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Käthe Eschwege (née Naphtaly) * 1871

Lenhartzstraße 15 (Hamburg-Nord, Eppendorf)

HIER WOHNTE
KÄTHE ESCHWEGE
GEB. NAPHTALY
JG. 1871
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
ERMORDET 28.12.1942

further stumbling stones in Lenhartzstraße 15:
Mary Hammerschmidt

Dedication held by Katrin and Haagen Deecke on the occasion of the unveiling of the Stolperstein for Käthe Eschwege

With this Stolperstein we would like to honor and memorialize Käthe Eschwege, née Naphtaly.

After her husband Rudolf died in 1936, Käthchen, as she was lovingly called by her friends and family, moved from Berlin to live with her only son Ludwig at Lenhartzstraße 15 in Hamburg. She lived on the first floor of our apartment building until 1939. Three years. But what years they were!

They were overshadowed by the cruel horror of the Nazi regime, by persecution and the fear of deportation, by many desperate and repeatedly fruitless attempts to escape to England, where her son had emigrated in 1938.

From July 1939 onwards, when she was already living at Lenhartzstraße 15, her bank account was frozen and she was allowed to withdraw only the bare minimum necessary for living expenses. In September of that year it seemed that she would finally be able to emigrate to England to live with her son, as the approval procedure was nearly complete. But it was denied once again, and her attempt to emigrate failed.

In the fall of 1939 she was forced to leave her apartment. She was 68 years old, and before she was deported in 1942, she was forced to move eight more times.

On 19 July 1942, Käthe Eschwege was deported to Theresienstadt, where she died on 28 December.

We hope that this memorial stone keeps Käthe Eschwege’s name alive in our memories. We hope that it will never be forgotten that Käthe Eschwege was murdered by the National Socialists. And we hope that this Stolperstein helps us to never forget an era that must never be forgotten.

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Katrin und Hagen Deecke, 2. Dezember 2009