Stumbling Stone Hoendiep 85

This small, brass, memorial plaque (stolperstein or struikelsteen) commemorates:

* Klaas Alberts, born 1921, resistance fighter, arrested 8 November 1944, deported 1945, Neuengamme, murdered 10 March 1945.

Background

Born in Groningen, Klaas Alberts attended a religious school, where the director was fiercely anti-German. When Klaas was 21 (in 1942) he became a teacher in Vries, Drenthe. He informed the head of his school (Simon Schoon) that he wanted to join the resistance.

When Simon Schoon formed a KP (knokploeg) resistance group in 1944, Klaas Alberts was the first to join. He learned quickly and began helping people in hiding. He then became involved in robberies in several locations. In September 1944, Klaas was shot during a KP raid on a collaborator. After hospitalization in Groningen, he went to join his KP friends. They were arrested in November on suspicion of a recent robbery. Klaas was moved to Scholtenshuis, then on to Neuengamme in January.

His farewell letter included the following:
"For me there is no more hope in man. I have 10 death sentences. We don't like to talk about heroes, we don't even know what heroes are."

On 10 March 1945 Klaas Alberts was dead from exhaustion. He was 24.

"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 victim’s with the 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: Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (1), Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (2), Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (3)
• Stichting Stolpersteine Schilderswijk Groningen: Klaas Alberts
• Stolpersteine.eu