Jentsch, Martha

Martha Jentsch was born on December 10, 1880 in Wriezen an der Oder. She lived at Ebersstraße 72 in Berlin-Schöneberg. In 1907 she married an engineer, before that she had worked in her parents' store. She was a housewife and had a son in 1912. Her sister took care of her. Since the fall of 1941 she suffered from depression, for which she was treated several times in the Westend Hospital in Berlin and in a private hospital in Bernau. At the end of March 1942, on the orders of a Schöneberg doctor, she was admitted to the Wittenau sanatorium. The life story written down by a doctor when she was admitted suggests that Martha Jentsch suffered greatly from the effects of the war. Her depression had occurred after a futile attempt to buy clothes. She apparently did not agree with her incarceration in Wittenau. However, she had strong feelings of guilt toward other women who "stood their ground." To treat her depression, Martha Jentsch was given a course of opium, but it was not effective. In the middle of 1943, she was described in the patient's file as healthy, so on July 13, 1943, she was discharged to Oebisfelde to her son as improved. Martha Jentsch did not agree with this, however, and disagreements arose between her and her son. The latter brought her back to Wittenau in November 1943, which Martha Jentsch was "very indignant" about. She suspected that her husband was cheating on her with a younger woman and wanted to get rid of her. According to the diagnosis of the admitting physician, she did not show any symptoms of illness, but nevertheless she was transferred to Meseritz-Obrawalde on April 6, 1944. Only five days later she is said to have contracted pneumonia, from which she died on May 17, 1944. It can be assumed that Martha Jentsch became a victim of the murders committed in Meseritz-Obrawalde through the administration of overdoses of medication.