Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends!

The “Stumbling Stones Initiative Göppingen”  is made up of a group of people who are interested in local history. We work as volunteers researching the lives and fates of citizens of Göppingen county who were expelled or murdered by the Nazis. They were people who were ‘racially’ persecuted, socially ostracized, political opponents, victims of euthanasia and gay men.

After completing the research, we then ask Cologne artist Gunter Demnig to create the Stumbling Stones and install them in front of the former residences of the victims. Students from local schools then describe their lives during the dedication ceremony. The Initiative also arranges for the financing of the Stumbling Stones and appreciates any sponsorships. After the installation of a Stumbling Stone on public land, it then becomes the property of the respective community.

We would like to thank all individuals, local authorities and companies who have supported the Stumbling Stones project and our Initiative and who continue to do so. As a non-profit organization, we can provide receipts for donations.

A special thanks goes to contemporary witnesses for sharing their memories and memorabilia.

Even though the fates of many of the victims from Göppingen county have already been documented, the task of the Stumbling Stones Initiative is not yet complete. The biographical texts are continuously being supplemented and updated. At the end of the texts, there is a space for you to send us any recommendations for additions as well as any comments. We can also be reached by e-mail or phone.

Stolpersteine: Sybille Eberhardts neues Buch „Was ist dir widerfahren, Isaak?“

English version: “What happened to you, Isaak?“ (Peter Ritz)

A new book

Tracking Isaak Komras' life

With her investigation in  the fates of eleven female Jewish forced labor workers who were buried unanimously in the Jewish section of  Goeppingen Main Cemetery Sybille Eberhardt has already contributed very much to remembering the inhuman brutality of the National Socialism. She was honored therefore with the Baden-Wuerttemberg Heimatpreis. 

The unveiling of the commemorative plaque for the female forced labor workers took place on November 19, 2019 on Goeppingen Main Cemetery.

Her new book is entitled ;“What happened to you, Isaak?“

An unusual tombstone on the Goeppingen Cemetery induced the author to track the trails of the Jewish boy Isaak Komras from Wilna (Vilnius today, capital of Lithuania) who died at an early age. His shadow hovers through the story of Wilna ghetto. It is attached to the heels of a relative and numerous fellow-sufferers in different concentration camps in oil shale areas of Estonia, in camp Stutthof and a camp in Germany's southwest. Finally when forced on a death march he meets his death in a DP camp in Heidenheim. This camp was set up after the end of Second World War by the allies for the temporary accommodation of persecuted and mistreated people of the Nazi regime („Displaced Persons“) in Germany, Austria, France and Italy. The surviving dependants of Isaak Komras decided for the funeral of their relative on the nearest Jewish cemetery, which was Goeppingen.

Sybille Eberhardt writes: „Thus the city and their inhabitants were entrusted with the honorable remembrance of a short life tormented by German evil practices.“

The history of the young boy is an important contribution to the education against militarism and antisemitism, for peace and democracy. His fate shows something different: While the Goeppingen  Jews were deported to the east and murdered, Jews from these areas were dragged to Southern Germany and exploited. One of them was Isaak Komras.

The production of the book was supported by Stadt Goeppingen. The book is only available in German.

You can buy it at ipunkt in Rathaus Goeppingen for 16.90 Euro.