Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Johannes Strauch
Johannes Strauch
Born: 22/09/1928
Died: 02.05.1944
Laying location:
Helenenstraße 24 (today Walter-Oertel-Straße)Stumbling stone laying on:
29 May 2024
Photos of the laying of the Stumbling Stones
Life path
Johannes Christoph Strauch may have been one of the girls and boys who fell victim to the second phase of National Socialist "euthanasia". In this phase, the authorities faked a "natural" death with Luminal, Veronal and starvation food. He was born in Chemnitz as the tenth child of Bruno Richard Strauch and Auguste Agnes Müller. His parents had married in the city on 26 July 1908. His father was a commercial agent by profession. The parents brought up their children in the spirit of the Old Lutheran Trinity Church.
Johannes fell ill as a child. In June 1936, he was removed from the school rolls of the André School for Boys by order of the district education authority. According to a medical certificate from paediatrician Dr Kurt Oxenius (1881-1950), who had known the child since birth, Johannes suffered from "mongoloid idiocy", as the clinical picture of defective psychosis was disparagingly described at the time. In August 1943, the doctor recommended that the worried father be placed in a nursing home. For him, only the "Katharinenhof Institution" in Großhennersdorf, which had once been founded as the "Royal Saxon State Institution for feeble-minded children", came into question. From 1911 onwards, it was used to "accommodate the educationally incapable feebleminded" of the state of Saxony. As early as 22 July 1943, Auguste Strauch contacted the director of the Katharinenhof with an enquiry as to whether the institution would "take care of her Hansel"? The head of the institution immediately enquired about her son's age and pointed out that there was only a "ward for adult male imbeciles". Richard Strauch then filled in the questionnaire sent to him. Before the management decided on admission, the father had to answer a few more questions: "1. my son Johannes is fit for work and also enjoys working. 2. he is absolutely clean, he can also speak, he just stutters a little. 3. he gets on well with his mates. 4. his nonsense hasn't got any worse". It was not until 3 September 1943 that all the organisational issues were resolved. Accompanied by his father, Johannes Strauch was handed over into the care of the institution.
Richard Strauch enquired about his son's condition a month later. A nurse told him that Johannes had settled in well, was behaving decently and was willing to go to work. Over Christmas 1943, he spent three weeks with his parents in Chemnitz.
Johannes, who had developed into a "dear, good and willing boy" in the eyes of the institution staff, suddenly fell ill at the end of April 1944. His condition deteriorated suddenly, so that he fell asleep "quietly and peacefully" in the presence of a nurse on 2 May 1944. The cause of death was given as "heart attack". The prison inspector informed the parents by telegram that their son had "gone home" and suggested that he be buried in the cemetery in Großhennersdorf. A transfer to Chemnitz was ruled out because the Reichsbahn was no longer allowed to provide carriages for transporting bodies due to the war. Stephan Dicke was the initiator of the Stumbling Stone in memory of his unknown uncle. He died on 6 August 2023.
Author: Dr Jürgen Nitsche
Stumbling stones in Chemnitz
It is a project against forgetting: stumbling stones have been laid in Chemnitz every year since 2007.
Embedded in the pavement, the memorial stones commemorate the tragic fates of fellow citizens who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths during the National Socialist regime.
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