Stumbling Stones Oranienburger Straße 9-10

These memorial stones (Stolpersteine or stumbling blocks) commemorate the Kozower family:

* Philipp Kozower, born 1894, deported 1943 Theresienstadt, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Gisela Kozower née Herzberg, born 1901, deported 1943 Theresienstadt, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Uri Aron Kozower, born 1942, deported 28 January 1943, Theresienstadt, 1944 Auschwitz, murdered.
* Alice Kozower, born 1934, deported 1943 Theresienstadt, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Eva Rita Kozower, born 1932, deported 1943 Theresienstadt, murdered in Auschwitz.

Philipp Kozower, a Berlin attorney, and Gisela Herzberg married and had three children – Eva, Alice, and Uri. All five were on the same small transport (100 deportees) on 28 January 1943 from Berlin to Theresienstadt. In the summer of 1944, they were recruited as players in the Theresienstadt propaganda film, "Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt." [The Führer Gives the Jews a City]. The film, which shows a completely false picture of life in a camp, was completed in September. Massive deportations to Auschwitz began on the 28th. Almost all persons involved in the film were sent to their deaths. On 12 October 1944, the Kozower family were deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival there was a rapid selection process: men for forced labor; men for quarantine; and all other men, women, and children for the gas chambers. Only 108 of the 1,500-1,600 people on this transport are known to have survived the war.

Note: the original stolperstein for Uri Aron Kozower left off his family name. It was later replaced with a stolpersteine which includes the date of the family’s deportation to Theresienstadt.

"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) & Axel Mauruszat (2)
• Stolpersteine in Berlin: Kozower
• Study Guide for The Führer Gives a City to the Jews
• USHMM Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database
• Yad Vashem: Transport I/87, Berlin to Theresienstadt
• Stolpersteine.eu