Biographie

In 1925, Anna M. was born in the village of Meckbach in today's district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg. Both her father and mother were labourers. It was in Meckbach that she grew up with two younger siblings and attended elementary school. After leaving school, she did not receive any vocational training, but was employed as a labourer at Vereinigte Jute-Spinnereien und Webereien, the jute spinning and weaving mill in Hersfeld.

Her workhouse case file shows that she was picked up by the police three times in Kassel and Hofgeismar during the autumn of 1944. After each incident, her father had to collect his 19-year-old daughter in Kassel. She finally came into police custody after she was picked up near the Hersfeld barracks – she was accused of sexual wantonness and nymphomania (Männertollheit). While she was detained at the Hersfeld police station, she was subjected to various medical examinations to determine whether Anna M. should be taken to a workhouse or a state hospital. In the course of the process, an intelligence test was also carried out. On 28 October 1944, the medical officer examining Anna M. concluded that although she was physically healthy, she suffered from "moral insanity” (moralischer Schwachsinn). This diagnosis meant that Anna M. was not sent to a psychiatric institution. Instead, the doctor from the Hersfeld state health office ordered Anna M. to be admitted to the Breitenau workhouse on 28 October 1944 "on the grounds of moral fault". Anna M.'s father had to agree to this and bring his daughter to Breitenau personally. She was registered at the Breitenau welfare home on 29 October 1944. The application for transfer to the "Uckermark Youth Protection Camp" (Jugendschutzlager Uckermark) already followed on November 6^th. Due to wartime chaos, Anna M. remained in Breitenau and was liberated on 31 March 1945 by American soldiers.

Nothing is known about the further course of her life.