# Elli Helm

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Elli Helm connects Leipzig with the history of Nazi persecution of people with mental and physical disabilities. She was born in Leipzig and developed epilepsy during adolescence. Under Nazi hereditary health laws, authorities forcibly sterilised her, adding a personal story to a wider system of persecution. She later worked as a housemaid and in a retirement home. Her seizures became more frequent, and she passed through several hospitals before entering Großschweidnitz psychiatric hospital. She died there after a brief admission. The circumstances of her death remain unclear.

Großschweidnitz became a site of systematic killing during the Nazi period, involving starvation, neglect, medication overdoses, and patient transfers. A memorial at Großschweidnitz preserves the victims’ names. The memorial also includes a book, while exhibitions explain the so-called euthanasia programme and the medical system behind it. Her mother, Lina Helm, found no individual grave marker. Words from that encounter appear on a memorial, linking family grief with public remembrance at Großschweidnitz. Her story remains part of Leipzig’s historical record.

- City: [Leipzig](https://mytuur.com/en/city/leipzig/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ElliHelm_685b937c717a3e13abe9fe4c_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stolperstein_Helm,_Elli_\(Leipzig\).jpg)

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