the killing centers, mass killings continued in the former transit centers, including the Vienna institution itself: through drug overdoses and non-treatment of illness, but above all through starvation. By the end of 1945, 257 of the 300 girls and women from Hamburg had died.

Margaretha Severin had lived with her foster mother at Barmbeker Straße 165 for many years. But Margaretha's grandparents were also deeply concerned about their granddaughter, especially during the transition period when her foster mother was overwhelmed, until she was admitted to the “Alsterdorf Asylum“. Because of the family connection, the stumbling stone in memory of Margaretha Hertha Auguste Severin was placed in the sidewalk in front of her grandparents' house at Schlump 27.