Stumbling Stone Boterdiep Westzijde 9

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

* Jan Kuipers, born 1927, arrested 25 April 1944, deported 1944 from Amersfoort, murdered 15 November 1944, Peres.

Jan Kuipers, a gardner, was picked up on 25 April 1944 during the raid on several villages in reprisal for the Dutch resistance murder of a collaborator. Jan was taken by train on 26 April 1944 to PDA Amersfoort. Between 25 April and 7 July 1944, some of the prisoners were released, but not Jan Kuipers. Then on 7 July, Jan and others were marched to the train station and deported to Germany. He was in Camp Schkopau, Schkopau and in Camp Lippendorf, De Kippe. He worked in a factory in Böhlen/Lippendorf that made synthetic fuel from brown coal, and finally he worked in Camp Alpenrose, a labor education camp in Peres, 24km south of Leipzig. Alpenrose was started on 25 October 1944. Jan Kuipers was murdered there a less than a month later.

"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."

Borne was the first town in the Netherlands in which Stolpersteine were placed. This happened 29 November 2007.

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Source

• Text: Anne Palmer
• Photos: Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (1), Suzanne Matrosov-Vruggink (2)
• Groninger Gijzelaars: Jan Kuipers
• Stolpersteine.eu