Nieuwkerken - Stolpersteine

Information: Wikipedia

A Stolperstein literally "stumbling stone", metaphorically a "stumbling block" is a sett-size, 10 by 10 centimetres (3.9 in × 3.9 in) concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution.

 

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, was deported to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of 29 March 2018, over 67,000 Stolpersteine have been laid in 22 countries, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial.

 

The majority of Stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, along with International Brigade soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers.

 

Wednesday 31 August 2022, 6 stumbling stones were placed in Sint Niklaas.

Tuesday 29 August 2023, 5 stumbling stones were placed in Sint Niklaas

 

List of Stolpersteine in the city of Nieuwkerken

Gyselstraat 79: JEROME VAN WIELE

Vrasenestraat 58: LEON DE CAUWER


Wanzelesteenweg 20

hier woonde

JEROME VAN WIELE

geb. 1928

vermoord 5-9-1944

Nieuwkerken

Gyselstraat 79

here lived

JEROME VAN WIELE

born 1928

murdered 5-9-1944

Nieuwkerken

He was murdered in September 1944 by German soldiers during a road check.


Vrasenestraat 58

hier woonde

LEON DE CAUWER

geb. 1923

dwangarbeid

vermoord 23-7-1944

Watenstedt-Salzgitter

Vrasenestraat 58

here lived

LEON DE CAUWER

born 1923

forced labour

murdered 23-7-1944

Watenstedt-Salzgitter

Leon De Cauwer was a 19-year-old farmer's son, he was forced to work in Germany. The young man would not survive.