Velpke
This kind of establishments were created under a decree of Heinrich Himmler of 27 Jul 1943. Babies were to be separated from the mothers as soon as possible after the delivery while the mothers were to keep on working as forced labourers. The Velpke establishment was created in May 1944 and it functioned until the 14th of December that year in barracks in the area of a quarry. The conditions were horrible there - everything was scarce, from lack of tap water and electricity, to hygiene and nutrition, health care or doctor's assistance. Still, mothers were obliged to pay one Deutschmark per day for the baby's stay in the establishment, and after its death they had to pay 15 Deutschmarks for the funeral. The establishment was closed when a Volkswagen factory located nearby requested for the barracks. The babies that were still alive were transferred to an establishment in Rühen, which was also virtually an establishment of death.
The entity responsible for the functioning of this king of facilities was NSDAP, though there were no standards of their functioning. Undoubtedly, their main goal was to get rid of the babies as fast as possible by leading them to death. Between the 20th of March and the 3rd of April 1946 several persons connected with the establishment were court-martial before the British court in Braunschweig and they were held accountable for their deeds. Four persons were convicted - the provincial head of NSDAP who was also an officer of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) Georg Hessling and the provincial NSDAP organisation supervisor Heinrich Gerike were sentence to death by hanging. The sentences were executed on the 8th of October 1946 in the penal institution in Hameln. The supervisor of the establishment, Valentina Bilien, was sentenced to 15 years in a high security prison, while medical doctor Richard Demmerick was sentenced to 10 years in a high security prison.
On the 16th of November 1996 a memorial plaque was unveiled at the cemetery in Velpke by the mass grave of Polish and Soviet newborn babies. The ceremony was attended, among others, by Andrzej Przewoźnik, Secretary General of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites in Warsaw, Mieczysław Sokołowski, General Consul from the Consulate in Hamburg, the Mayor of Velpke, representatives of the Polish Catholic Mission in Germany, representatives of the commune of Velpke and the inhabitants. On this occasion Ms. Bernhild Vögel, who exposed and documented the forgotten felony, was awarded the Gold Medal of the Protector of National Remembrance Sites.
The following is the bilingual inscription (polish, german) from the memorial plaque:
„JEŚLI ECHO ICH GŁOSÓW UMILKNIE – ZGINIEMY”
TU W 1944 R. POCHOWANO OFIARY II WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ: 76 POLSKICH I 15 ROSYJSKICH NIEMOWLĄT. URODZONE PRZEZ ROBOTNICE PRZYMUSOWE ODERWANE OD MATEK, ZMARŁY Z WYCIEŃCZENIA W DOMU DZIECKA W VELPKE. ICH CIERPIENIA SĄ CZĘŚCIĄ HISTORII EUROPY XX WIEKU.
X. 1996 RODACY Z POLSKI
„WENN DAS ECHO IHRER STIMMEN VERHALLEN WIRD – WERDEN WIR ZUGRUNDE GEHEN”
HIER WURDEN IM JAHRE 1944 OPFER DES II WELTKRIEGES BEGRABEN: 76 POLNISCHE UND 15 RUSSISCHE SÄUGLINGE. GEBOREN VON ZWANGSARBEITERINNEN, GETRENNT VON IHREN MÜTTERN, STARBEN SIE AN ERSCHÖPFUNG IM KINDERHEIM VELPKE IHRE LEIDEN SIND EIN TEIL DER GESCHICHTE EUROPAS DES XX. JAHRHUNDERTS.
X.1996 LANDSLEUTE AUS POLEN
