Stumbling Stones Obere Hauptstraße 23

These small, brass, memorial plaques (stolpersteine or stumbling stones) commemorate:

- Flora Hockenheimer, born 1881, deported 1940 to Gurs, murdered 15 January 1941.
- Hermine Hockenheimer, born 1883, deported 1940 Gurs, 1942 Auschwitz, murdered 12 August 1942, declared dead.
- Selma Hockenheimer, born 1888, deported 1940 Gurs, 1942 Auschwitz, murdered 4 November 1942, declared dead.

Background
The three sisters -- Flora, Hermine, and Selma Hockenheimer -- were all born in the town of Hockenheim in the 1880s. They lived in a combined residential-commercial building. Flora had a shop selling agricultural products, and Selma was the head of a shop selling manufactured goods and clothing. Hermine worked at the city hall. The sisters were considered as educated. They read books and newspapers and were musically talented. They also went to the synagogue each week. On Pogromnacht in November 1938, their home was destroyed. Their neighbor, Karl Bauman, hid them in a barn for a while, but later they were expelled from their town. The German Federal Archives show the "Permanent Residence" for all three sisters as Mannheim, about 24 km by road from Hockenheim.

Two years later, Aktion Wagner-Bürckel removed over 6,000 Jews of all ages from their homes in the Baden and Pfalz/Saar area bordering France and deported them to the Gurs internment camp. All three sisters were deported on 22 October. During the winter, over 1,000 deportees were killed in Gurs by terrible conditions of malnutrition, exposure, and widespread disease. Flora Hockenheim was killed there on 05 January or 15 January 1941 (sources differ).

Hermine Hockenheimer was moved from Gurs to Drancy, another transit camp, and then from there to Auschwitz. She was declared dead as of 12 August 1942.

Selma Hockenheimer was moved on 5 July 1942 from Gurs to Rivesaltes transit camp. Then she was moved again -- to Drancy outside of Paris. Finally, on 4 November 1942 she was deported to Auschwitz, arriving two days later. Of the 1,000 Jews on that transport, 269 men and 92 women were selected for labor. The rest were immediately murdered in the gas chambers. In 1945, only 4 men from this transport were known to be alive. Selma Hockenheimer was officially declared dead.

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the pavement in front of the last voluntary residence of (mostly Jewish) victims who were murdered by the Nazis. Each plaque is engraved with the victim’s name, date of birth, and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: "A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten."

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Source

• Text: Anne Palmer
• Photos: TracesOfWar.com
• Juden in Hockenheim. Projekt Stolpersteine: Familie Hockenheimer.
• Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names
• Transport Drancy-Auschwitz 04/11/1942
• USHMM Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database
• Deported to Gurs
• Stolpersteine.eu