Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Hedwig and Arthur Aron Sigler
Name Arthur Aron Sigler
Born: 26/02/1886
Died: after 13.07.1942
Godmother: Eva-Maria Josiger
Name Hedwig Sigler, née Lederer
Born: 07.06.1898
Died: after 13.07.1942
Godparents: Franziska Schubert and Robert Meier
Place of installation:
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz 2Stumbling stone laying on:
6 May 2021
Life path
Arthur Sigler was born in 1886 in the town of Piatra (Romania). His father, the merchant Janco Mendel Sigler, left his homeland a few years later to build a life for himself and his family in Saxony without discrimination. He arrived in Chemnitz in March 1893. His family followed him there three weeks later.
Arthur had several more siblings. He initially worked as a travelling salesman and repeatedly spent time abroad. He lived in Prague for a long time, where he married Hedwig Lederer on 27 June 1920. Their son Gerhart was also born in this city on 5 April 1921. In November 1921, the family moved to Chemnitz, where they initially lived at Germaniastrasse 15. Daughter Inge was born on 22 February 1927.
In April 1924, Arthur Sigler opened a wholesale hosiery business at Schillerplatz 1, where the new university library is now located. In autumn 1933, he took over the management of his brother Hermann's hosiery factory, which was located on the industrial site at Zwickauer Straße 156/158. Hedwig Sigler was an active member of the Jewish Women's Association and was also involved in the Jewish Emergency Kitchen.
Arthur Sigler was arrested during the November pogroms of 1938 and deported to Buchenwald. Immediately after his return, he agreed to the "sale" of the stocking factory. A few months later, he was arrested again and held in prison on Kaßberg for a long time. In the meantime, the couple had managed to get their two children to safety in time. In January 1939, Gerhart emigrated to London with the help of a Kindertransport. Inge followed him there eight months later.
Despite imprisonment and persecution, the couple continued to live in Chemnitz. In 1940, they were forced to move into the "Jews' house" at Äußere Klosterstraße 2, where they had to share a flat with Oscar Lichtenstein. On 11 April 1940, they were sentenced to a fine for "foreign currency offences". Despite the hopeless situation, they tried to emigrate to Portugal until autumn 1941. However, it was too late for them to emigrate. Arthur and Hedwig Sigler were deported to the East on 13 July 1942, as stated in the Gestapo's deportation list, and murdered.
Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
It is a project against forgetting: stumbling stones have been laid in Chemnitz every year since 2007.
Embedded in the pavement, the memorial stones commemorate the tragic fates of fellow citizens who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths during the National Socialist regime.
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