Looted property in the Hanover City Library

Looted property in the Hanover City Library Not only works of art, but also individual books or entire private libraries came into the possession of archives, museums and libraries as “Nazi-confiscated cultural property” – including Hannover City Library. The latter makes intensive efforts, in accordance with the criteria of the “Washington Principles” adopted in 1998…

Stolperstein for Hermann Federmann

The Stolperstein for Hermann Federmann At the north-eastern side of Wagenerstrasse, just before the passageway to Archivstrasse, there is a Stolperstein for Hermann Federmann embedded in the ground of the pedestrian walkway. Stolpersteine commemorate the fate of people who were expelled, deported, driven to suicide or murdered under National Socialism. They are located at the…

The Eigermann family, Kramerstrasse 19/20

The Eigermann family, Kramerstrasse 19/20 This is where the large Jewish Eigermann family lived until their expulsion in October 1938. Three children succeeded in fleeing to Palestine. Stumbling stones set in front of the house commemorate the fates of family members murdered in the Holocaust. Life in Hanover’s Altstadt In the address book of the…

Lange Laube 18: Stolperstein for Dr. Fritz Frensdorff

Lange Laube 18: Stolperstein for Dr. Fritz Frensdorff The Stolperstein in front of the house at Lange Laube 18 commemorates the medical doctor Dr. Fritz Frensdorff. He was one of the many elderly Jews, both women and men, who were driven to suicide due to harassment of them by the Nazi regime. This wave of…

Stolpersteine for the Jewish Bloch family

Stolpersteine for the Jewish Bloch family The Bloch family moved to Hanover from what is now Poland in 1905 and thus belonged to the approximately 20 per cent of Jews in Hanover’s Jewish population that had East European roots. Between 1903 and 1906, the Jews in Russian Poland suffered devastating pogroms. A baker’s family In…

Jewish-owned department stores

Jewish-owned department stores Before the turn of the century in 1900, Hanover undergoes a radical transformation, becoming not only an industrial city but also a shopping metropolis. As a result, six department stores are built. Four of them are founded by Jewish businessmen and developed into large companies – until, that is, the economic crisis…

former “Jewish house”, Herschelstrasse

Former “Jewish house”, Herschelstrasse Forced to move house: following a directive from the city authorities on 3 September 1941, more than 1200 Jewish citizens in Hanover had to leave their homes within the space of a few hours. They were forced to move into 15 “Jewish houses” dotted around the city. One of these was…

The birthplace of Herschel Grünspan

The birthplace of Herschel Grünspan Herschel Grünspan grows up here in Burgstrasse before living in Paris as an illegal immigrant. Whilst there, he hears of his family’s deportation to Poland. His shooting of an official at the German embassy provides the National Socialists with the long-awaited excuse to radically intensify their anti-Jewish measures. Hanover: Ballhofplatz…

Königsworther Platz alias “Horst-Wessel-Platz”

Königsworther Platz alias “Horst-Wessel-Platz” Murderers and their victims. The story of two villas located on the same square. “Villa Simon” had belonged to the Jewish Berliner family of entrepreneurs since 1895. In 1941, it was acquired by the Hanover city authorities. Its Jewish occupants were deported. A few blocks away stood the villa housing SS-District…

Jewish community centre in Ohestrasse

Jewish community centre in Ohestrasse At the end of the 19th century, a community centre was established on the edge of Calenberger Neustadt, which offered teacher training, a boarding school, a day nursery for children and a religious school. After the Second World War, the buildings become the most important place of refuge for Jewish…