6 September 1944

Reich Minister of the Interior
Berlin, 6 September 1944 9255/44
To :

a. The Reich Governor [Reichsstatthalter] (State government)

b. The Oberpraesidenten (administration of the provincial association)

c. The County Presidents

d. The Police President in Berlin

e. The Lord Mayor [Oberbuergermeister] of the Reich capital Berlin.

Re: Mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles--Circular decrees of the Reich Minister of the Interior of - - A g 9255/&-5100 --.

1. Due to the considerable number of Eastern workers and Poles brought into the German Reich for employment, the assignment of mental cases among them to German asylums is constantly increasing. The purpose of such assignments must be in any case the speediest possible recovery to working ability. Thus every means of modern therapy must also be applied to those mentally insane people. But due to lack of space in German institutions there can be no justification for patients who are considered incurable and, therefore, unable to work again in a reasonably short time to remain permanently or for a long time in German institutions. In order to avoid this, the following is ordered:

2. In the following list I have established for each district in the Reich a collective list for incurable mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles. They should be assigned to those institutions immediately if possible. If this is impossible due to urgency or to transportation difficulties, the institution in question should deliver their Eastern or Polish patients to the collecting institution in their respective district within one month at the most. It is not necessary to carry out the removal if the patient is considered able to leave the institution within 6 weeks at the latest.

3. It is the task of the collecting institution to decide whether the restoration of working ability might be considered within a reasonable period of time.

4. The expenses from the date of registration in the collecting institution are to be taken over by the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office of the sanatorium in Linz/Upper Danube, P. 0.Box 324, which has to be informed immediately of such assignments. The fixed rate for patients of the general class will be paid to the institutions. The Eastern workers and Poles already assembled in collecting institutions are to be reported on a list immediately to the Central Financial Clearing O5ce. The expenses for those patient are transferred as from 1October 1944 to the Central Accounts Office.

5. After 4 weeks, at the latest, of the registration in the collecting institution a short report on the prognosis of the case and on the question of working ability has to be sent to the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office. It is the task of that office to direct the transportation of patients from the collecting institutions to nearby special asylums in their home district.

6. Only those people are to be considered as Poles who were brought into the Reich for employment. This decree does not apply to the local Polish population.

7. The leaders of mental institutions in the districts, etc., are to be informed by their superior officials, and the leaders of welfare and private institutions by their competent higher administrative authorities. The required copies are enclosed herewith.

List of the collecting institutions

1. For East Prussia, Danzig, and West Prussia and Wartheland: Mental Institution Tiegenhof.
2. For Upper and Lower Silesia and the Sudetengau :Mental Institution Lueben.
3. For Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Kurmark, and Berlin: Mental Institution Landsberg-Warthe.
4. For Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg: Mental Institution Schleswig.
5. For Bremen, Weser-Ems, Hanover-East, Hanover-South, and Brunswick: Mental Institution Lueneburg.
6. For the Rhine province, Westphalia, and Lippe :Mental Institution Bonn.
7. For Baden, Westmark, Wuerttemberg, and Hohenzollern: Mental Institution Schussenried.
8. For Bavaria: Mental Institution Kaufbeuren.
9. For Kurhesse, Nassau, and Land .Hess : Mental Institution Hadamar.
10. For Thuringia-Land and Province Saxony, Anhalt: Mental Institution Pfaffenrode.
11. For the Alps [Alpen] and Danube districts: Mental Institution Mauer-Oehling.

BY ORDER :

Wiesbaden, 11 September 1944
Landeshaus

11a One copy to the County Mental Institution, Eichberg. With the request to acknowledge and to take further steps.

BY ORDER:

Landesrat