A further 23 Stolpersteine to be laid in Chemnitz

On Wednesday, 29 May, a further 23 Stolpersteine will be laid at eleven locations in Chemnitz. They commemorate citizens of the city who once lived and resided in the same place and who were persecuted and became victims of the Nazi regime.
For the first time, Stumbling Stones will also be laid for Sinti and Roma who were also systematically persecuted and murdered during the Nazi regime.
Relatives from Germany and abroad will be present at the laying ceremony, including from the USA and New Zealand.

The ceremony begins at 9 am: In the presence of Lord Mayor Sven Schulze, an employee of the City of Chemnitz's building yard will lay the first stone on this day in front of the opera house - the stone will commemorate Anton Richard Tauber (1861 - 1942), who once worked here.

Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend.

The "Stumbling Stones" project conceived by the Cologne sculptor Gunter Demnig is being continued this year on the joint initiative of the City of Chemnitz and the Chemnitz City Association of the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime/Association of Anti-Fascists.

The 23 Stumbling Stones at eleven locations in Chemnitz in detail:

1. 9 am, in front of the opera house, Theaterplatz 2, a stumbling stone will commemorate Anton Richard Tauber (born in 1861): he was general manager of the Vereinigte Stadttheater in Chemnitz from 1912 to 1930. In view of fierce disputes within the parties of the city council over cultural and theatre policy, he decided not to extend his contract in 1930. From 1936, he lived in Italy and Switzerland. He died on 4 August 1942 in Pergassona near Lugano.

Sponsors: Rotary Club Chemnitz

2. 9.40 am, in front of the former Schocken department stores' (now smac, Stefan-Heym-Platz 1), four stumbling stones will commemorate Siegfried Strauß (born 1885), his wife Dina Strauß née Spiro (born 1894) and their children Ruth Betti and Walter: Siegfried Strauß was the director of the Schocken department stores' in Chemnitz from 1935 to 1938. Due to the ongoing "Aryanisation" of the company, he gave up the management in July 1938 and fled with his family to New Zealand to escape persecution by the National Socialists. They arrived there on 18 January 1940.

Sponsors: Friends of smac e. V. (Siegfried Strauß), pupils of the Georgius-Agricola-Gymnasium Chemnitz (Dina Strauß), Nadine and Stefan Grießmann (Ruth Betti Strauß), Steffani Löser-Föhse (Walter Strauß)

3. 10.05 a.m., four Stolpersteine are laid at Zschopauer Straße 54 for members of the Bulka family who once lived here: The merchant Henoch Bulka (born in 1898) and his wife Rahel Bulka, née Paperno (born in 1905), married in August 1933. Their children Doris Ida and Max Josef were born here in 1934 and 1938. Rahel Bulka and her children were deported in May 1942 and murdered in the Belzyce ghetto. (The ghetto had been set up in the Polish town by the National Socialists during the Second World War). Henoch Bulka had previously tried to flee Germany. His fate is unknown.

Godparents: Claudia Radelow (Henoch Bulka), private (Rahel Bulka), Abendgymnasium Chemnitz (Doris Ida Bulka), Montessori-Oberschule Chemnitz (Max Josef Bulka)

4. 10.30 a.m., a Stumbling Stone will be laid at Rößlerstraße 33 for the merchant Willy Lesser (born 1901), who was secretary of the Chemnitz General Consumers' Association and the surrounding area from 1927.
   As a staunch social democrat, he had pointed out the dangers of National Socialism in lectures at an early stage. In 1935, he was held in "protective custody" in the Sachsenburg concentration camp. After the end of the war, he was the first managing director of the Chemnitz consumer co-operative.

Sponsor: Susan Lesser

5. 11 a.m., at Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz 13, two stumbling blocks will commemorate Elsbeth Sommerfeld, née Markus (born 1884), and Gerda Kaes, née Sommerfeld (born 1911). The seamstress Gerda Kaes was last employed in the auxiliary kitchen of the Jewish old people's home on Antonplatz. Mother and daughter were deported in May 1942 and murdered in the Belzyce ghetto.

Sponsor: Dr Susanne Schübel

6. 11.20 a.m., at Hoffmannstraße 52, a Stolperstein will commemorate Irmgard Goeritz, née Frank, (born 1906): there are already three Stolpersteine there for her husband Karl Goeritz and their children Frank-Stefan and Irene Beatrice. Irmgard Goeritz was the only family member to survive the violent sinking of the passenger ship "Simon Bolivar" off the coast of England. She lived in London for a short time before marrying the educationalist Heinrich Selver in 1942. This marriage produced two daughters: Irene and Veronica.

Sponsors: Buntmacher*innen e. V.

7. 1 pm, at Barbarossastraße 77, three Stolpersteine will commemorate Berek Kagan (born 1870), his son Henoch Kagan (born 1900) and his wife Erika Kagan, née Alexander (born 1904). Berek Kagan was expelled from the country on 28 October 1938 and later murdered in occupied Poland. Henoch and Erika Kagan emigrated to Latvia in 1939 and met their violent deaths in the Riga ghetto at the end of 1941.

Godparents: Martina and Karl-Michael Hanisch (Berek Kagan), AGIUA e.V. Migration Social and Youth Work (Henoch Kagan), Tobias Arnold (Erika Kagan)

8. 1.20 pm, three Stumbling Stones are laid at Walter-Oertel-Straße 46 for members of the Rappel family who lived here. The merchant Hersz Rappel (born in 1896) lived in Chemnitz from 1919. His wife Recha Rappel, née Friedmann (born 1891) came from Berlin. The couple and their daughter Ingrid (born in 1921) lived in Chemnitz until 1938. They managed to emigrate to England and Italy respectively.

Godparents: Karl-Heinz Kleve (Hersz Rappel), Gabriele Mehrfert (Recha Rappel), Marika Lang (Ingrid Rappel)

9. 1.45 pm, a Stumbling Stone is laid for Johannes Strauch (born 1928) at Walter-Oertel-Straße 24. Due to a mental disability, he was only able to attend the André School until June 1936. From September 1943, he was in the Großhennersdorf state sanatorium, where he "died" a few months later. The exact circumstances of his death are not known.

Sponsor: private

10. 2.10 pm, two Stumbling Stones are laid for Mr and Mrs Hoff at Altendorfer Straße 17. They belonged to the Sinti families who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime. The musician Hugo Hoff (born in 1887) was imprisoned in June 1938 as part of the large-scale arrest operation "Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich" and was held in Buchenwald concentration camp until his death on 25 February 1940. His wife Martha Hoff, née Braun (born 1894), was murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp on 25 September 1943.

Godparents: Robert Djordjevic (Hugo Hoff), Albrecht Bodenschatz (Martha Hoff)

11. 2.35 pm, at Rosenhag 28 (Borna district) a stumbling block will commemorate Rudolf Dähnert (born 1909). The resistance fighter was arrested several times by the National Socialists in the spring of 1933 and spent several months that year in "protective custody" in the Sachsenburg concentration camp. After the end of the war, the staunch communist worked in the main administration of the city of Chemnitz.

Godparents: Barbara and Dr Frieder Jentsch (Rudolf Dähnert)

Further information:

www.chemnitz.de/stolpersteine