Themar See as well: 21 January 1945: Liberation of Auschwitz 08 May 1945: Where were the Jews of Themar? 08 May 1945: The Jews of Themar in Germany End of war and one Jewish family of Themar Cornell Hoppe: Themarâs Jewish families and the end of the war in 1945 On this date, 8 May, 80 … Read more
“Something has changed since the elections in Thuringia” “The artist Gunter Demnig has been laying stumbling blocks in memory of the victims of the Nazi era for 21 years. Following the elections in East Germany, he and his team have noticed a change.” Björn Göttlicher, a photo-journalist/author, wrote this article for online arts magazine RiffReporter. … Read more
by Cornell Hoppe, 02.02.2025 On Saturday, the Jewish population was remembered in Themar. During a tour of the Stolpersteine, visitors were given extensive information about the various families. Always, we look down in humility. There are 66 stumbling blocks embedded in the town’s pavement. Each one tells of … Read more
27 January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp. Until Red Army soldiers liberated about  7 thousand prisoners still at the camp, the German Nazis had murdered approx. 1.1 million people in Auschwitz, mostly Jews, but also Poles, the Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and … Read more
“A remarkable âpaper monumentâ On 14 April 2020 the Arsolen Archives posted the exciting news  that almost all of the historical collections were now available online. People from all over the world can use the online archive to access 26 million documents containing information on 21 million names* of victims of Nazi persecution. In 1943, before … Read more
On Saturday 27 January 1945, Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz. Of the 7,000 remaining prisoners, one man had a direct connection to Themar. His story â although we know little of it â gives us a glimpse into the life of one of those who survived Auschwitz. Otto Baer was born in Themar on 12 July 1895. His father was Samuel … Read more
The text below is a translation of the article, “,,Ein Quadrat auf der Erde â Ein Mensch,âwritten by Cornell Hoppe. “Year after year, the residents of the city of Themar commemorate their former Jewish inhabitants. Thirty-eight (38) Stolpersteine/stumbling blocks have already been laid in the city to commemorate them. Another 13 were added on Wednesday November … Read more
Barely twenty years after the end of World War I, war erupted again. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. On 3 September Britain â and the Commonwealth countries such as Canada â and France declared war on Germany. The circumstances in 1939 were completely different for German Jews than they had been in 1914, … Read more
On 5 December 2017, Themar and Kloster Vessra were awarded the 2017 Democracy Prize for ThĂŒringen for their peaceful protests against the right-wing extremist activities in Themar. As you may know, three right-wing concerts were held in the meadows abutting Themar, drawing over 8,000 right-wing extremists from all over Germany as well as Austria, Czechoslovakia, … Read more
This article appeared in the January 2016 newsletter, Zachor, of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.