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OUR ACTIVISM COLUMN
STOLPERSTEIN : STUMBLING BLOCK — SOMETHING THAT CAUSES DIFFICULTY OR HESITATION by Carol H .
A photo of Lea Heymann ( Steindamm 38 , unknown year ) given to her daughter Hilda . In family possession and published by permission .
Yes , pause a moment . We know the staggering number of people victimized by the Nazi regime , but the Stolpersteine give us names . And , if we take the time , we can begin to see faces and hear stories — lest we forget .
The name Lea Heymann was suggested to the AWCH by Susanne Rosendahl , a graphic designer who took two years off to research the biographies of 366 victims of the National Socialist era . Her next step was to find sponsors for the Stolpersteine , a project initiated by the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig to commemorate the victims of this incredible breach of human rights . “ The granddaughter of Lea Heymann lives in California ,” Susanne Rosendahl wrote , and the 2019 board agreed to sponsor the Stolperstein using money donated by AWCH members after a tour of the historic Grindel area .
The Stolperstein to Lea Heymann was laid without ceremony at
Großneumarkt 38 in Hamburg- Neustadt in March of this year . It was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic , and I had no access to the biographies that Ms . Rosendahl had compiled . I googled the internet , translated Hamburg registries of births , marriages , and deaths , joined Ancestry . com , wrote several letters to Jewish Heritage Societies in California , and finally ...
Message in my inbox : “ Hello , Carol , yes , Lea was my greatgrandmother , and Hilda was my grandmother ... my mother is going to be so happy about this ... she has a lot of information about my grandmother .”
“ It was actually my grandmother ’ s birthday today . “ She would have been 100 .”
Stolperstein Großneumarkt 38 for Lea Heymann in Hamburg-Neustadt . Photo : Pauli-Pirat . ( CC BY-SA 4.0 )
Lea ‘ s marriage certificate .
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