Stumbling Stones Bahnhofstrasse 23

These small, brass, memorial plaques (Stolpersteine or stumbling stones) commemorate:

* Hugo Grünbaum, born 1868, "protective custody" 1928 Buchenwald, deported 1942, Theresienstadt, murdered 24 October 1942.
* Klara Grünbaum née Schloss, born 1873, deported Theresienstadt 1942, murdered 25 November 1942.
* Else Neuhaus née Grünbaum, born 1905, deported 1942 Belzyce, murdered.
* Arthur Neuhaus, born 1901, deported 1942 Belzyce, murdered.
* Inge Neuhaus, born 1937, deported 1942 Belzyce, murdered.
* Hans Grünbaum, born 1916, fled 1934 Palestine.

Background
Hugo Grünbaum owned a textile business and was prominent in Themar’s Jewish community. He and Klara Schloss married in 1897. They had four children – one stillborn in 1901, Mira born in 1903, Else born in 1905, and Hans born in 1916.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hans Grünbaum went to Palestine and became a citizen.

Else Grünbaum married Arthur Neuhaus in September 1935. Arthur worked in his father-in-law’s business in Themar. They had a child, Ingeborg (called Inge). They remained in Germany.

Mira Grünbaum married Arno Sommer, and they went to Italy in 1936 with their son Siegfried and Arno’s mother, Hedwig Sommer. They survived the war.

On Reichspogromnacht (9/10 November 1938), 18 of the 21 Jewish men in Themar were arrested and taken to Buchenwald. Hugo Grünbaum was taken, but for some reason Arthur Neuhaus was not. In 1939, the families were forced to leave their Bahnhofstrasse home. Else, Arthur and Inge Neuhaus went to a house on S. A. Strasse 20 (today Leninstrasse 20). Starting in September 1939, Arthur was sent to forced labor in more than one location.

A small record in October 1941 shows that Hugo Grünbaum was reported for being in a butcher shop without his yellow star.

On 10 May 1942, Else, Arthur, and 5-year-old Inge Neuhaus were deported from Weimar to the Belzyce Ghetto near Lublin. The dates when they were murdered is unknown, but of the 1,000-1,200 persons on that transport, sources report only three or five that are known to have survived.

Finally, in the autumn – on 19 September -- Hugo and Klara were deported to Theresienstadt. Hugo Grünbaum was killed there a month later (24 October 1942), and Klara Grünbaum a month and a day after him (25 November 1942). He was 73, she was 69.

For more about this family, please see (in German) "Juden in Themar: Die Familie Hugo u. Klara (geb. Schloss) Grünbaum".

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the pavement in front of the last voluntary residence of (mostly Jewish) victims who were murdered by the Nazis. Each plaque is engraved with the victim’s name, date of birth, and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: "A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten."

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Source

• Text: Anne Palmer
• Photos: Sharon Meen
• Juden in Themar: Grünbaum Family
• Juden in Themar: Grünbaum & Frankenberg Families
• Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names
• Yad Vashem: Deportation Train Da 27 Weimar-Belzyce
• Geni.com
• Stolpersteine.eu