Michael Lachmann on the trail of his Chemnitz family history
Invitation to the press/photo session: on 7 October, 12 noon, Brückenstraße 6
On Friday, 7 October at 12 noon, Michael Lachmann will visit the two Stolpersteine that were laid for his grandparents Dr Alfred and Helene Lachmann at what is now Brückenstraße 6. For Michael Lachmann, who lives in Australia, it is one of the few opportunities to dedicate himself to his family history.
Beforehand, on Friday morning, Michael Lachmann will visit the Georgius Agricola Grammar School. The pupils of the grammar school took over the sponsorship of the Lachmann family's stumbling blocks in 2012. It was the first sponsorship with which the grammar school became involved in the Stolpersteine project.
Michael Lachmann then walks with pupils from Georgius Agricola Grammar School to his grandparents' Stolpersteine. There they will meet the historian Dr Jürgen Nitsche and the project manager of the Stolpersteine working group, Cornelia Siegel, among others. Michael Lachmann will be accompanied by Dr Margaret Humphreys and Ian Thwaites from the Child Migrants Trust. The organisation, which is funded by the British and Australian governments, helps former British children to find their families and identities again.
Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. The meeting point is 12 noon at the stumbling stones of Dr Alfred and Helene Lachmann at Brückenstraße 6.
Michael Lachmann was born in England and separated from his mother Ilse as an infant, who had fled there in 1939 because of her Jewish origins. At the age of five, he was sent to Australia as part of the British child migration programme. There, Michael was given a new name and a new identity and grew up without any knowledge of his family or his religious background. Michael Lachmann never saw his mother again, although she emigrated to Australia to look for him. She died in 1998 without the two of them being able to make contact.
About the Stumbling Stones:
Dr Alfred Lachmann (born 1889) moved to Chemnitz with his wife in 1912 and opened a medical practice for ear, nose and throat ailments at what was then Brückenstraße 14 (now Brückenstraße 6). He was arrested during the November pogroms in 1938 and deported to Buchenwald. He was deported and murdered in 1942. His wife Helene Lachmann (born 1890) met the same fate. She was deported with more than 1000 Jews from central Germany to the Belzyce ghetto on 10 May 1942 and murdered. Son Werner Konrad Lachmann (born 1924) had moved to Berlin in 1939 and was deported from there to Auschwitz on 29 January 1943 and murdered. Their daughters Ilse and Eva were able to flee to England and Palestine respectively.
(amended on 6 October 2022)