Stumbling Stones Spoorlaan 52

Second World War (1939-1945)

Netherlands, the North Brabant Oss

These memorial stones (so called Stolpersteine of stumbling blocks) commemorate:
* Salomon Fresco, born 1891, deported 5 October 1942 from Westerbork, murdered 8 October 1942 Auschwitz.
* Antje Fresco-Hes, born 1890, deported 5 October 1942 from Westerbork, murdered 8 October 1942 Auschwitz.
* Rosina Fresco, born 1923, deported 3 September 1944 from Westerbork, murdered 6 September 1944 Auschwitz.
* Marcus Fresco, born 1927, deported 5 October 1942 from Westerbork, Auschwitz, died 31 August 1943, Central Europe.

Salomon Fresco (an administrative assistant [commies]) and his wife Antje and one of their children, Marcus, were taken from this address on the same day. Salomon and Antje were killed on arrival at Auschwitz. Marcus survived another 10 months; he was killed a week before his 16th birthday.

A friend of their daughter Rosina gave her her own ID card on the condition that Rosina leave Oss. Rosina went to Maastricht to work as a nanny. She returned later and got another ID. She then worked as a care assistant in two rest homes in Oss. In September 1944, Rosina was with the last group of Jews from Oss who were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there.

Their third child, Rika, a seamstress, lived in Amsterdam the last months of her life. She married diamond worker, Benjamin Jacobs, in Westerbork on 5 July 1943; a week later, both were deported to Sobibor and killed on arrival there.

Antje’s mother, Rosina Hes-Zilverberg, lived with the family at Spoorlaan 52. She died there at home, age 81, at the end of November 1942 -- seven weeks after her daughter, son-in-law and grandson were taken.

Antje Fresco-Hes and her 6 siblings who were alive in Oss at the beginning of the war were all killed in the Holocaust. Each has a stolperstein: Albert David Hes (1943 Sobibor – see Ridderstraat 58), Henri Zvi Hes (1943 Sobibor – see Heuvel 32), Dina Anna Hes (1943 Sobibor – see Spoorlaan 22), Hugo Daniel Hes (1944 Auschwitz – see Heuvel 79), Antje Fresco-Hes (1942 Auschwitz – Spoorlaan 52), Helena Diependaal-Hes (1942 Auschwitz – see Floraliastraat 65), and Meijer Hes (1943 Auschwitz – see Hermanslaan 1).

Saloman’s parents died before the war. His brother Levie Fresco, Levie’s wife Hendrika Blok and their 13-year-old son Calman were all killed at Auschwitz 19 October 1942. Their daughter Duifje Fresco, age 21, was killed at Auschwitz 31 August 1942; and their other son Markus Fresco, age 20, died 30 April 1943 in Poland.

"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 victim’s with the name, year 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."