2023-07-05 14:30:03
In memory of four families whose members fell victim to the Nazi regime. Descendants came from Australia, Scotland and Lower Austria. The initiator of the stumbling blocks, the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig, carried out the laying personally.
Twelve “stumbling blocks” were laid in Schladming on Tuesday to commemorate the Fröhlich, Zucker, Weiss and Eisler families. The initiative for this came from the memorial project “Against Oblivion”. This is a research project on the victims of National Socialism in the Ennstal, which graduate teacher Monika Faes is conducting with young people. As far as possible, the descendants of the families are included. On Tuesday, members of the families from Lower Austria, Scotland and Australia took part in the laying of the stumbling blocks. This was announced by the municipality of Schladming.
Gunter Demnig initiated the project in the early 1990s
In “Heimatkundliche Blätter from Schladming” Monika Faes writes: “Stolpersteine are a Europe-wide project that commemorates people who were murdered, deported, expelled, driven to suicide or affected by ‘Aryanization’ expropriations under National Socialism. The brass tops of the stumbling blocks bear the names and dates of the victims’ lives
admitted.” As early as September 2021, a stumbling block was laid for Princess Maria Karoline of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was murdered during the Nazi era.
The laying in Schladming was carried out personally by the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig. He launched the project in the early 1990s. To date, more than 100,000 stumbling blocks have been laid across Europe to commemorate the victims of National Socialism. The stumbling blocks in their entirety already form the largest decentralized art monument in the world, which is constantly growing.
Hans and Alice Fröhlich once owned the Pichlmayrgut
The first transfer on Tuesday took place in the presence of the descendants who had traveled from Australia to the Hotel Pichlmayrgut and commemorated the former owners Hans and Alice Fröhlich. They were forced to give up the house, fled to England in 1939 and finally emigrated to Australia. Her two great-grandchildren from Sydney thanked her family for this memory and the warm welcome – and seeing her once more in Schladming: Because the senior manager of the hotel, Christian Steiner, visited the family in Australia a few decades ago.
White roses and white balloons
Those present laid down white roses for the Zucker and Weiss families, formerly living in Siedergasse, and let white balloons with their names rise into the sky in remembrance. These two families died in concentration camps. Karl Eisler was a famous Schladming photographer. “We owe him wonderful historical photos of the city. He was forced to sell his house in Dachsteingasse, moved to Vienna with his family in 1938 following much hostility and was able to survive the Nazi era there,” explained the municipality. Shortly following the end of the war he returned to Schladming to reclaim his possessions – in vain, he died in Schladming in December 1945. His granddaughter talked regarding the great grief of the grandparents and was moved that they were remembered. “It doesn’t help my family anymore, but hopefully humanity, so that it thinks more,” she was quoted as saying in the broadcast.
moving words
In the evening, the municipality of Schladming invited to a reception in the Hotel Pichlmayrgut, the guest of honor was District Governor Christian Sulzbacher, and representatives from the church and community delivered moving words of welcome. The evangelical pastor Martina Ahornegger thanked her for taking part and making it possible not to forget and visible remembrance. “I am well aware that this also requires courage and backbone, because there is still resistance here.” Schladming’s Mayor Hermann Trinker emphasized: “Everyone who advocates a democratically free world must ensure that the knowledge of what happened and how it can be avoided in the future is passed on.”
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