Stumbling Stone Willistraße 1

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

* Else Fanny Pels, born 1898, emigrated to Holland, deported 1943, Sobibor, ???

Else Pels was born in Hamburg, the third of 3 daughters. Her father died in 1933. From 1935-39 she worked as a domestic servant. Her last job was as a housemaid to the Robinsohn family at this Willistrasse 1 address. When they closed their clothing store and left the country, Else went to the Netherlands in May 1939. She lived in Amsterdam, the city where her older sister and mother were living. After Germany occupied the Netherlands, the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear the yellow star starting in May 1942.

The following year, Else’s mother, Minna Pels, was deported on 27 April from Westerbork to Sobibor. On 8 June 1943, Else Fanny Pels herself was deported to Sobibor and murdered on – according to the Certificate of Inheritance issued by the Hamburg District Court -- 11 June 1943. Then her sister, who had lived in Amsterdam since 1920, was deported with her husband and murdered in Auschwitz on 11 February 1944.

A stolperstein for Minna Pels is at Isestrasse 39.

"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: Ajepbah
• Stolpersteine in Hamburg: Else Fanny Pels
• Stolpersteine.eu