Bernotat, Otto Friedrich (Fritz)

Governor of the Nassau District Association, SS-Standartenführer

Born: 10.04.1890 in Mittel-Jodupp (later Holzeck, district of Goldap/East Prussia)

died: 04.03.1951 in Neuhof near Fulda

After participating in the First World War, Bernotat joined the NSDAP and the SS as early as 1928 and became head of the "Wiesbaden-Südstadt" party section in 1930.

After coming to power in 1933, Bernotat proved to be particularly unscrupulous when it came to "bringing democratic institutions into line". As a result, he became "adjutant" to the newly appointed state governor Wilhelm Traupel (SS). In "anticipatory obedience", he arranged for all caregivers at the Eichberg state sanatorium to provide proof of their Aryan ancestry even before the corresponding party order was issued.

Bernotat particularly supported the "dehumanization of psychiatry" promoted by Traupel. The daily care rate in psychiatric wards was reduced and small institutions were closed. A department for hereditary and racial care and an adoption office for "Lebensborn" children were set up in the Landeshaus in Wiesbaden, and forced sterilizations were carried out in the institutions. On April 1, 1937, Bernotat was given responsibility for all psychiatric institutions in Nassau as head of the district association's institutional system. Eleven months later, he became a city councillor.

As early as 1936, Traupel and Bernotat had spoken out in favor of killing the sick; by 1940, the mortality rate had increased from 6.6% in 1939 to 14%. The direct killing of people began with the so-called Action T4 (1940). The sanatoriums were transformed into a veritable "murder machine" for the destruction of "life unworthy of life". The Nassau district association under Bernotat became the most "effective" institution of Nazi euthanasia within the borders of the so-called old Reich. At Bernotat's insistence, the murder program was extended to include Jewish inmates, forced labourers and even brain-damaged soldiers.

In 1943, Bernotat received the "Golden Medal of Honor of the NSDAP" and was promoted to SS-Standartenführer.

Bernotat could not be charged in the "Hadamar Trial" in the fall of 1945, as there was no trace of him. Until his death in 1951, he lived under the name Otto Kallweit in Neuhof near Fulda, undisturbed by the investigations of the judiciary. His widow took the name "Bernotat" again in 1954 and applied for a civil servant's widow's pension.