Stumbling Stones Hoofdstraat West 38

STOLPERSTEINE / STUMBLING STONES

On 07-04-2014 2 Stolpersteine were laid here in Wolvega for:
Hendrik Mendels
Levi Mendels.

Abraham Mendels and Mina Davidson got married on 27-07-1873 in the Frisian municipality of Lemsterland.

They had nine children, three of whom died at a young age; the other six were all killed in German extermination camps in Poland.

• Pietje: Born 13-09-1874 > Died 14-01-1943 (Auschwitz)
• Betje: Born 28-09-1876 > Died 14-09-1943 (Auschwitz)
• Emanuel: Born 02-11-1879 > Died 01-01-1944 ( Birkenau)
• Hendrica: Born 14-04-1882 > Died 02-04-1943 (Sobibór)
• Levi: Born 04-08-1885 > Died 02-04-1943 (Sobibór)
• Sara: Born 26-03-1891 > Died 27-08-1943 (Auschwitz)

Hendrica ran a shop selling pans and other household items on Westeinde (now Hoofdstraat West) in Wolvega, despite the fact that she was deaf.

She lived indoors in the business, together with her deaf and dumb brother, Levi.

Levi had learned to make clothes, but supported his sister by peddling merchandise on a cart, he was a striking personality in Wolvega.

Both went to the deaf school in Groningen and remained unmarried.

It is unknown when they were arrested by the Germans, it is certain that they were both murdered on 02-04-1943 in Sobibór.

In memory of them, stolpersteine were laid on 07-04-2014 at their former home/shop.

Their brother Emanuel also lived in Wolvega, together with his wife Elsje Mendels-Davidson and foster son Abraham Delmonte.

Emanuel and Elsje also died in concentration camps in Poland, after the Dutch capitulation Abraham committed suicide, his stolpersteine was placed for them at Van Helomalaan 10.

Their names are also mentioned on the glass War Memorial at the Jewish Cemetery on the Schapendrift in Noordwolde.

The German artist Gunter Demnig started laying the first Stolperstein in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg in 1997.
There are now Stolpersteine in many countries.
It is a reminder of the Holocaust in World War II.
A Stolperstein is a concrete stone of 10 x 10 cm, with a brass plate at the top in which the name, date of birth and death and the place of death are punched.
The Stolperstein is placed in the sidewalk in front of the victim's former home.
Gunter Demnig thus gives each victim his own monument.
His motto is: 'A PEOPLE IS ONLY FORGOTTEN WHEN HIS OR HER NAME HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN'.

Borne was the first place in the Netherlands where Stolpersteine were laid.
This happened on 11-29-2007.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.com & Herma de Vries
• Photos: Herma de Vries