Stumbling Stones Auguststraße 17

This small memorial plaque (Stolperstein or stumbling stone) commemorates:
* Käthe Simonsohn, born 1891, deported 11 July 1942, murdered in Auschwitz.

Käthe Simonsohn was born into a large family in Spandau, the daughter of Victor Simonsohn and Johanna Simonsohn née Wolff. Her mother died in 1911. Käthe had a slight mental retardation, and looked after her father’s horse stable. But her father died in 1931, and she was reported/denounced and moved to a nursing home in Spandau, then to a Jewish girls home at this address in Berlin. She helped with housework at the places where she lived and occasionally returned to Spandau for short visits. She was 50 when she was deported and murdered.

A Stolperstein for Käthe’s brother Gustav is at Breite Straße 10 in Berlin-Spandau. Stolpersteine for her stepsister Pauline Gumpert née Simonsohn, her husband Martin Gumpert, their baby Bela Gumpert, and Pauline’s aunt Mirjam Levy are at Kantstr. 44-45 in Charlottenburg.

"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: Fedor de Vries & Anne Palmer
• Photos: Thom Quine (1), Thomas Quine (2)
• Stolpersteine in Berlin: Käthe Simonsohn
• Geni.com
• Stolpersteine.eu