There is no rest for Reini Elkerbout and Aviva Guggenheim now that the first stumbling blocks for murdered Haarlem Jews, Sinti and Roma in World War II were laid last week. The next moments to lay dozens of bricks are already in full preparation. The project 733 bricks in Haarlem will take ten years, with 75 bricks per year. The 83-year-old Reini takes into account that she will not see the completion.
It could be faster, says Aviva Guggenheim (39). “But it must be a project of the city, of residents and relatives who request the stones,” explains Reini at a calm pace. We would like to be able to pay attention to each individual story behind the stones, emphasize the two initiators of the Stichting Struikelstenen Haarlem.
‘But two stumbling stones’
On January 27 in 2020, Reini and Aviva will both be in the room at a lecture by Wim de Wagt during the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust, in which the art project ‘Levenslicht’ takes place in many cities. The Haarlem art historian and writer De Wagt has specialized in, among other things, the Jewish history of the city. For example, last year he wrote the book ‘Five hundred meters names. The Holocaust and the Pain of Memory’.
“In a subordinate clause during that lecture, he mentions that there are only two stumbling blocks in Haarlem to indicate that Jews, Sinti and Roma last lived in freedom at that address,” remembers Aviva. “I thought I heard that wrong. But not so.” She approaches the congregation. Aviva specifically mentions the ‘above average bad history of Haarlem’ in the Second World War with an NSB mayor. “Too little was done with it later by the municipality!”
Reini also cannot let the idea of only two stumbling blocks in her city rest. She calls the municipality and the two are soon having a cup of coffee to work out their idea and then make sure that all 733 Haarlem Jews would get a stumbling stone. Reini’s daughter Judith Uyterlinde and others join them. Last Thursday they watched as the first stones of their project were laid.
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The municipality is contributing 50 thousand euros and maintenance company Spaarnelanden is also committed to the project. The 10 by 10 centimeters concrete bricks with a brass plate are laid ‘free of charge’ by two permanent craftsmen. “And they even have a system where they keep track of where the stones are,” says Aviva. “If there are road works, the stones will be brought to safety and put back later.”
‘Money should not be an obstacle to commemoration’
The municipal subsidy and the work by Spaarnelanden is not enough to finance the entire project. “We ask people who request stones to donate to the foundation if they can afford it,” says Reini. Where problems arise, the foundation assists. “A stone costs 150 euros, but if several stones have to be supplied for a family, it will of course be very expensive.”
The foundation’s pot is also intended for applicants who, for example, have to get by on benefits. “Or if we come across victims who have no next of kin, for whom no one is there for, for whom no one is burning a candle,” Aviva adds. “Money should never be an obstacle to commemoration.”
Sometimes the members of the foundation decide for themselves where stones should be placed, such as at one of the locations last Thursday for the Zilversmit family at the former Jewish Municipal Building in the Lange Wijkgaardstraat. Later, after a thorough investigation by the foundation, it appears that there are still relatives. Judith Zilversmit did not know that despite the same surname, she is really related to Nathanni Zilversmit. She turns out to be her grandfather’s cousin.
“I actually didn’t know them before this meeting because so many people in our family have been murdered that it has become abstract. Now I do know them,” says a touched Judith. “I have now seen the faces, I know their story and now it is no longer abstract and it is nice that there is a place where they are commemorated.”
And sometimes a request comes from an unexpected source. Such as that of Irene van der Schaaff-Boon for the Jacobs Steen family in the Pijntorenstraat. The eldest son of this family survives the war because he can go into hiding with Irene’s grandmother. It tribute to the family is very valuable to her.
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That research into the next of kin by the members of the foundation is therefore of great value. That is also the reason that they give priority to applications for stumbling blocks for Jewish victims with surviving relatives. The purple book ‘The 102,000 names’ from the Kamp Westerbork Memorial Center is always on Reini’s table, as the starting point for the research. Since the beginning of the project, Aviva has become even more aware that her generation needs to realize history and freedom every day. “That people become dehumanized like the Nazis did makes it possible to kill each other.”
Confronting
Reini, Aviva and the other foundation members also go into the neighborhood to make contact with the current residents. They have recently been helped in this by the organization of Open Jewish Houses Haarlem, which already has a good overview. And that contact with the current residents and their neighbors is sometimes quite a sensitive part of their work. “Sometimes those people are startled by the idea of stumbling stones in front of their house. ‘Do I have to see that every day?’ they wonder. It does have an impact on those residents,” Aviva now knows. Em it is a time consuming job. “If you have 750 Jews you want to commemorate, that means approximately 250 homes,” Reini calculated.
The stumbling block in Haarlem on April 14 is already full of addresses. The German artist Gunter Demnig, who designed the stumbling stones (originally called stolpersteine, ed.), will be there. And many applications have already been made for the third moment this year in November. Reini hopes that it will soon be the turn of the addresses in her own neighborhood, so that she can at least still be there.
She has already had stones laid elsewhere in the country for her own relatives, but it is important to her that she can also give the honor to her former fellow townspeople in her own living environment. “And I hope that even if I may not see the end of this project, it will continue. Those stones are forever. The people will finally get a resting place with their name on it.”
Aviva thinks her accomplice is brave enough, but thinks it’s a good idea to give priority to the stones of Reini’s neighbors. And she takes for granted that it takes a lot of time. “Gunter Demnig first wanted to lay all the stones himself and he knew then that it had to be 6 million. You should not think about it too much.” Fortunately, Aviva and Reini are getting more and more help to really realize 733 stumbling blocks in Haarlem in 10 years’ time.
In the coming years NH Nieuws and Haarlem105 will follow the laying of the stumbling blocks as much as possible with articles, photos and sometimes reports. The map below has been made for this purpose. Behind the yellow squares at the locations where the stones are located are the names of the Haarlem Jews who died, supplemented with photos, messages and videos. This card is therefore replenished after each laying of stumbling blocks.
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