Tax adviser Alex Damm, a Roman Catholic, was born in 1886 in Böhnhof and is documented to have lived in Dortmund from 1927 onwards. He was unmarried, and appears to have worked in various professions, including as a merchant, an auditor and an office clerk. In 1935, he moved to his address at Burgwall 27.

He was denounced to the police as homosexual by a neighbour, after the latter had seen him in the company of a fifteen-year-old member of the Hitler Youth. Other reports confirm that Alex Damm was indeed homosexual, which in the Third Reich counted as a crime, and had various male acquaintances. Additionally, he had some previous convictions, and also in this case was found guilty. Moreover, with the help of the boy, the police were able to identify a circle of homosexuals, five of whom were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of between six months and two years. In this situation, Alex Damm could see no other alternative for himself than suicide: on 20 August 1936 he was pulled dead out of the River Ruhr.