Stumbling Stone Boven Nieuwstraat 59

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

* Heintje Vos-Heilbronn, born 1871, interned 1943 Westerbork, dead in camp, 29 April 1943.

Heintje Heilbronn and Koos Vos, a brushmaker, married in 1924 and lived in a small workers’ house at this Boven Niewstraat 59 address. She was 52; he was 57, and there is no indication of any children. He died at age 74 in Kampen in March 1941. He is considered by the Joods Monument to have been a Jewish victim of the war. Two years later, Heintje Vos-Heilbronn was taken to Westerbork transit camp. Her neighbors broke into her house, looking for valuables. There were none. She was just as poor as they were. She died in Westerbork’s hospital ward only 19 days after she arrived. She was one month short of her 72nd birthday. Her body was cremated, and the urn with her ashes was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Diemen.

"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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