Rudolf – The beggar with the harmonica

»If I reported him, he said, he would never be set free.«

In 2022, Alfons L. Ims published a book about his family’s fate under National Socialism»Eine ›asoziale‹ Pfälzer Familie. Wie in der NS-Zeit aus einem Sozialfall moralische Minderwertigkeit gemacht wurde«. During his research, the author got in touch with another relative who had examined files about her great-grandfather, Rudolf Krieg. In his article, Alfons L. Ims recalls the life of Rudolf Krieg.

While researching my own family, I came across a great-granddaughter of Rudolf Krieg. She had delved into the history of her great-grandfather and collected numerous documents from various files. From these, the life of Rudolf Krieg could be reconstructed – albeit incompletely. With this article, I aim to commemorate him as one of the disavowed victims of National Socialism.

Rudolf Krieg was born on 12 July 1914 in Bad Vilbel, Hesse. The youngest of four sons, his father was a day labourer. Not much else is known about his family. Official records describe his father as an alcoholic and his grandparents as either alcoholics or »mentally disturbed«. One of his brothers served in the state police, while the others had prior convictions for begging.

Rudolf Krieg’s childhood and youth were marked by illness. He struggled in school, failed to advance twice, and left without qualifications – an illness confined him to bed. He began two apprenticeships, first as a brass turner and later as a gardener, but had to abandon both due to illness. He spent a year and a half in the Bethel institution and the Kalmenhof special education centre in Idstein, where doctors treated him for a nervous disorder. He was 19 years old upon his release. It is nearly impossible to reconstruct how Rudolf Krieg experienced this period. He rarely had the opportunity to speak for himself; instead, the National Socialists mostly spoke about him.

In 1934, Rudolf Krieg and his partner, Anna Eschert, were expecting a child. However, while still pregnant, Anna Eschert was hospitalised with gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted infection. The Municipal Welfare Office submitted an application to the Hereditary Health Court for her sterilisation. Their daughter, Margot, was born in February 1935, and in October of the same year, Anna Eschert was forcibly sterilised on the grounds of »congenital feeblemindedness«.

During this time, Rudolf was arrested and convicted three times for begging. In an expert report prepared by forensic doctor Ferdinand Wiethold, Rudolf Krieg stated that he »played the harmonica on farms without holding a trade licence«.

Rudolf and Anna married without official approval in Frankfurt in January 1936. Just two days later, his military service began. The absence of this approval led the district court in Frankfurt am Main to annul their marriage. The justification given was Anna Eschert’s forced sterilisation. In 1937, Rudolf Krieg was sentenced to three months in prison for »obtaining a prohibited marriage«. Although the authorities dropped the case against Anna Eschert, she passed away in Frankfurt in February 1938 at just 28 years old. The cause of her death is not documented in the available files. At the time, her daughter Margot was only three years old and was raised by an aunt.

Rudolf Krieg spent 1938 and 1939 in the Frankfurt mental hospital and the Weilmünster state sanatorium. The files do not indicate how he came to be admitted. In Weilmünster, he was diagnosed with »unstable, weak-willed, asocial psychopathy and congenital imbecility«. The experts were harsh in their assessment, claiming that Rudolf Krieg »tried to conceal his mental weaknesses with a superior smile and a self-confident demeanour«. This is one of the few instances where we learn something about Rudolf Krieg beyond accusations and convictions—though it is far from impartial. Based on this report, the Weilburg health authority informed the hereditary health court in Limburg an der Lahn, resulting in Rudolf Krieg’s forced sterilisation in February 1940. He was released one week after the procedure.

The Frankfurt health department closely monitored Rudolf Krieg. In November 1941, they reported to the criminal investigation department that Rudolf Krieg was working as a pimp. A woman confirmed this in her statement, describing how Rudolf Krieg took most of her earnings as a prostitute. She understood the gravity of her accusation and stated: »If I reported him, he said, he would never be released.« One month later, Rudolf Krieg was taken into custody. In 1942, the Frankfurt district court sentenced him to one year in prison. However, the National Socialists deemed individuals with prior convictions »unworthy of defence«, so his sentence was postponed until the end of the war. Reich Minister of Justice Otto Thierack justified this delay as a way to remove the »cowardly and dishonourable conscripts« incentive to evade military service through criminal acts.

As a result, Rudolf Krieg was not sent to prison but was transferred directly from pre-trial detention to the Rodgau-Dieburg prison camp. After a year, Rudolf Krieg wrote to his mother, describing his suffering (»It’s terrible if I have to stay here any longer«) and pleading with her to petition the court on his behalf. In May 1943, his sentence was declared served. However, Rudolf Krieg was not released. In July 1943, the SS transferred him first to the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp and then to Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen. He was categorised as a prisoner under the label »Aso«, short for »asocial«. Rudolf Krieg never regained his freedom.

Rudolf Krieg’s story illustrates how little remains of someone ensnared by the machinery of National Socialist persecution and how little it took to become entangled in it. Today, playing music without a trade licence is merely an administrative offence, marriage between two consenting adults requires no special approval, and pimping is legal as long as it is not coercive. Yet for such acts, Rudolf Krieg was sent to a concentration camp and ultimately to his death.

Rudolf Krieg’s brief life story reveals the close cooperation between health authorities, municipal welfare offices, hereditary health courts, and the police. Rather than supporting or assisting Rudolf Krieg, their efforts focused solely on protecting the National Socialist »national community«.

As the saying goes: Every man is the architect of his own fortune. But how can someone who has been burdened with so many obstacles, denied the necessary training, and provided with almost no tools become a capable craftsman, able to overcome these challenges? In a society shaped by a National Socialist, inhuman ideology that abandoned all humanity and empathy for the vulnerable and disadvantaged, this was simply impossible.

According to this ideology, Anna Eschert and Rudolf Krieg’s daughter, Margot, should never have existed. Yet Margot gave birth to seven children, who in turn have 11 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. That means 34 people are alive today because Margot was born before her parents were forcibly sterilised. Through them, Rudolf Krieg and Anna Eschert live on.