Stumbling Stones Jonker Fransstraat 19

These memorial stones (so called Stolpersteine of stumbling blocks) commemorate:
Bernard Roos (born 1883, murdered in Auschwitz on 19-10-1942)
Sara Betje Roos-Abas (born 1886, murdered in Auschwitz on 19-10-1942)

Bernard Roos was an optician. He was born Barend, but called himself Bernard. He and his wife Sara Betje Roos-Abas had a shop in the Weste Wagenstraat, in the old center of Rotterdam. They sold eyeglasses - which he dragged himself - fracture bands, contraceptives and other "medical devices".

On May 14, 1940, Rotterdam was bombed. Bernard and Sara Betje had fled in time, but their house and everything they had only remained as rubble.

Bernard Roos started a new shop at 19 Jonker Fransstraat, just outside the devastated area. There they were arrested in early October 1942, probably by the Rotterdam police. 2 They were transported to the Westerbork concentration camp in Drente. From there they left for Auschwitz by train on 16 October 1942. That journey took three days, so they arrived on October 19. They were older people, unfit for heavy slave labor. If they survived the trip, they would undoubtedly have been murdered that same day.

Their daughter survived the war. Four of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have Bernard as a middle name.

The small copper plaques, in the pavement in front of houses of which the (mostly Jewish) residents were murdered by the Nazis, mention the name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death.

In many other cities, mainly in Germany but also in other European countries, the memorials also can be found. There are already many thousands of these plaques and their number is still counting. Almost all Stolpersteine are laid by the German artist himself, Gunter Demnig.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & Martijn B. Katan
• Photos: TracesofWar (1), Martijn B. Katan (2, 4), Archief Westerbork (via Martijn B. Katan) (3, 5)