United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Johann Alzen (1885-1945) and his wife, Katharina Baldus Alzen lived in Wieselstein, Germany (today Loučná, Czech Republic) with their four children: Benedikt, August, Agnes, and Albert. In May 1937, August Alzen was summoned to appear before the Hereditary Health Court who ordered his forced sterilization on the grounds of congenital feeblemindedness. In November 1941, Johann Alzen was convicted of undermining German morale and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was incarcerated in Münster, transferred to Neuengamme in May 1943, to Natzweiler, and then to Dachau in September 1944 where he died in January 1945.
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The Alzen family papers are arranged as a single series: I. Alzen Family Papers, 1922-1953
The Alzen family papers include identity papers, correspondence, and court papers documenting a Catholic farming family’s life in Nazi Germany, August Alzen’s forced sterilization, Johann Alzen’s death at Dachau, and the family’s efforts to receive compensation after the war. Documents include Agnes Alzen’s Arbeitsbuch; Albert Alzen’s Military Government questionnaire, Freie Deutsche Liga membership card, and statement about what happened to his father; August Alzen’s Deutsche Arbeitsfront membership book, military papers, court summons and sterilization decision; a certificate declaring Benedikt Alzen unfit for military service; Johann Alzen’s 1922 passport and letters he wrote to his family from the prison in Münster and from Neuengamme and Dachau; and Katharina Alzen’s Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes membership card and correspondence regarding her efforts to obtain compensation.
Alzen family papers