Memory and Memorials

Stolpersteine

Over the past few decades, local people in some towns in Germany have laid small memorial blocks outside the homes of former Jewish residents who were forced unwillingly from them. These commemorate the members of the former Jewish community who once lived amongst them. In Aurich, these 'stumbling stones' (or 'Stolpersteine') are laid outside Hermann's childhood home as a memorial to his siblings.

Gröschlerhaus

The former Jewish community in Jever is remembered in a building on the site of the old synagogue there. It is named after the leading family of that community during the 1920s and 30s, and is a base for commemoration and education. Part of Hermann's school room still exists there. There are also other memorials on which they are remembered.

Frankfurt

Memorials exist at the old cemetery and synagogue area in the centre of Frankfurt, at the site of the synagogue near Henny's childhood home, and at the collection point for Jewish deportees from the city, amongst whom were Henny's father and other relatives.

France 

There are numerous memorials to the Jewish people – and to the acknowledgement of France's complicity in their fate - in towns, cities, and village squares throughout France. In the centre of the old Jewish quarter in Paris is the Mémorial de la Shoah. This memorial not only names and honours each Jewish person who was deported from France, but houses an extensive archive, library, exhibition space, and involves itself with educational activities over a wide area. This is where the original Hartog letters will eventually be deposited so that others can access them and continue the endeavour to promote understanding, tolerance, and cooperation between all people and philosophies.