Etten-Leur - Stolpersteine

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.

 

List of Stolpersteine in the town of Etten-Leur

Roosendaalseweg 44A: SAMUEL LEVIE

Van Bergenplein: ROSA ANDRIESSE


Roosendaalseweg 44A

hier woonde

SAMUEL LEVIE

geb. 1877

gedeporteerd 1943

uit Westerbork

vermoord 14.5.1943

Sobibor

Roosendaalseweg 44A

here lived

SAMUEL LEVIE

born 1877

deported 1943

from Westerbork

murdered 14.5.1943

Sobibor

Levie was deported during the last phase of the persecution of the Jews, deportation and systematic murder. First to camp Vught, then to “Durchgangslager” Westerbork. From there he was transferred to the Sobibor concentration camp on 11 May 1943. Immediately after arriving there, he was murdered in the gas chamber on 14 May.

 

Samuel Levie created the open market that is still in operation today in Etten-Leur. Vendors came with all types of goods to sell.  Samuel was the last person in Etten to be arrested by the Nazis because he was a friend of the mayor's.  He was married to Reintje van Thijn (1867-1930). Reintje was born in Haarlem and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Oosterhout. Their first child was stillborn; the other 3 children, their spouses and children were all murdered in the Shoah.


Van Bergenplein

hier woonde

ROSA ANDRIESSE

geb. 1877

gevlucht in de dood

20.1.1943

Van Bergenplein

here lived

ROSA ANDRIESSE

born 1877

fled into death

20.1.1943

Rosa Andriesse was the daughter of Barend Andriesse and Mirjam Colaço Osorio. Rosa married in 1904 to Isidore Elias, who died before the war. Rosa kept a non-orthodox Jewish home.  Rosa was remembered as a "very special and artistic personality". An impressive painting made in 1902 by the portrait painter Simon Maris shows her as a beautiful, redhaired, young woman. Rosa loved art and antiques and spoke English, German, French and Italian. She might have made a career as a professional pianist, but declined because "this was not the kind of thing done in her circle".

 

During the German occupation in 1942 her house and all her belongings were seized. She lived for a short while with her child, but not wanting to be a burden she took up residence in a small old-age home. After deciding she did not want to go into hiding, she took her own life by an overdose of medicine. Rosa convinced that this would enable her (grand)children to go into hiding or try to flee to the free world.