Stumbling Stones Lorentzplein 11

These memorial stones (so called Stolpersteine of stumbling blocks) commemorate:

the familie Van Voolen

The small copper plaques, in the pavement in front of houses of which the (mostly Jewish) residents were murdered by the Nazis, mention the name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death.

In many other cities, mainly in Germany but also in other European countries, the memorials also can be found. There are already many thousands of these plaques and their number is still counting. Almost all Stolpersteine are laid by the German artist himself, Gunter Demnig.

MAURITS VAN VOOLEN
August 25th, 1909 (Haarlem) - April 1st, 1944 (Vught)
LORENTZPLEIN 11
Maurits was called Broer by the family, to distinguish him from his cousin and boy next door who was also called Maurits.
In February 1911, his father Israel and his uncle Gompert (George) had two identical, mirrored houses built on the Spaarne in Haarlem, numbers 25 and 27. The only two stumbling stones that have been placed in Haarlem so far lie in front of those houses . Behind their houses, the two brothers ran a department store.
Maurits was also a merchant by trade. To prepare for the plan to take over his father's business, he worked in large and small department stores in Germany, including Chemnitz. There he must have met Mally - she lived there with her parents.
Maurits and Mally went to live at Lorentzplein 11 in Haarlem after their marriage. Their son Johnny was born there on November 9, 1935. Maurits was now a buyer at Hema.
He was transported to camp Vught. On 3 July 1943 he was transferred to Westerbork. From there he was deported to Auschwitz, together with his wife and son. Presumably he was sent to Warsaw as a forced laborer to carry out clean-up work. He died there no later than April 1, 1944.
He was 34 years old.

MALLY RUCHEL VAN VOOLEN-ROSENFELD
October 28, 1912 (Chemnitz) - September 3, 1943 (Auschwitz)
LORENTZPLEIN 11
Occupation: milliner
Mally Ruchel Van Voolen- Rosenfeld loved to sing. She was a daughter of Markus Rosenfeld and Jocheta Kesler. On December 6, 1938, she and her husband submitted a request to the Minister of Justice to have her parents come over to the Netherlands.
There was no answer. On October 7, 1939, Mally and Maurits wrote another letter. In 1939 Mally's parents were able to come to the Netherlands and settled in Enschede. Eventually Mally's parents were arrested and deported to Sobibor via Camp Westerbork. There they were murdered on May 28, 1943.
Mally was murdered in Auschwitz on September 3, 1943.
She was 30 years old.

JOHNNY VAN VOOLEN
November 9, 1936 (Haarlem) - September 3, 1943 (Auschwitz)
LORENTZPLEIN 11
Probably Johnny van Voolen was betrayed in hiding.
He was registered in Westerbork on 3 July 1943 as a "criminal case" and ended up in barrack 67.
On August 31, he and his parents were deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered on September 3, 1943.
He turned 7 years old.

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Source

• Text: Reini Elkerbout
• Photos: Reini Elkerbout