The city of Chemnitz has published a new brochure about the Stolpersteine project. The 16-page booklet is now available in printed form from the town hall and as a download at www.chemnitz.de/stolpersteine.
In addition to information on the art project and the work of the Stumbling Stones Working Group in Chemnitz, it presents the lives of five different groups of victims. One life story each describes the fate of Jewish families, political dissidents, disabled people, homosexuals and Sinti and Roma. They are a representative reminder of the many people who were persecuted, deported and murdered under National Socialism.
Persecuted people and their stories
The biography of the Jewish Sander family, who owned a furniture store in Dresden Straße, shows how they were dispossessed, marginalised, arrested and deported. Son Herbert is presumed missing after his deportation to the Belzyce ghetto on 10 May 1942. Mother Sophie and son Ernst were deported to Theresienstadt and returned to Chemnitz on 9 June 1945, ill and scarred.
Because Willy Lesser drew attention to the dangers of National Socialism, he was convicted of high treason in 1935 and sent to Sachsenburg concentration camp. He later wrote about his experiences in the book "Bubu".
Gerhard Rothe was one of many victims of euthanasia. After living in a sanatorium and nursing home for eight years, he was murdered as part of Aktion T4, along with more than 70,000 other people with physical, mental and psychological disabilities and mental illnesses.
Adolf Wilhelmi was homosexual, which meant that the National Socialists categorised him as a "pest of the people". Convicted several times before 1933 because of his sexuality, he had to serve two prison sentences after the National Socialists seized power. Instead of being released, he was deported to Dachau concentration camp in 1942 and murdered there.
Sinti and Roma were arrested during the "Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich" (ASR) and transferred to concentration camps. Hugo and Martha Hoff from the Altendorf neighbourhood and their children and grandchildren also met this fate. Only one son survived the extermination of the family.
Background
Every year, Stumbling Stones are laid in Chemnitz, new life paths are researched and people are honoured in their memory. The city of Chemnitz is looking for sponsors to cover the costs of producing and laying the stones. Anyone interested can send an email to stolpersteine(at)stadt-chemnitz.de.
www.chemnitz.de/stolpersteine