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 Heinrich Börner The family of the farm labourer Heinrich Börner lives in Hanover’s Altstadt [Old Town]. When he changes jobs and works elsewhere, he remains registered with the police at this address. At the start of the Second World War, the twenty-year-old is drafted into the Wehrmacht [armed forces]. The following year, a…
Kurt Schumacher: Re-founder of the SPD The former SPD [abbreviation for Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, the Social Democratic Party of Germany] member of the Reichstag Kurt Schumacher is sent to Hanover in 1943 after being imprisoned in a concentration camp. Immediately following the liberation of the city, he begins to rebuild the party. For a few…
The Fischer family in Röselerstrasse Many Eastern European Jews and Sinti traditionally live in the modest housing in the Altstadt, such as in Röselerstrasse. The Fischers are a large Sinti family. They are deported from their home to Auschwitz on 3 March 1943. There, the mother is murdered along with the younger children. Hanover: The…
Remembering a murdered boxer: Johann-Trollmann-Weg Johann Trollmann – known in his family as “Rukeli” – was a Sinto and was born on 27 December 1907 in Wilsche, a district of Gifhorn. He grew up together with his eight siblings in humble circumstances in Hanover’s Altstadt, the old part of the city. He went on to…
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 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 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…
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 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…