By Björn Trautwein
85 years after the pogrom night, volunteers all over Berlin are laying and cleaning stumbling blocks for victims of the National Socialists. On November 9, 1938, Jews were murdered and houses were stormed in what is now Treptow-Köpenick. The SA marauded through the streets, and the synagogue burned in the old town of Köpenick.
85 years later, Susanne Ernicke (62) stands in front of an apartment building at Moosdorfstrasse 3 and places flowers. Since Thursday, a small stumbling block in the pavement has been a reminder of her grandfather’s brother.
Karl Kurt Ernicke lived here before he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942 and shot by the Nazis in Buchenwald in April 1945 at the age of 28. “From behind with a machine gun,” says Marianne Gaethgens (83) from the Association of Antifascists in Treptow, who, together with her niece, arranged for the stone to be laid.
A stumbling block at Moorsdorfstrasse 4 commemorates Karl Ernicke’s grandmother Bertha Samson, who was murdered in Theresienstadt on April 24, 1943 Photo: Sven Meissner
“It’s very moving,” says Susanne Ernicke with tears in her eyes to the BZ. “The fact that there is now a memory of my relatives is a good feeling.”
At the same time, a new stumbling block was laid for Bertha Samson – Karl Kurt Ernicke’s grandmother. She was murdered by the Nazis in Theresienstadt in 1943.
City councilor Juliane Witt (61) and teacher Heike Thier (55) at the memorial plaque for the Jewish doctor Arno Philippsthal, who died in 1933 after being mistreated by the SA Photo: Sven Meissner
The murdered Jews were remembered on Thursday not only in Treptow, but throughout Berlin. In many districts there were lectures and concerts, schools went on trips to memorials, volunteers cleaned the brass stumbling blocks on many streets, which the artist Günter Demnig (74) has been laying for around 30 years.
Ute Thomas (69) from the German Federation of Trade Unions lays flowers at the Feibusch family’s stumbling blocks Photo: Sven Meissner
There are more than 10,000 of the ten by ten centimeter stones in Berlin. There have been more than 100,000 worldwide since this summer!
“We do this every year,” said Juliane Witt (61, Left), city councilor for social affairs in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, during a walk to the stumbling blocks in Biesdorf. “But this year it’s different. The fact that Jewish life in Berlin is threatened again and that Jewish stars are being painted on houses also scares me.“
Axel Springer commemorates Jewish fates
On Thursday, employees of Axel Springer SE also commemorated the Jewish fates associated with Zimmerstrasse, the site of the new Axel Springer building.
Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner clears a stumbling block Photo: Ralf Günther
95 stumbling blocks commemorate the people who were expelled, deported and murdered by the National Socialists. Axel Springer employees cleaned the stumbling blocks that were laid around the new building.
“Today we know less than before about what the future will bring,” said Miriam Krekel, head of the journalism school (FreeTech Academy). “But we at Axel Springer are even more aware of our responsibility. Freedom is not only the most important value in our company, it is our driver, our purpose.”