Suicide: Lieutenant Commander Friedrich Steinhoff

Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of intentionally ending one's own life. It is considered a sin in many religions, and a crime in some jurisdictions. On the other hand, to some individuals it is viewed as an honorable way to exit certain shameful or hopeless situations. To be considered suicide, the death must be a central component and intention of the act, not just a certain consequence.

Not only does the recent death of Philip Markoff at the Suffolk County Nashua Street Jail meet the definition of suicide, it was also the coroner’s determination of mysterious death 65 years ago, on 19 May 1945, of Lieutenant Commander Friedrich Steinhoff, Commanding Officer of the German U Boat 873. Similar to Markoff, Steinhoff’s body was discovered in a cell in the Suffolk County Charles Street Jail, which the Nashua Street lockup replaced in 1990. The similarities of circumstances and motivations surrounding the deaths of Markoff and Steinhoff are eerie.

Throughout the world suicide is a common occurrence and is usually only news worthy in the context of suicides involving military personnel or veterans, murder suicides, adolescent victims of bullying, and as evidenced by Philip Markoff, the suicide of an infamous prisoner.

The obsessive coverage by newspapers, television, cable, bloggers and online news of high profile suicides eventually becomes old news when media attention focuses on the next news breaking story. But in its wake there is a treasure trove of historical documentation for future reporters and historians to discover patterns, similarities and hopefully, prevention of suicidal behavior.

Markoff and Steinhoff were both angry and embarrassed by their capture and imprisonment. In hindsight, it is apparent that both men viewed suicide as an honorable way to exit a shameful or hopeless situation.

Philip Markoff, 24, committed suicide by severing arteries in his neck, ankle and wrist with a makeshift scalpel constructed from a pen and a piece of metal. Steinhoff, 35, committed suicide by breaking his eye glass spectacles and using a jagged piece of lens to sever the artery in one of his wrists.

Markoff, one year to the day that would have been his first wedding anniversary, was found dead in his cell as he awaited trial for murder. In court appearances Markoff appeared stoic and showed absolutely no emotion.

Similarly, Steinhoff, after several hours of interrogation, was found dead in his cell. Extant photographs of his capture reveals a man stoic and devoid of emotion. Transcripts of his interrogation describe him as arrogant and menacing.

Steinhoff entered the German Navy in 1934 after having previously served in the Merchant Marine. His wartime experience consisted of duty on mine sweepers in Norwegian waters and two U-boat patrols. The U-873 was commissioned on 1 March 1944 and left on its first patrol on 17 February 1945. On 7 May 1945, while on course for operation patrol in the Caribbean, Steinhoff and his crew received news of Germany’s capitulation ending the war.

Steinhoff surrendered his ship and crew on 11 May 1945, and was escorted to the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, arriving on 16 May 1945. The following day, the captain and his crew were taken Suffolk County Charles Street Jail in Boston for interrogation and disposition to POW camps. A journalist described the arrival of the prisoners reporting, “The crew was marched in handcuffs through the streets of Boston where they pelted with insults and garbage.”

Similar to the Suffolk County Sheriff office assurances of safety for prisoners after the Markoff’s suicide, military officials issued a statement immediately after Steinhoff’s suicide that said extraordinary precautions would be taken to prevent similar suicide attempts by other Germans confined to the jail.

Shortly after Markoff’s suicide, there was an unauthorized release of photographs of his jail cell that focused attention on his psychological frame of mind at the time of his death. Comparably, soon after Steinhoff’s suicide there were rumors that his death may have been an end result of the interrogation methods employed by the military. In particular, one rumor was that when Steinhoff was returned to his cell after his interrogation his face was visibly swollen and bleeding.

Military sources at the time believed that Steinhoff possessed information of primal importance regarding a German plan to launch V-1 missiles from the decks of submarines, and whether Germany may have shared this technology with Japan, with who the United States was still at war. Military officials defended the interrogation tactics as based on “well-known psychological principles.” The interrogator admitted that he ordered a marine guard to slap Steinhoff, whom he described as, “a man of considerable physical proportions, threatening in his attitude and insolent in his demeanor, as well as extremely menacing and hysterically arrogant.” However, to some the rumors surrounding Steinhoff’s death indicated a treatment that contradicted the official statement.

Steinhoff’s death hardened the line of the crew of U-873, and soon after the crew was split up and sent to prisoner of war camps in several states. The U-873 was inspected by engineers at the Shipyard and transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and eventually sold as scrap.

The suicides of Markoff and Steinhoff, though separated by 65 years in time and a few city blocks in distance, certainly meet the defining criteria for suicide. But unfortunately, they are poignant reminders of the truth that countless numbers of human beings have and will consider suicide as an honorable means to exit certain shameful and hopeless situations.

Lieutenant Commander Friedrich Steinhoff body is buried in the military cemetery of Fort Devens, located in Ayer, Massachusetts.