Left to fend for himself
Franz Xaver Bremm was also arrested on a number of occasions for »begging«. The police apprehended him again in February 1938 as he sought shelter from the cold in a farmer’s barn. The authorities ruled that Franz Xaver Bremm was »workshy« and an »incorrigible habitual beggar«. On this basis he was admitted to Rebdorf workhouse in spring 1938.
Quelle: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
No. 2461
Re: admission of the unmarried agricultural worker Xaver Bremm, most recent address in Forstacker, House no. 10, to Rebdorf workhouse
Regensburg District Authority hereby issues the following decision at first instance on the abovementioned case:
Betreff: Einweisung des led. Landwirtschaftlichen Arbeiters Xaver Bremm, zuletzt wohnhaft in Forstacker Hs. No.10, in das Arbeitshaus Rebdorf.
Decision:
- The unmarried agricultural worker Xaver Bremm, born on 4 August 1887 in Forstacker, most recent address in Forstacker, House no. 10, currently in Regensburg Regional Court Prison, is hereby admitted to Rebdorf workhouse for one year, commencing from the date of his arrival.
- Xaver Bremm is to cover the cost of his stay in the workhouse. This decision incurs a fee of 2 Reichsmark and a supplementary charge of 0.40 Reichsmark. He will be granted a temporary reprieve from the accrued fees and charges.
Grounds for decision:
The unmarried agricultural worker Xaver Bremm was arrested at 2.30 a.m. on 19 February 1938 in a barn in Mariaort where he intended to spend the night.
It was established that Xaver Bremm already has 8 previous convictions for begging. In addition, he has previous convictions for physical assault and for being workshy. Although Xaver Bremm had only been released from prison on 15 February 1938 after serving a six-week sentence for evading work, he was found begging again in Mariaort on 18 February 1938. Xaver Bremm was therefore handed a new four-week sentence for begging on the basis of a penal order issued by Regensburg Local Court on 23 February 1938 (Cs 161/37 VR 61/38).
On the basis of the above, Xaver Bremm is to be regarded as
an incorrigible habitual beggar.
Given the repeated evidence of his propensity to commit crime, for reasons of public security and in order to educate Xaver Bremm to work and to lead an ordered life, it is necessary to admit him to a workhouse. Given his way of life and his workshy behaviour to date, if Xaver Bremm were to be assigned to compulsory labour. Outside the confines of an institution, there would be a danger of him leaving his place of work in secret soon afterwards.
The length of his stay in the institution was set by the district authority in advance at 1 year.
By this point, Franz Xaver Bremm had no one willing to take him in. His parents had previously looked after their adult son, but since their death in the mid-1930s, he had had no support at all from his family. Franz Xaver was considered to have a mental disability and, according to his family’s assessment, was of no use for any form of work. He was therefore excluded as heir and his nephew inherited his parents’ farm. Shortly before turning 50, Franz Xaver Bremm had to leave the place where he had spent his entire life up to then.
Soon afterwards he became trapped in the system of state-run institutions. After an eleven-month detention in Rebdorf workhouse, in April 1939 Franz Xaver Bremm was transferred to Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants.
Today it is only possible to reconstruct the individual biographies of many of those persecuted as »asocials« or »career criminals« by consulting official records or documents. The perspective of the people who were persecuted features rarely, if at all, in these materials. These individuals seem to disappear behind the indistinguishable series of formulations and judgements issued by the institutions. A few handwritten documents from Franz Xaver Bremm have survived. These do at least give an idea of his mindset and his emotions.
As one example, just half a year after being admitted to Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants, he wrote to the district administrator of Regensburg, asking to be released. He said that he thought constantly of home and yearned to return there.
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
I request my release
[…] I have somewhere to stay.
I therefore ask the
district governor to grant my
request. For I yearn
constantly for home.
When I get up in the morning,
I think of home. I would like to […]
my paternal home again. Hoping that my request
is granted. Heil Hitler.
As I have not deserved this fate, I kindly ask that the gentlemen grant my request.
Mr Xaver Bremm
Heil Hitler
His appeal for release was rejected and he therefore contacted the district administrator again the following year. Franz Xaver Bremm emphasised that he had never refused to work and he made it clear that he wanted to go back home, back to the farm.
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
To the District Authority […]
I ask the District Authority, the District Administrator,
to come to my aid, to help me. I cannot rely on my relatives. I can help out on every farm because so many have gone to war. I want to be at the farming estate […] in my old age. I was also a frontline soldier and have the Cross of Merit. I ask
[…] to assist me with my request. Sincere regards,
with German greetings, Heil Hitler
Franz Xaver Bremm
The renewed appeal was also rejected; Franz Xaver Bremm was not granted release from the workhouse. In desperation, he composed a letter to his sister, Kreszenz:
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Source: Personenakte Franz-Xaver Bremm, LKAN 11981 und 3174, Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Dear Sister, […]
I have […] now served my time and […]
[…] now all you have to do is write that I can start work for you, then I’ll also get out of here as people are needed right now […] because now
the work is just starting; as I’ve now been here
more than a year (I) need you so that I can get out of here;
all you have to do is give this letter (that) I’ve
enclosed to the district administrator, then
things will soon get moving, as
if I don’t get out of here now when there’s
work, then you’ll let me die here, in God’s name,
because I’m still alive,
I’m not dead yet.
Dear Sister,
And send me a package so that I can smile again; otherwise I’ll be really disheartened because I’m always here.
I’ll finish now. Many greetings to you all from your brother, Xaver Bremm. Little letter, fly up high, and fly back down, and fly back into my home town.
Greetings, Heil Hitler.
The letter to his sister, which the workhouse never sent, was to be Franz Xaver Bremm’s last plea for help. It is also the last handwritten document in his file.
What happened to him next can only be reconstructed using the reports written about him by others.
According to his file, Franz Xaver Bremm was »of no use for any form of work [any more]« and »increasingly« in need of care. In January 1943, he was therefore sent to Eglfing-Haar Psychiatric Hospital. There the nursing staff murdered him by withdrawing nutrition and through deliberate neglect (a process known as »decentralised euthanasia«).