Timeline
In addition to coordinating the laying and care of Stolpersteine, we also support and organize various other activities relating to the NS past in Heppenheim, be it lectures by qualified speakers, fact-finding missions, exhibitions, school projects, visits to neighbouring and local towns of interest, etc. These are generally free of charge for all. Here is a selection of our activities to date.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 9th November 2022 | Again this year the committee organised an event to commemorate Pogromnacht 1938. Under the title “How can it be …”, the artist duo Ralph Dillmann (vocals) and Gerd Kaufhold (piano) performed songs and music by the Jewish composers Georg Kreisler, Hermann Leopoldi and Paul Dessau. The life histories of the composers, who were all forced to flee Nazi Germany, were briefly sketched. The emphasis was, however, on their songs with their joy, melancholy, and Jewish humour. Entrance was free. The concert left time to take part in the minute’s silence at the synagogue memorial – Marstall |
| 02.11.2022 starting at 7 p.m. | Annual members meeting – Marstall |
| 10.06.2022 starting at 9.30 a.m. |  On Friday 10th June 2022, eleven Stolpersteine were laid at three addresses to commemorate the Jewish families Friedmann, Goldblum and Meyer. The ceremony began at 9.30 a.m. in front of the house at Lorscher Str. 23. This stone is for Nathan Friedmann, cantor and tutor at the Jewish community of Heppenheim. Five stones were laid at In der Krone 7 for Leopold and Bertha Goldblum and their children Flora, Irma, and Bernhard. This is where the family lived and where Leopold Goldblum ran his shoeshop. At the house at Ernst-Ludwig-Str. 2, a further five stones were laid. The parents Arthur and Helene Meyer were murdered at Auschwitz, the youngest son Ernst in Sobibor. Hans Martin and Herbert Meyer survived under the most difficult conditions in the Netherlands. During the ceremony the life dates and main events of the various family members were read by school children. Descendants of Nathan Friedmann (from USA) and descendants of the Meyer family (from the Netherlands) came to Heppenheim specially for the stone layings. Photos of all three stone layings can be seen here. |
| 18.03.2022 | To mark the 80th aniversary of the deportation of Heppenheim Jews, the Berlin actress Imogen Kogge read from the Diaries of Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, a resistance fighter against National Socialism, writer and journalist. Ruth Andreas-Friedrich (1901–1977) founded the resistance group “Onkel Emil”, whose members, among other things, helped conceal victims of Nazi oppression and provided them with false papers. Imogen Kogge is at home on many theatre stages of the world. She is also very well known for her roles in film and television. In Brandenburg’s Polizeiruf 110 she played the leading role of Chief Superintendant Johanna Herz. In 2019 she played the central character Angela Merkel in the film Die Getriebenen. Entry to the event was free – Marstall |
| 27.01.2022 | There was no event planned this year for the 27th January, Holocaust Memorial Day. But anyone interested in marking the occasion can follow the Heppenheim Jewish trail using the flyer “Spurensuche”. The stories of Jewish people and the history of the Synagogue can be followed in audio via QR codes. The flyers are available at the Tourist Information, the Martin-Buber-Haus, and in the Bookshop “Buchhandlung May / Schmitt & Hahn” |
| 05.10.2021 | Members’ meeting - Marstall |
| 05.–24.03.2020 | The history workshop Jakob Kindinger and the group Stolpersteine Heppenheim e.V. and the German Trades Union (DGB) Heppenheim presented an exhibition by the study group Deutscher Widerstand 1933–1945 e.V. (German Resistance 1933–1945) entitled “Nichts war vergeblich. Frauen im Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus” (Nothing was in vain. Women’s resistance to National Socialism). Visiting times were the Landsratsamt opening hours. Eighteen biographies demonstrate the many ways in which women refused to obey the Nazi regime. Of particular interest to us is the local connection: one exhibition board is dedicated to Gretel Maraldo, who was a victim of the Kirchberg murders in Bensheim, and another to Anna Mettbach, a German Sinti woman who lived in Heppenheim for a time. Info material in German can be found here – Marstall |
| 27.01.2020 at 6 p.m. | In cooperation with the Initiative gegen Rechtsextremismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit (Initiative Against Right-Wing Extremism and Xenophobia) and the DGB (German Trades Union) Heppenheim, the Verein Stolpersteine Heppenheim presented a film by Wolfgang Liebeneiner „Ich klage an“. The film originated in 1941 in close co-operation with the NS-Propaganda Ministry and was first shown on 29th August 1941. Since 1966 the film has been in the possession of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Trust and is only shown under strict conditions. This public showing began with an introductory speech and concluded with a discussion – Marstall |
