• Memorial to the Victims of »Euthanasia« in Schwäbisch Hall
A memorial honours the former residents of the Gottlob Weißer home for the handicapped in Schwäbisch Hall. Many of them were murdered in the course of the National Socialist »euthanasia« campaign.
Image: Schwäbisch Hall, around 1936, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V., Emil Schwender
Schwäbisch Hall, around 1936, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V., Emil Schwender

Image: Schwäbisch Hall, undated, Memorial in front of the Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
Schwäbisch Hall, undated, Memorial in front of the Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
The Schwäbisch Hall deaconry, which was founded in 1886, began caring for mentally handicapped women in 1900. In July 1912, a home for the mentally impaired was opened on the premises of the deaconry, bearing the name of Gottlob Weißer, the initiator of care for the handicapped in Schwäbisch Hall. At the time, the home also began with the care of mentally handicapped children. In 1929, there were about 650 patients residing at the home although it could accommodate only 410 patients. Over 450 deaconesses were employed in patient care. In October 1939, the Reich Ministry of the Interior entered the home into a registry of all mental hospitals in the country. On November 14, 1940, the Gottlob Weißer home was seized by local NSDAP leadership and the »Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle«. The home management was given a week to vacate the building – there were about 550 women and children residing there at the time. In the course of the »Action T4« about 270 people were transferred to other institutions. All of the children were brought to the mental hospital in the close-by town of Weinsberg. After a short stay in Weinsberg, they were taken to the »T4« killing centres Grafeneck and Hadamar. In 1940/1941, physically and mentally handicapped people were asphyxiated there in gas chambers disguised as shower rooms. 265 mentally and physically handicapped women from the Schwäbisch Hall deaconry home survived having found refuge at farms in Wilhelmsglück, Veinau and Rollhof. After the evacuation of the Gottlob Weißer home, the NSDAP used the building as accommodation for German repatriates from the Baltics. From 1942 on, the building was home to a teacher training facility. Following the end of the war, American troops set up a military hospital in the former home for the handicapped.
Image: Schwäbisch Hall, around 1936, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V., Emil Schwender
Schwäbisch Hall, around 1936, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V., Emil Schwender

Image: Schwäbisch Hall, undated, Memorial in front of the Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
Schwäbisch Hall, undated, Memorial in front of the Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
About 170 residents of the Gottlob Weißer home – women and all of the children – were killed by poison gas in the »T4« killing centres at Grafeneck and Hadamar.
Image: Schwäbisch Hall, 1940, Children at the Gottlob Weißer Home and deaconesses shortly before their transfer to Weinsberg, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall
Schwäbisch Hall, 1940, Children at the Gottlob Weißer Home and deaconesses shortly before their transfer to Weinsberg, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall

Image: Schwäbisch Hall, 2007, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
Schwäbisch Hall, 2007, Gottlob Weißer Home, Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.
In November 1968, the city of Schwäbisch Hall set up the »Sonnenhof« home for the mentally and physically handicapped on the premises of the former Gottlob Weißer home. Since 1978, the whole hospital complex has been called »Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V.«. The former Gottlob Weißer home now houses a nursing home for the elderly. A monument in front of the Gottlob Weißer home commemorates the victims of »euthanasia«. Many publications of the deaconry hospital have dealt with its National Socialist past.
Name
Gedenkstein für die Opfer der »Euthanasie«-Aktion in Schwäbisch Hall
Address
Diakoniestraße 14
74523 Schwäbisch Hall
Phone
+49 (0)753 209 3
Fax
+49 (0)753 497 2
Web
http://www.diaksha.de
E-Mail
info@diaksha.de
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.
Possibilities
Archive containing documentation on the victims, publications on the topic of »euthanasia«