Stumbling Stones Wiesenstraße 14-16

These small, brass memorial plaques (Stolpersteine or stumbling stones) commemorate:

* Judis Metzger, born 1938, deported 1942, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Mathilde Metzger née Neugarten born 1911, deported 1942, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Julius Metzger, born 1873, deported 1942, murdered in Riga.
* Sara Metzger née Lebenstein, born 1868, deported 1942, murdered in Riga.
* Walter Metzger born 1907, deported 1942, murdered in Riga.

Sponsor: Gesamtschule Wulfen, Klasse 9.2, Schuljahr 2005/2006, Klassenlehrerin Silke Wedekind.

Julius Metzger, a cattle dealer (Viehhändler), his wife Sara and their children Walter (age 35), Ernst (30) and Max (39) were deported in January 1942 to the Riga ghetto, along with Max’s wife Mathilde and their daughter Judis. Of the seven, only Ernst and Max survived the Holocaust and they emigrated to America after the war. Three other adult children escaped from Germany before the deportations. The parents, Julius and Sara, and Walter were killed in Riga. The 5-year-old granddaughter Judis was taken from her mother in a 1943 "screening" and removal of the young and the elderly, and mother and daughter were deported separately to their deaths in Auschwitz.

"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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