| 09.11.2019 at 7 p.m. | To commemorate Pogromnacht: “Gegen das Vergessen – eine jüdische Zeitreise” (Against forgetting – a Jewish journey through time) with the artist Dany Bober. Jewish folksongs and lore. Entrance free – Marstall |
| 13.05.2019 | Annual Members’ Meeting (press report in German here) – Martin-Buber-Haus, Werlestr. 2 |
| 26.03.2019 9.00 a.m. |
Eleven stones laid for the Mainzer family by Gunter Demnig. Photos here – Kaufhaus (Stadthaus) Mainzer, Friedrichstr. 21 |
| 27.01.2019 11.30 a.m. |
On Holocaust Memorial Day: „Das korallrote Sofa“ (The Coral Red Sofa). Book presentation and reading by Pit Metz (in German). The fate of Salomon Marx from Weinheim who survived the concentration camp at Auschwitz and subsequently suffered failure in post-war Germany. Entrance free. Details here – Kurmainzer Amtshof, Wappensaal |
| 09.11.2018 7.30 p.m. |
80 years of Pogromnacht. The fate of two Jewish families from Heppenheim 1933 to 1945. The Sundheimer Family lived in the Lehrstrasse. Pupils of the Starkenburg Gymnasium recited the fate of the couple and their five children. Sofie Fischer lived in Darmstädter Strasse. Her granddaughter, Marianne Degginger, wrote a book on the family history. A text composed by Sabine Schreck and Erich Henrich tells of Grandma Sofie’s life in Heppenheim, Frankfurt and Theresienstadt. The texts presented by the schoolchildren were accompanied by music, which was provided by cellist Konstantin Malikin – Marstall |
| 12.08.2018 | Guided tour around Jewish Worms – Synagogue, Raschi House, Heiliger Sand cemetery. Report in English here
|
| 21.03.2018 8.30 p.m. |
Annual Members Meeting – Marstall |
| 21.03.2018 7.30 p.m. |
Talk by Dr. Hermann Müller on “The Heppenheim Synagogue – Tracing its History” (in German) – Marstall |
| 09.11.2017 | Talk on the (mis)use of language under National Socialism by Dr. Peter-Otto Ullrich, Mainz. “Worte wie Gift und Drogen. Die NS-Sprache als Herrschaftsinstrument und Waffe” – Marstall |
| 09.09.2017 | Visit by the committee to the site of the former synagogue at Starkenburgweg 1. Photos here. |
| 09.05.2017 | Reading from the book “Das Stahlbad” by Fritz Frank (in German) – Buchhandlung May, Friedrichstr. 29, Heppenheim |
| 26.04.2017 | Annual General Meeting – Marstall |
| 08.03.2017 4 p.m. |
Four Stolpersteine for Leo, Rosa, Kurt and Gerda Bach – Friedrichstraße 34, Heppenheim. Photos here. |
| 08.03.2017 3.30 p.m. |
Four Stolpersteine for Abraham, Dina, Helmuth and Erich Baruch – Lorscher Str. 17, Heppenheim. Photos here. |
| 03.03.2017 | “Edith and Minna - The story of a friendship” (in German) written, narrated and played by Jürgen Flügge, Hoftheater Tromm – Marstall |
| 05.02.2017 (till 14.05.2017) |
Opening of the exhibition “Legalised theft” at 4 p.m. The tax authorities and the dispossession of Jews in Hesse 1933–1945 – Museumszentrum, Nibelungenstr. 35, Lorsch |
| 09.11.2016 | “Addressee unknown” by Kressman Taylor (in German) – Reading from the epistolary novel by LIZIspecial of the Starkenburg Gymnasium school – Marstall |
| 15.07.2016 | Creation of the Bürgerstiftung – our group is a founding member |
| 27.04.2016 | Annual General Meeting – Haus der Begegnung |
| 27.04.2016 | “Half-trodden cudgel paths on the high moors”. On attitudes to German history (in German) – talk by retired pastor Ulrich Schwemer |
| 27.01.2016 | “The 27th January and remembering the Holocaust” – public information event as part of the project day – Museum Heppenheim, Kurmainzer Amtshof |
| 27.01.2016 | Project day of Class 8 at Starkenburg Gymnasium School – a joint operation with museums, schools, and clubs – Museum Heppenheim, Kurmainzer Amtshof |
| 13.11.2015 | Stone laying. One stone for Sophie Fischer at Darmstädter Str. 20 |
| 09.11.2015 | “The way to Theresienstadt” – the life of the Jewish author Ilse Weber; with Dominique Engler (in German) – Marstall |
| 06.10.2015 | “The night of the grey cats”. Reading by Lilo Beil in the Vitosklinik (in German) |
| 20.09.2015 | Jewish cemetery and synagogue in Hemsbach – Guided tour conducted by Rudolf Beringer
|
| 25.03.2015 | Annual General Meeting |
| 25.03.2015 | “Piaski – End of the line for deported Jewish people from Heppenheim” – talk by Rudolf Beringer (in German) |
| 17.11.2014 | First stone laying – seven stones for the Sundheimer family at Lehrstrasse 3 |
| 25.06.2014 | Study trip by the committee to the international tracing service ITS in Bad Arolsen |
| 02.04.2014 | Annual General Meeting |
| 09.11.2013 | Report by Shlomo Samson on his personal experience of the NS period – Marstall |
| 18.04.2013 | “Stolpersteine Heppenheim e.V. – Erinnern für die Zukunft” is established – Marstall |
