Antwerpen, Belgium - 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.

 

On Friday 24th February 2023 at 11 am, a stumbling stone was placed in memory of Tony Tauba Kanner-Schnitzer in front of the house where she lived at the time at Baron Joostensstraat 5 in Antwerp.

The stumbling stone is placed on the initiative of her granddaughter Michal Gebert in collaboration with the “Werkgroep Stumbling Stones Antwerp” and the “Association pour la Mémoire de la Shoah”. A dozen relatives, including her granddaughter Michal Gebert, attended the ceremony associated with the placing of the stumbling stone.

The family read an In Memoriam about the life and suffering of Tony Tauba. Then Regina Sluszny, the chairwoman of the Jewish Forum, took the floor as well as Samuel Markovitz, district alderman of the district of Antwerp and Herman Van Goethem, rector of the University of Antwerp. Oscar Bohnen provided the musical accompaniment.

 

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