In the last few years, the memorial stones known as Stolpersteine have been laid all over Germany and Austria. The meaning of Stolperstein in English is literally "stumbling block" but it can also mean "rememberance marker". They are the project of a German artist which was at first little known outside Cologne and Berlin, but has now become well-known in other parts of the country.
The Stolpersteine are usually laid in front of the houses of Jews who were deported to concentration camps in the Nazi era. They are sometimes also laid for Jews who emigrated during this time and survivors of camps, as well as for other persecuted groups, but mostly they are for deported Jews. The stones are square and replace a cobblestone in the street. They are covered with a brass top and inscribed with the name and birthdate of the person, where they were deported to, and when they died.
In our town, there are many Stolpersteine. In particular, there are seven together in front of one house, of an entire family who was deported, the Neumanns. The parents' stones are on top, and the five children below, reading like a veritable von Trapp family who did not manage to escape from the Nazis, with Lisl and Franz as the oldest children in their late teens, down to little Helene who, according to her stone, was only 10.
According to the stones the Neumanns were all deported to Poland on the same day in 1939, but unlike many stones, there is no information about their deaths. Every time I walk past this house I make sure that I step over the Neumanns' stones and do not walk on them. This is something that can be quite difficult in a crowded market place, which is why some cities in Germany refused to accept the "planting" of Stolpersteine.
When I walk past the house, I imagine the day when the Neumanns were deported. A truck must have arrived in the street outside the house, and the soldiers must have forced their way in and up the stairs to fetch the Neumanns. Or maybe the Neumanns simply knew they were coming and let them in. Little Helene would not have understood what was going on, perhaps she held her big sister's hand going down the stairs. They would have been forced into the truck and driven away. All their possessions would still have been in their appartment - I wonder what happened to them.
I often wonder about what people were wearing when they were deported like this. If it was winter, they would have been wearing warm clothes but if it was summer they might not have been and then they would have been very cold as the days got colder, and especially in Poland. In light of what actually happened in these camps, I know these are pathetic things to be thinking about, but I find myself pondering more and more on the small details of the holocaust rather than thinking about the larger ones.
Such a strange time back then. A time when countries sent their young boys to war in the name of honor and glory and then were surprised when they were killed. When shell-shocked soldiers returned home and nobody talked about the horror of war and there was no therapy for them.
It is good that we have the Stolpersteine, because they serve as a permanent reminder of something that we would not wish to be repeated.
Das Geheimnis der Versöhnung ist die Erinnerung - the secret of reconciliation is rememberance.
(All names changed).
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