Stones - Lest We Forget
first stumbling stones in the upper part of the old city of Minden.
In March 16th 2007, there will be more stations installed and more stones laid.
First Station: Bruederstrasse 16
Willi Otte
On the spot of the present Robert-Nussbaum-Haus the Minden Orphanage
was situated before the Second World War. Willi Otte lived here
until 1938.
He was born an illegitimate child on July 22nd, 1920, at Herford .
His father was not able to pay the maintenance demanded from him.
Due to his mental handicap Willi Otte was accepted as a young man of
eighteen years in the mental hospital Wittekindshof on July 27th,
1938. At that time his mother lived in Bethel Mental Hospital,
Bielefeld. As a mentally handicapped person W. 0. was always under
threat by the euthanasia policy of the Nazi regime which condemned
any "life not worth living" to death. Against the resistance of the
institution, W. 0. was transported to the mental hospital at Gutersloh
on November 6th, 1941, and from there to the "hospital" at Aplerbeck
on February 7th, 1942.
At this time the euthanasia actions had been stopped officially
because of the powerful public protests and resistance; inofficially,
however, they were continued up to the end of the Nazi regime. We have
no precise figures of the victims of euthanasia, but it is virtually
certain that at least 200,000 psychically or otherwise mentally
handicapped or "socially unacceptable" persons were murdered in the
course of euthanasia actions in "hospitals" or similar institutions.
On June 24th, 1943 Willi Otte was transported once more, this time to the
"hospital" at Egelfing-Haar near Munich. These moves were frequently
made to make it difficult for the victim's relatives to find out about
his or her whereabouts. In Egelfing-Haar, like in other similar institutions,
a so-called "hunger house" existed where the victims were killed by planned
and intentional lack of food. Here W. 0. died on February 25th, 1945.
Second Station: Ritterstrasse 27
Family Werberg
The shop and family home of the Jewish family Werberg until 1939
now forms the entrance to the Minden Museum. Adolf Werberg had
bought the house in 1908. His son L.M. Werberg, born October 24th, 1898,
inherited the house and ran a second-hand shop for shoes and
textiles here. He lived here with his wife Bella, née Philipp,
born June 25th, 1898, and his son Hans-Adolf, born 1931.
Immediately after the Nazis had come to power in 1933 there were
the first anti-semitic actions and boycotts against the Werberg
family and their shop. During the November pogrom of 1938 many shop
windows were broken and much shop furniture was destroyed, also
at the Werbergs. L.M.E. was taken to the concentration camp at
Buchenwald and brutally maltreated there; seriously ill he returned
to Minden. He and his wife decided to send their son Hans-Adolf out
of Germany with one of the children's transports. Hans-Adolf reached England,
later the USA, and so could escape from the Nazi regime.
In 1939, the Werbergs were forced to sell their house to the Town
of Minden. The price of 75QO Reichsmark was not handed over to the
Werberg family, but kept by the Town. In 1952 the house was given
back to the son Hans-Adolf and bought a second time in 1954 to
house an extension of the Museum.
It is not yet clear where the money finally went this time.
The Town can prove it was paid into a bank, but it has apparently
not reached Hans-Adolf Werberg.
L.M. Werberg and B.Werberg were deported to the ghetto at Riga together with many other
Jewish men and women in December 1941. They died there on February llth, 1942.
No details of their deaths are known.
Third Station: Videbullenstrasse 22
This part is under construction
Fourth Station: Ritterstrasse 11
Dina Heinemann
The house Ritterstrasse 11 does not exist any more. It
belonged to the parents of Dina Heinemann, a Jew who apparently lived there
since her birth on February 20th, 1872. After school she learned the trade
of a ladies' dressmaker. She never married. During the Weimar Republic she
was wellknown for her social work,also as a representative of the 14th Welfare
District of the Town of Minden. She was also active in politics and joined the
local branch of the Social Democratic Party. She ran for a seat on the local
council in 1924 and 1929, but did not gain one due to the system
of proportional representation as the SPD did not gain enough seats.
After January 30th, 1933, D.H. lead a more and more isolated life.
Both as a Social Democrat and as a Jew she was considered an enemy
by the Nazis. She was discriminated against, isolated and also
persecuted and threatened.
On July 28th, 1942, D.H. was taken to the concentration camp at
Theresienstadt together with 31 other Jewish men and women.
Already a month later, on August 29th, 1942, she died there. No
details of her death are known.
Fifth Station: Simeonstrasse 8
Family Kirschroth
Before the Second World War this was the shoe and textile shop of the
Jewish family Kirschroth. The family also lived in this house. The
parents were of Polish origin. The father, Samuel Kirschroth, was born
on April 1st, 1893. During the First World War he came to Minden as a
prisoner of war. In the camp he met his later wife, Helene, née Ingberg,
who worked there as an interpreter. Born June 15th, 1898, she had moved
to Minden as a child together with her parents. Three children belonged
to the family: Isidor, born February llth, 1919, Herbert, born December
22nd, 1920, and Charlotte, born September 4th, 1923.
Both parents were active Social Democrats. Their party membership and
their religion made them victims of isolation and intimidation from the
beginning of the Nazi dictatorship on. The "Law To Rescind Naturalization"
allowed the Nazis to take away their German citizenship as happened to all
Jews of Eastern European origin. In 1938 they were deported as "unwanted
aliens". On October 28th, 1938, the Kirschroth family was arrested and
transported to a camp at Hannover. From there they were deported to the
Polish border and moved across the frontier. Between 17000 and 18000 Jewish
persons shared this fate, and as the Poles were not ready to admit them at
the beginning they moved back and forth between the frontiers for ten days
during snowfall and frosty weather. Later the Kirschroth family landed in
the internment camp at Sbascyn/ Bentschen. From here the eldest son Isidor
managed to get to Great Britain. He was the only family member who survived.
In May 1939 Helene Kirschroth was allowed to return to Minden once
to sell their property. The money, however, was seized and not handed over to
them.
After the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939, Samuel, Helene,
Herbert, and Charlotte found themselves under a Nazi regime again. There is no
trace left of them. We can only guess what their fates were.
Sixth Station: Simeonstrasse 16
This part is under construction
Seventh Station: Simeonstrasse 29
Hedwig Frieda Hempel
This part is under construction
Eighth Station: Kampstrasse 32
This part is under construction
At an evening meeting in the "Hall of Tolerance" ("Saal der Toleranz") of the Jewish synagogue the sculptor Gunter Demnig explained his project of "stumbling stones" to a large interested audience, among them Minden's Mayor Michael Buhre( who addressed himself especially to Gunter Demnig and the members of the Werberg family, who had come from the USA on this occasion.
