Dafür möchten wir uns uns herzlich bedanken. Ebenso wie bei Jugendring Duisburg, der die Stolpersteinverlegungen erst möglich macht.
Am 5. Juni haben wir die Stolpersteine von Edith und Bernard Goldfarb verlegt. Die Nachfahren der Familie Goldfarb aus Kanada war auch anwesend, was diese Veranstaltung emotionaler für uns gemacht hat. Auf der Emnscherstraße 204, wo wir die Stolpersteine verlegt haben, hielten sowohl Frau van Laack als auch unser Bürgermeister Volker Mosblech und unser Landtagsabgeordneter Frank Börner eine Rede zu Ehren von Edith und Bernard. Auch Schüler haben die Geschichte von Edith und Bernard aus ihrer Perspektive vorgetragen vorgetragen - und das alles auf Englisch, damit die Familie uns auch versteht.
When you think about the fact that Edith sat and studied in the same rooms as we do today, the first thing that strikes you is what a normal life, similar to ours, she was torn from. Her childhood and that of her little brothers Bernard and Leo, which should have been as carefree as ours, ended too early.
Even though we live in peaceful times in Germany today, we see that this is by no means anything we should take for granted.
When we turn on the TV or go on social media, we see that there are still wars of aggression, religious wars, striving for power and discrimination against certain groups of people.
We must protect peace and democracy – day by day.
Therefore, we as the project group "The Abtei does not forget!" want to show that the past is not as past as we think. That is why we are standing here today.
Edith and Bernard, as well as their parents and their little brother Leo lived here in Hamborn. In this very house.
From the window of their apartment they had a good view of the Altmarkt.
A sight that is well familiar to all of us. Every Hamborn resident knows the Altmarkt.
This is where the weekly market is held, where people run errands, where they have ice cream in summer, where people meet.
Hamborn was their home - just as it is for us. Even though they lived here long before we did, and some buildings and the people looked different, I often think of them when I pass by the various everyday places we have in common.
When I see the green booth on the Altmarkt over there, I think of how Edith and Bernhard bought candy there.
How Bernhard put the licorice on the back of his hand, so that it looked like a star and then licked it off.
How Edith and Bernhard always drove the kiosk owner up the wall because he had to climb the ladder for them every time to get the candy they wanted after all.
I think of how Bernhard, on his birthday in December, would admire the booths for the Christmas festivities and his father would make him think that all the candy was arranged there for his birthday.
When I walk by this building here, I think of how Bernhard and Edith lived here with their family and their housekeeper - with their neighbours who owned the movie theater that used to be in this building.
How they invited the children to come and watch movies there.
Bernard loved to watch cowboy movies the ones with Laurel and Hardy.
When I walk through the corridor of the E-wing, our oldest part of the school building, I think of how Edith used to sit in the hallway and read her books during religious education class.
She was supposed to be working on assignments, but the nuns didn't keep track and she could enjoy her books.
When I see the flagpole at the main entrance of our school, where the European Union flag flies today, I think of how in 1938 the decree to raise the Nazi flag was issued and how the nuns at the school resisted.
How the school was closed shortly after - like the other diocesan schools.
Edith then had to go to the girls' high school in Marxloh, which today is the Elly-Heuss-Knapp-Gymnasium.
Soon the parents decided to send Edith and Bernard with the Kindertransport that Truus Weijsmüller (Trüs Weichsmüller) arranged, to Holland, where they would be safe for the time being.
They took them to the train station and said goodbye.
The father had packed Bernard some licorice for the way.
Edith tried to be strong for her little brother.
When I play soccer with my friends or go to practice, I think about how Bernhard played with his friends in Amsterdam the way we play together today.
But I also think about the day when the Nazis invaded Holland and the children had to leave the Bürgerweesshuis (Bürcherweesheus) with Truus Wijsmüller (Trüs Weichsmüller) in a hurry and Bernhard even had to leave his beloved red soccer shoes behind.
In the harbor, they boarded the last ship to leave Holland. Truus told the children she would be right back to join them so they would not be afraid and stay on the ship.
She did not return, however, and the children set out for England alone - even under bombardment.
They had to call at several ports until they were granted entry into England.
I think of how seasick Bernhard was and how exhausted they all arrived because they hardly had anything to eat.
When I am at the city center of Duisburg and stand in front of the main station,
I think of how many people from Duisburg were deported from there via Derendorf station in Düsseldorf.
How they waited there in Derendorf, in the cold on the morning of December 9, 1941, and had their passports and all their belongings taken from them.
How they waited, sorted by district, crammed into cattle pens, until they finally boarded the train and travelled in the cold, for four days without food, without water, without light, until they finally arrived in the Riga ghetto.
