Stumbling Stones Stenenbrug 5

Stolpersteine / Stumbling stones
for
* Carolina Haguenauer-Karels, born 1871, murdered 10 September 1943, Auschwitz.
* Léonard Salomon, born 1903, murdered 7 May 1943, Sobibor.

Carolina Haguenauer-Karels was Léonard Salomon’s aunt.

Carolina’s parents died before WW1. Of her siblings, one sister survived WW2 (Rosalie Salomon-Karels), but Rosalie’s son Léonard Salomon, above, did not. Carolina’s other sister, Bertha, was killed in Sobibor. No information was found on Carolina’s husband, Nathan Haguenauer. Their daughter, Meta Charlotta van Zuiden-Hagenauer who lived in Groningen, was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 along with her own husband, Maurits van Zuiden.

Léonard Salomon had a textile store on Grote Gracht in Maastricht. His wife was not Jewish, but no other information about her was seen. One of their sons, Emile, grew up with the Driesma family, which had a butcher shop next to Léonard’s textile store. Their other son, Jackie, was raised by Léonard ‘s mother, Rosalie Salomon-Karels.

Léonard was probably in the resistance. He stopped in frequently the Isaack family’s leather store (see stolpersteine at Grote Gracht 43) and in 1942 he was arrested along with the Isaack family and taken to Westerbork. Léonard was released a month later – perhaps because his children were only half-Jewish. A few months later, he was arrested again and was held in Westerbork for almost 7 months. One day in May 1943, he learned he would be shipped to the East the next day and he wrote a farewell letter to his sons. Then from the train he tossed out a postcard for them which they also received: "Ik hoop het beste voor jullie ik zal moed houden en altijd aan jullie denk en jullie vader is altijd in het hart bij jullie ...." [I hope the best for you. I will take courage and always think of you and your father is always with you in your heart ...]. He was murdered the same day he arrived in Sobibor.

Léonard Salomon’s father died before WW1 and his mother Rosalie Salomon-Karels (Carolina’s sister) survived WW2. His sister, Mathilda Drielsma-Salomon, survived until 1998. However, his two brothers, Max (Marcus) and Louis, were murdered – see their stolpersteine at Alexander Battalaan 45b in Maastricht.

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small 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."

Borne was the first town in the Netherlands in which Stolpersteine were placed -- on 29 November 2007.