Stumbling Stones Essener Straße 18-20

These memorial stones (so called Stolpersteine or stumbling blocks) commemorate:

* Hermann Perlstein. Born 1895. Deported. Murdered in Auschwitz.
* Grete Perlstein née Meyer. Born 1905. Deported. Murdered in Auschwitz.
* Ursula ‘Ursel’ Perlstein. Born 1930. Deported 1942. Murdered in Auschwitz.
* Ingeborg Perlstein. Born 1933. Deported 1942. Murdered in Auschwitz.
* Robert Perlstein. Born 1937. Deported 1941. Murdered in Riga.

Hermann and Grete Perlstein and two of their children, Ursula and Ingeborg, were killed in Auschwitz. According to his stolperstein, Robert, the youngest, was deported a year earlier and killed in Riga at age 4 or 5. According to other sources, all five were deported as a family from Southern France to Auschwitz and killed there.

* Walter Perlstein. Born 1903. Deported 1941. Murdered in Riga.
* Hedwig Perlstein née Heimbach. Born 1912. Deported 1941. Murdered in Riga.
* Reha Perlstein. Born 1940. Deported 1941. Murdered in Riga.

Walter Perlstein was a merchant and football referee. In the first years after 1933 when Walter was still allowed to referee matches, he was often beaten for his rulings. He, his wife Hedy and their baby daughter Reha were deported and murdered in Riga. Baby Reha (14 months old) was the youngest person on the transport to Riga.

* Hertha Becker née Perlstein. Born 1901. Deported 1942. Riga. Murdered in concentration camp Stutthof.

Hertha Becker was Walter Perlstein’s sister. It is unclear whether she died in KZ Stutthof or KZ (Natzweiler-)Struthof.

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

In many other cities and villages, 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.