Stumbling Stone Kollwitzstraße 26-28

This small, brass memorial plaque (Stolperstein or stumbling stone) commemorates:

* Recha Romm née Rosenberg, born 1875, deported 1 November 1941 Lodz / Litamannstadt, murdered 5 May 1942, Chelmno / Kulmhof.

* Josef Mandel, born 1888, deported 26 February 1943, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Mindla Mandel née Kraus, born 1896, deported 26 February 1943, murdered in Auschwitz.
* Ruth Mandel, born 1936, deported 26 February 1943, murdered in Auschwitz.

* Henriette Nachmann née Kindermann, born 1912, deported 12 January 1943, murdered in Auschwitz.

Recha Romm was married to Leopold Romm, who died in 1926. Their grandson, Lothar Prager, sponsored her stumbling stone in 2011. No other information was found about her life. She was first deported on Transport 4 from Berlin, a third-class passenger train with 1,033-1,079 Jewish deportees supposedly being sent east for hard labor. They arrived at the Lodz Ghetto on 2 November 1941. Only 4 persons from Transport 4 are known to have survived the war. In May 1942, many from this and other Berlin transports were deported from the ghetto the Chelmno extermination camp.

Josef Mandel, born in Poland, was a merchant. He married Mindla ("Mina") Kraus, also born in Poland. Both became German citizens. In 1936 they had a daughter, Ruth, who was born in Berlin. No other information was found on their lives. All three were deported with 910 other Jews in closed, unheated cattle cars on Transport 30 from Berlin to Auschwitz. On arrival, 156 men and 106 women were selected for slave labor; the others were sent directly to the gas chambers. None of the three Mandels survived.

Henriette Kindermann married Bernhard Nachmann and had a daughter, Bela. His last voluntary work place was Sering AG in Berlin. By 1939 he was a forced laborer in a brick factory. In January 1943, the family was deported to Auschwitz on the 26th transport from Berlin. Bernhard survived and emigrated to the US. Henriette (age 30) and Bela (age 3) were murdered.

"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: Fedor de Vries & Anne Palmer
• Photos: Thom Quine (1), Thom Quine (2), OTFW (3)
• Stolpersteine in Berlin
• Wikipedia: Liste der Stolpersteine in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
• Berlin.de: Druckerei Prager
• Yad Vashem: Transport 4 (Berlin-Lodz)
• Yad Vashem: Transport 26 (Berlin to Auschwitz)
• Yad Vashem: Transport 30 (Berlin to Auschwitz)
• Stolpersteine.eu