24.09.2025
Editorial Staff
After the meeting with the Canadian historian Sharon Meen, it is clear: Stolpersteine should be laid in Schwarza in memory of the Jewish residents.
“In 2027 there will be stumbling blocks in Schwarza too.” With these words, Schwarza’s mayor, Marco Rogowski, bid farewell on Saturday to Sharon Meen, a historian from Vancouver, Canada, members of the local history association, interested citizens, other council members, and Frank Möller from Meiningen . Everyone had previously met for over an hour in the rooms of Schwarza’s local history museum. The impetus for this meeting and the interest of the historian, who had traveled from Canada, was sparked by Frank Möller’s research into Irma Stern’s Jewish family, which he has presented in several lectures. Since then, further findings have emerged that expand on the original lecture, including those about the Rosskamm family, who were well-respected residents of Schwarza until the mid-1930s. The local history museum also contains written documents and testimonies about this family.
The Jewish community of Schwarza had its largest number of members in the mid-19th century. For various reasons, a large number of them left the community even before 1933, often heading for North America. As was learned at the meeting, in addition to the Stern family (deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto and the Belcyze extermination camp) and the Rosskamm family, who emigrated to the USA, there were other Jewish individuals whose original place of residence was Schwarza. Whether further information about the latter or the Rosskamm family can be found in archives or from private individuals will be revealed over the next two years. There’s still plenty of time until the planned and expanded lecture on the occasion of the Stolperstein laying ceremony in Schwarza.
Anyone in and around Schwarza who has any information or memories (be they photos or physical objects) is welcome to contact Frank Möller by email at fahrrad-frank@outlook.de.