Stumbling Stone Rybná 2/668

This small, brass memorial plaque (Stolperstein or stumbling stone) commemorates:

* Helena Winterová, roz. Popperová, nar. 1904, deportována 1942 do Terezína, zavražděna v Osvětimi.

= Helena Winterova, née Popperova, born 1904, deported 1942 to Therezin, murdered in Auschwitz.

Helena Winterová was born Helena Popperová on 26 February 1904. Little information was found on her life before the war. One internet source accessible in 2014 but not 2019 stated that she moved to Prague with her father from Pilsen, became an assistant at Popper Shoes, and married Pavel Wintra or Winter and worked as a cook.

Records show that she lived in Prague and was deported from there on 22 December 1942 to Theresienstadt, where she stayed just one month. From there, she was deported onward to Auschwitz on 29 January 1943, arriving the next day. Of the 1000 on that transport, 783 were taken directly to the Birkenau gas chambers and murdered. The others -- 122 men and 95 women -- were deemed fit for work. Only 23 people from this transport are known to have survived the war.

"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: Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (1), Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (2)
• Holocaust.cz: Helena Winterova
• Yad Vashem Deportation Database: Theresienstadt-Auschwitz, 29 Jan 1943
• Stolpersteine.eu