In Themar, the fate of Jewish citizens will be remembered tomorrow with the laying of 13 more Stolpersteine. Photo: Steffen Ittig
25.11.2019 Hildburghausen
13 Stolpersteine will be laid tomorrow, Wednesday, in Themar. Citizens are welcome to commemorate the former Jewish fellow citizens.
Themar – “I saw how the two women came out of the house. Very carefully the one walked, because she had broken a leg. They carried the little luggage wrapped around their bodies,” reported a woman years ago who still remembered May 10, 1938. At that time, Paula and Klara Frankenberg were on their way to the train station. They were to be transported by train to the concentration camp. Both were murdered there, recalls Barbara Morgenroth of the association Themar meets Europe. Six million people of Jewish faith and descent met their deaths in this and similar ways – a number behind which one can hardly imagine a single fate.
“But they were neighbors, business partners, friends, playmates. They lived in our city as in almost all cities in Germany. The shiny brass stones that will be set into the sidewalk of the footpaths are meant to remind us of this,” Barbara Morgenroth invites to the event.
Starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, thirteen such Stolpersteine will be laid by action artist Gunter Demnig in front of the last residences of Meta Krakauer, the Grünbaum, Neuhaus, Frankenberg and Sander families, at Bahnhofstraße 23 and 36 and Leninstraße 20. She says it is a special honor that Garry Meller, a descendant of the Grünbaum family coming from Australia, will be among the guests. He intends to use his stay in Themar to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors in the Werra Valley. State Secretary Babette Winter will also attend the ceremony as a guest and Stolperstein sponsor. The laying of the stones will be accompanied by students from the “Anne Frank” regular school and the musician Renate Kubisch with her cello.
Lecture on the history
The association Themar meets Europe as the organizer of the laying of the Stolpersteine invites afterwards to a small reception in the store in Morgenroth’s house and thanks all who have contributed to the financing of the stones. On the eve of the laying of the stumbling stones, a lecture on the history of the Jewish community of Themar will already take place today, Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. in the town hall of Themar. Katharina Witter from the Meiningen State Archives will talk about the beginnings, the special features and the end of the Themar Jewish community. Admission to this event is free.