Guest Post: Stolperstein

I'm thrilled when someone wants to be a guest writer for The Brown Knowser, especially when the post is such a compelling story. Today, I'm pleased to share a post by my good friend, Brad C.

Brad and his wife, Randi, live in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Enjoy.


If you walk through towns in Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Norway, and Ukraine, you will occasionally see a small brass square set into the sidewalk. Written on it, in the language of the country you’re in, will be the words, “Here lived [name, year of birth].  Deported [year], murdered in [city].”

These markers, called Stolperstein (stumbling stones), are placed in front of buildings where Jews lived before being removed and sent to Nazi death camps. The names are those of the people who were taken away—often an entire family (everyone gets his or her own plaque).

Last month, we left the apartment to discover that four Stolperstein, commemorating the Sondermann family, had been placed in front of our building. We don’t know in which apartment they lived—nor do any of the neighbors we’ve spoken with—but as the photo shows, it was a mother and father, plus their 13-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son.

This is the work of a small group who exist on donations. The German and other national governments have given them permission to install them wherever they wish, and I’ve never seen one that has been defaced or damaged in nearly 20 years of living here. Eventually, the shiny brass will fade to a more dull surface but it should last for a long, long time... longer, even, than memories.

I decided to see if I could find any information online about the unlucky Sondermanns, but could find nothing on the parents. However, putting young Stella’s name into Google resulted in a hit that led me to the Düsseldorf City Museum. Back in 2012, they’d had an exhibition of artwork done by Jewish children who’d attended a Jewish school in the 1930s. One of the artists was little Stella Sondermann, who drew a picture called “Gypsies.”

The drawing is included on the museum’s Web site, so I printed it, added the caption, “By our lost neighbor, Stella Sondermann,” put it into a plastic sleeve, and attached it to the apartment lobby wall with thumbtacks. There it remained for two weeks.

A couple of days ago, as I entered the lobby, I noticed that it was gone. Well, I thought, maybe the Germans don’t like being reminded of this sad history or maybe I was violating some rules about cluttering the walls with unauthorized papers (entirely possible in this very orderly society!).

However, as I approached the front door to leave the building, I saw that further down on the wall, someone had taken the print, mounted it into a frame, and secured it to the wall in a much more permanent way than I’d managed to.

So, it appears that our building has completely embraced the Sondermann Family and are committed to welcoming them home, at last.



Have an idea for a blog post and want to share it on The Brown Knowser? Contact me at rossbrownfoot@live.com.