I think of the parents and little Leo who were murdered by the Nazis - like many other Jews.
When I read the letters that the parents Bernard and Edith sent to Amsterdam, I think of how bad it must have been, when one day, no more letters arrived.
In a letter from 8th September 1940 they had still written:
Dear children. We have received one of your letters.
Please write again soon. Thank God we are of good health
And hope to receive good news from you. Our good Leo is a big
boy now. Please…(set up) a letter for us ….
We wish you all the best and stay healthy and do not be
Worried about us. Warm
Greetings and kisses from Dad, Mum, Aunt
But when I see Bernard's family today, I think of all of the good things in life
that Edith and he had after the war:
A new home, a family, friends.
The fact that Bernard's family is here today, standing here with us,
gives me hope for a better future.
Edith war in den 1930er Jahren Schülerin am Abtei. Kurz nach der Schließung der Schule musste sie gemeinsam mit ihrem Bruder über den Kindertransport - organisiert durch Truus Wijsmüller - in die Niederlande fliehen. Die Eltern und der kleine Bruder Leo blieben zurück und kamen nach einem langen Transport ins Ghetto Riga durch die Nazis um.D
In Amsterdam lebten Bernard und Edith zunächst in einem Heim mit vielen anderen Kindern, die Truus gerettet hatte. Als die Nazis in Holland einmarschierten, mussten sie die Niederlande überstürzt mit einem Boot Richtung England verlassen, das sogar unter Bombenbeschuss. Nach dem Krieg wanderten sie nach Kanada und in die USA aus.
Schließlich legten die Schüler und die Familie Rosen auf die Stolpersteine von Edith und Bernard. Diese Veranstaltung war für uns sehr wichtig, da wir in der Lage waren mit den Verwandten von Edith und Bernard gemeinsam an ihre Geschichte zu erinnern und damit auch ihren Erfahrungen im Holocaust zu gedenken.
Danach fuhren wir, zusammen mit der Familie Goldfarb und den Regisseurinnen vom Film „Truus’ Children“ ,die für diesen Film auch Bernard interviewt haben, zum Jüdischen Gemeindezentrum im Innenhafen, Duisburg. Dort wurden wir freundlich von Rabbiner David Geballe und Geschäftsführer Alexander Drehmann empfangen. Rabbi Geballe sprach das Kaddisch, das jüdische Totengebet.
Der Besuch in diese Synagoge war sehr interessant!
Anschließend gingen wir alle gemeinsam ins Zentrum für Erinnerungskultur, wo wir uns das Interview von Bernard, das die zwei Regisseurinnen filmten, ansahen. Danach gab es eine Fragerunde.
Schließlich ging es dann weiter mit der Lesung eines Ausschnittes des noch unveröffentlichten Buches von Jacqueline Lorient, Bernards Witwe, in dem sie die Erinnerungen ihres Mannes festgehalten hat.
Von Bernards Persönlichkeit nach dem Holocaust zu hören und von der Perspektive eines Familienmitglieds zu hören, war sehr rührend, da wir hier von den letzten Appellen von Bernard zu hören bekamen, wie zum Beispiel dass er niemandem Schuldgefühle wegen des Holocausts wünscht und wir nicht die Schuld dafür trägen. Es war ebenfalls interessant zu erfahren, wie es für die Kinder und Enkel Bernards war, mit dem Trauma aufzuwachsen. Bernard hatte nach dem Krieg noch immer Angst, das so etwas immer wieder geschehen könnte. Daher schickte er seine Söhne auf Schulen im Ausland, damit sie internationale Kontakte knüpfen konnten, um später genügend Freunde in aller Welt zu haben, die helfen könnten. So etwas zu hören ist entsetzlich.
Umso wichtiger ist es uns, an die Schrecken des Holocaust zu erinnern. Es ist schön, dass wir dies mit der Familie gemeinsam machen konnten und Erinnerungskultur nun in einem Dialog stattfindet und wir nicht mehr nur übereinander sprechen, sondern miteinander.
von Betül und Helin, Klasse 10
Verlegung am 1. April 2022, Kl. 7c
Am 1. April 2022 haben die Schülerinnen und Schüler der Klasse 7c gemeinsam mit Nachfahren, dem Zentrum für Erinnerungskultur und einem Zeitzeugen Stolpersteine für Familie Meisels auf der Dahlstraße in Marxloh verlegt.
Die ganze Geschichte lest ihr hier:
Bei der zentralen Gedenkveranstaltung der Stadt Duisburg zur Reichspogromnacht 1938 durften unsere Schülerinnen und Schüler den Arbeitsprozess im Ratssaal präsentieren. Auch Oberbürgermeister Sören Link war dabei.
Die Präsentation als pdf-Datei...
