Information: Wikipedia

A Stolperstein literally "stumbling stone", metaphorically a "stumbling block" is a sett-size, 10 by 10 centimetres (3.9 in × 3.9 in) concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution.

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, was deported to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of 29 March 2018, over 67,000 Stolpersteine have been laid in 22 countries, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial.

The majority of Stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, along with International Brigade soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers.

Tuesday 5 March 2019, Gunter Demnig, the German artists and creator of the Stolpersteine, was in Antwerp to lay 26 stones with the names of victims of Nazism.

Marcus Zwaaf was born on 27 November 1891 in Amsterdam, he was a sales man. Arrested during the razzia in Antwerp.  Put on the list at Kazerne Dossin on 29 August 1942 leaving Mechelen 1 September 1942 on Transport VII, transportnumber 969.

Sarah Vos was born on 5 March 1889 in Amsterdam, married to Marcus Zwaaf and she was a housewife.  Arrested during the razzia in Antwerpen.  Put on the list at Kazerne Dossin on 29 August 1942 leaving Mechelen 1 September 1942 on Transport VII, transportnumber 970.

In 1940, Marcus Zwaaf and Sara Vos fled with their daughter Lea and her husband, just before the arrival of the German troops. Their goal was to reach England. But they missed the departure of the last boat and were forced to return to Antwerp, their daughter and her husband to Brussels.

In the night of 28 to 29 August 1942, the Sipo-SD, assisted by the Antwerp police, carried out the second raid in the city. Six people were arrested in the Marsstraat. At number 55, Marcus Zwaaf, 51 years old, and Sarah Vos, 53 years old, were taken away. They were probably murdered immediately upon their arrival in Birkenau after their deportation with Transport VII.

Selig Zigmund Zuckerberg, father and Sarle Chaja Rozenfeld- Zuckerberg, mother of Emile               

At the Pretoriastraat in Borgherout lived with his parents the little Emile Zuckerberg born in Antwerp on May 15, 1938 and who, after taking refuge in France at the start of the war, lived for some time in Izieu, before being arrested by the Gestapo.  He was deported 4 weeks before his 6th birthday by the 71st convoy from Drancy to Auschwitz and murdered directly in the gas chamber, along with the 43 other children from the colony of Izieu. Separated from his instructor, Léa Feldblum, little Emile was "selected" for the gas chamber.

Son of Zygmund and Serla, both deported on September 14, 1942 by convoy No. 33 after being interned in Rivesaltes.

Salomon Seewald was born in Podgorze, Poland, on 31 January 1905. 

He was a merchant and put on Transport XIII leaving Mechelen 10 October 1942.

Fradel Schenkel was born in Tarnow, Poland, on 20 March 1908.  She was a housewife and married to Salomon Seewald. 

She was put on Transport XIII leaving Mechelen on 10 October 1942.

The Polish Jew Salomon Seewald immigrated in 1924. Fradel Schenkel, whom he married in Belgium, also came from Poland. Salomon Seewald, trader by trade, registers with his wife in December 1940 in the register of Jews in Antwerp, but in January 1941 the couple move to Profondeville near Namen. They are 37 and 34 years old when they are arrested and interned in the Dossin barracks on October 7, 1942. Three days later they are deported with transport 13 and do not return.

Vigdor Getsel (Victor) Hollander was born in Neu-Sandez, Austro-Hungarian empire, now Nowy Sacz in Poland, on 20 April 1887.  He became a diamond trader and, in November 1909, emigrated to Belgium, where he settled in Antwerp.  On 1st December 1909, he married Terez Eckstein, born in Moskolizi, Hungary, on 14 September 1888. Their oldest son, Mauritz Leo Hollander, was born in Antwerp on 16 December 1909. Three more boys followed : Marcel (b. 31/05/1912), Julius (b. 31/01/1915) and Ezriel Nathum (b. 29/06/1924).

In August 1914, while visiting Vigdor Getsel Hollander’s parents in Scheveningen, Germany invaded Belgium. For the duration of the First World War, the Hollander family remained in the Netherlands, where third son Julius was born. In 1919 they returned to Antwerp, where oldest son Mauritz Leo Hollander passed away on 26 September 1922.

On 11 and 12 September 1942, the Nazis organised a big anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp. Among the hundreds of people that were arrested was also Vigdor Getzel Hollander. He did not survive deportation from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport X on 15 September 1942.

His wife, Terez Eckstein, survived the war hiding in Antwerp with her mother and emigrated to Israel in 1949. During the Second World War, Marcel found refuge in Latin-America and then joined the Belgian armed forces in Canada. Post-war he emigrated to the USA. Julius and his brother Ezriel (alias Pino) lived in London during the war. They post-war returned to Belgium after which Julius also migrated to Israël. Ezriel returned to Antwerp and married Louise Rachel Götz in 1949.

Elias Chaim Rutzki was a diamond trader and born in Chemagovitch in Russia on 22.07.1884 and lived in Belgium since 1905.  He had the Belgian nationality.

Chaja Riwka Lipszyc was a housewife, born in Grajewo in Poland on 04.09.1890 and arrived in Belgium in February 1930.  She had the Belgian nationality. Chaja was the sister of Leja Riwka Lipszyc.

Elias Chaim married Chaya Riwka Lipszyc, who was his cousin, with the same grand parents on his mothers side. They had two children Anna and Siegfried, born as Belgians in Antwerp.

Elias Chaim Rutzki, his wife Chaja Riwka Lipszyc and their children Anna and Siegfried were arrested at home in the night of September 3rd-4th 1943 during „Aktion Iltis“, the raid against Jewish who had the Belgian nationality.

Amongst those arrested that night was also Anna’s husband Nico Workum. All five family members were brought to Kazerne Dossin, here they were registered as person 106 (Nico), 454 (Elias Chaim), 455 (Chaja Riwka), 456 (Anna) and 457 (Siegfried) on the deportation list of transport XXII B (Belgians). This train left Mechelen September 20, 1943 and arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau September 22, 1943.

Siegfried is the son of Elias Chaim Rutzki and Chaya Riwka Lipszyc. Born on 26.11.1930 in Antwerp and he had the Belgian nationality.

Leja Riwka Lipszyc was a houswife, born in Grajewo in Poland on 04.03.1895 and arrived in Belgium November 1933  She had the Polish nationality and was a professional pianist

Leja was the sister of Chaja Riwka Lipszyc. Leja presented herself voluntarily at Kazerne Dossin August 12t, 1942. Like 12.000 other members of the Jewish community she had received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a nazi convocation summoning her for forced labour in the east. Not obeying this letter, so the text said, would lead to severe consequences for their families.

In Kazerne Dossin, Leja was registered as person 540 on the deportation list of transport III. This convoy left Mechelen August 15, 1942 and arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau August 17, 1942.

Zelik was the son of Leja Riwka Lipszyc and Salomon Kagan from whom she was divorced. He was a trader, (Handelsangestelte). Born in Grajewo, Poland on 07.04.1924 and in 1934 he came to Belgium with his mother, he had the Polish nationality.

In the summer of 1942 Zelik Kagan was deported by the nazis to the north of France together with 2.250 other Jewish men from Belgium as a forced labourer. In France Zelik worked for ‘Hermeke’ and ‘Leonhard Hanbuch und Sohne’, two subcontractors of Organisation Todt, the German institute responsible for building the Atlantic Wall.

When the nazis realised they would not reach their Belgian deportation quota in 1942, they added the Organisation Todt workers to the Dossin deportation lists.

On October 29, 1942 Zelik’s name was added to the list of transport XVII, number 262. This convoy left France October 31, 1942 and arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau November 2, 1942.