Stumblin Stones Stalbergweg 117

This small brass plaque (Stolperstein or Stumbling Stone), placed on 27-6-2024, commemorate:

Leonard Philip van Gelder, born 1897, arrested 25-8-1942 and deported 1942 from Westerbork and murdered 30-4-1943 in central Europe .
Rike van Gelder-Gudema, born 1905, arrested 25-8-1942, deported 28-8-1942 from Westerbork to Auschwitz and murdered there on 31-8-1942.
Sophie Gudema-van der Laan, born 1868, interned 9-4-1943 in Vught, deported 11-5-1943 from Westerbork to Sobibor and murdered there 14-5-1943.
Benno Baruch Levita, born 1905, fled Germany in 1933, arrested 10-11-1942, deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz in 1943 and murdered there on 31-3-1944.

Van Gelder was a photographer in Maastricht, who later also ran a photography studio in Venlo. In Maastricht, he mainly took photos of communion children. But every photo of the family itself is missing. Benno Levita, who was the second precentor of the Venlo synagogue and in fact its last rabbi, also lived at this address. All four did not survive the Holocaust.

"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 a 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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