Since 2004 the »Memorial to the former Jewish citizens of Herzogenrath« remembers the town's Jewish citizens who were expelled and murdered during the National Socialism regime.
Herzogenrath, undated, Members of the Rubens family from Herzogenrath, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
Herzogenrath, 2004, The memorial to the Jews of Herzogenrath, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
Herzogenrath borders on the Dutch town of Kerkrade in the west and Aachen in the south. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War Herzogenrath had a population of around 7,700, among them a few Jewish families. Herzogenrath had no Synagogue of its own, most of the Herzogenrath Jews attended the Aachen synagogue.
During the National Socialist regime Jewish life in Herzogenrath was completely destroyed. Like elsewhere in Germany Jews were gradually excluded from public life, disenfranchised and their livelihood destroyed. A source from 1936 says that »the Jewish butcher August Rubens from Herzogenrath was taken into protective custody because of antisocial behaviour and the closure of his business was ordered«. The majority of the Rubens family was deported to the occupied east and murdered there during the war years. A similar fate befell most of the Jewish families from Herzogenrath, very few were able to escape abroad in time.
On June 10, 1942 the citizens of Herzogenrath witnessed a group of at least 100 Jewish prisoners being chased from the train station through the town by the SS. Destination of the forced march were two provisional camps in neighbouring Würselen. From there the prisoners were deported to the east a few weeks later.
During the National Socialist regime Jewish life in Herzogenrath was completely destroyed. Like elsewhere in Germany Jews were gradually excluded from public life, disenfranchised and their livelihood destroyed. A source from 1936 says that »the Jewish butcher August Rubens from Herzogenrath was taken into protective custody because of antisocial behaviour and the closure of his business was ordered«. The majority of the Rubens family was deported to the occupied east and murdered there during the war years. A similar fate befell most of the Jewish families from Herzogenrath, very few were able to escape abroad in time.
On June 10, 1942 the citizens of Herzogenrath witnessed a group of at least 100 Jewish prisoners being chased from the train station through the town by the SS. Destination of the forced march were two provisional camps in neighbouring Würselen. From there the prisoners were deported to the east a few weeks later.
Herzogenrath, undated, Members of the Rubens family from Herzogenrath, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
Herzogenrath, 2004, The memorial to the Jews of Herzogenrath, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
Prior to the Second World War about 35 Jews lived in Herzogenrath. Some emigrated but many met a violent death during the Holocaust. After the war no Jews lived in the town any more.
No place given, 1929, Josef Spiegel (1901-1942) managed a shoe shop in Kohlscheid (today Herzogenrath), was murdered in Auschwitz, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
On November 9, 2004 the »Memorial to the former Jewish citizens of Herzogenrath« was inaugurated in front of the Herzogenrath town hall. The memorial is made of natural stone with a hole in the form of a Star of David sawn into it, which, according to the artists Stefanie Weskott and Werner Huppertz-Weskott, indicates the »irretrievable loss« caused by the Holocaust. The pedestal bears the inscription »In memory to the exclusion, disenfranchisement, eviction, deportation and murder of the Jewish citizens of Herzogenrath«. The initiative for the memorial was started by the Herzogenrath workgroup »Wege gegen das Vergessen (Ways against Oblivion)« founded in 1993 and which fought for the preservation of the memory of the town's former Jewish citizens.
Apart from the memorial in front of the town hall the workgroup carried through the erection of a plaque in memory of the forced march of Jewish prisoners in June 1942 and the laying of more than 20 »Stolpersteine (Tripping Stones)« mentioning Herzogenrath victims of the Holocaust by name. In the process numerous biographies of former Jewish citizens of Herzogenrath were researched in great detail.
Apart from the memorial in front of the town hall the workgroup carried through the erection of a plaque in memory of the forced march of Jewish prisoners in June 1942 and the laying of more than 20 »Stolpersteine (Tripping Stones)« mentioning Herzogenrath victims of the Holocaust by name. In the process numerous biographies of former Jewish citizens of Herzogenrath were researched in great detail.
Herzogenrath, undated, View of the memorial, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
Herzogenrath, undated, The memorial in winter, Arbeitskreis »Wege gegen das Vergessen«
- Name
- Denkmal für die ehemaligen jüdischen Bürger aus Herzogenrath
- Address
-
Rathausplatz 1
52134 Herzogenrath - Web
- http://www.wege-gegen-vergessen.de/
- info@herzogenrath.de
- Open
- The memorial is accessible at all times.
- Possibilities
- Annual commemoration ceremony on November 9