06 March 2026
By Cornell Hope
In Themar, four new Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are being laid to commemorate the fates of Jewish families. Guests from all over the world are coming to honor their ancestors.
Once again, the people of Themar gathered to commemorate their Jewish fellow citizens and remember their fates. The town of Themar and the association “Themar Trifft Europa” extended the invitation to this event. It is always impressive that so many people travel from all corners of the world to attend these Stolperstein (stumbling stone) laying ceremonies. No journey is too far when the small town remembers its ancestors.
From all over the world to Themar
Peter Gassenheimer came from England. Rabbi John Franken from Israel. The brothers Paul and Arne Müller came once again from Denmark. They visit Themar twice a year and are always present when Stolpersteine are laid. Sharon Meen also received warm embraces in both English and German. The Canadian professor and honorary citizen of the town has made a significant contribution to researching Themar’s Jewish history and continues to do so.
Themar now has 70 Stolpersteine (stumbling stones).
There are already 66 Stolpersteine in the small town of Themar. Four more will be added this Thursday morning. Artist and Stolperstein creator Gunter Demnig will personally lay them this year. They will be placed at two locations, complementing existing groups of stones.
District Administrator Sven Gregor arrived and thanked everyone involved for preserving this important act of remembrance and honoring the memory of the citizens. He was particularly pleased that the town of Themar and its citizens themselves were taking the initiative to make this memorial possible.
In front of the Anne Frank School in Themar, three Stolpersteine were laid for members of the Rosenberg family: Irma Rosenberg, Elly Rosenberg, and Lotte Rosenberg, later Schäfer. Irma and Elly were the daughters of Else and Markus Rosenberg. Irma, born in Themar in 1911, attended the local elementary school and left the town to find work elsewhere. Through the Domestic Permit Program, she was able to immigrate to England and lived there until her death in 1990.
Elly was the youngest of the Rosenberg children. She was born in Themar in 1913 and attended the local elementary school. In May 1939, she was able to leave Germany by ship and immigrate into New York. Her future husband and his family had already emigrated.
Lotte Rosenberg was the daughter of Julius and Else Rosenberg and the niece of Irma and Elly Rosenberg. She was born in Darmstadt in 1934, but persecution there forced the family to return to Themar. Toward the end of the war, she escaped deportation as a person of mixed Jewish and non-Jewish heritage. In 1953, she left Germany, moved with her husband to Canada, and later to California. In 2017, she returned to Themar to attend the laying of Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in memory of her family members. Her daughter Bianca wrote to the residents of Themar, emphasizing what an important event this had been for her mother. A letter from her sister Lori was also read aloud: “Our family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts for the honor you have bestowed upon our family.”
A Stolperstein was also laid on Friedensstraße. A Stolperstein for Betty Gassenheimer was placed alongside the existing Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) for other members of the Gassenheimer family. Betty was one of eleven children of Hirsch and Therese Franken. In 1891, she became Samuel Gassenheimer’s second wife and moved to Themar. When Samuel died just a year later, Betty suddenly found herself a single stepmother to ten children.
Remembering a beloved grandmother
Betty lived in Themar for another 44 years and had to endure the early years of persecution and harassment by the Nazi regime. She died in 1935 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Marisfeld. Peter Gassenheimer, whose step-grandmother Betty was, spoke about her in Themar as the kind of grandmother anyone could wish for: a loving woman who cared for the children and was the “glue that holds the Gassenheimer family together. It’s a good thing she didn’t have to witness all the Nazi atrocities,” Peter Gassenheimer said. Albert Gassenheimer, her step-son and Peter’s father, emigrated to South Africa after her death.
Honor and Gratitude
Rabbi John Franken also participated in the ceremony for his great-great-aunt. Franken said that it was “a great honor to be able to attend. In Judaism,” he explained, “there is no greater kindness than the living remembering the dead. He never met Betty, of course, but he felt the strength of the family and the connection to this place, he said, visibly moved. And his comments illustrated how small the world can be and how significant some symbols can be. His example was the Themar school which commemorates Anne Frank. The same Anne Frank who, while in hiding in Amsterdam, babysat for one of his ancestors because the Franks and the Frankens lived in the same house for a while.
Franken thanked the residents of Themar for their efforts to confront the Jewish history of their town and expressed his pleasure that young people –a Themar school class had witnessed the laying of the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) – were also involved. He recited the memorial prayer for the deceased in Hebrew, and Peter Gassenheimer followed with a blessing.