Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Siegfried, Erna and Edith Friede
Siegfried Friede
Born: 07.10.1878
Died: 06.12.1940
Erna Friede, née Ulrich
Born: 27.11.1901
Died: 19 Dec. 1939
Edith Friede
Born: 17.05.1922
Died: 16/04/1940
Installation location:
Hoffmannstraße 52Stumbling stone laying on:
17 May 2022
Life path
In the early 1930s, the businessman Siegfried Friede was one of the spokespersons for Chemnitz's Jews as chairman of the municipal council. He was born in Letmathe (Westphalia). Before moving to Chemnitz on 1 February 1910, he had lived in Essen. Just four weeks later, he opened a fabric shop here at Lange Straße 11 under the name "Crefelder Seidenhaus". From then on, an impressive salesroom invited the ladies of Chemnitz.
On 2 September 1921, Friede married Erna Ulrich, the daughter of a doctor 22 years his junior, in Barmen. The couple initially moved into a flat at Uhlichstraße 24, and nine months later their only child, daughter Edith, was born at the State Gynaecological Clinic.
Before Friede was able to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary, he had to experience what it meant to be a Jewish businessman in Germany after the Nazis seized power. His business was also on the boycott list from 1 April 1933 and the "Crefelder Seidenhaus" was one of the Jewish businesses that were "Aryanised" in autumn 1938.
In March 1939, the couple endeavoured to emigrate to the USA, but without success. However, they did manage to bring their 17-year-old daughter to safety in May 1939 with the help of a Kindertransport to England. In autumn 1939, the couple were forced to give up their flat at Hoffmannstraße 52. The Goeritz and Frank families, who perished in the sinking of the passenger ship "Simon Bolivar" on 18 November 1939, were their temporary neighbours. From then on, the couple had to live in the "Jews' house" at Germaniastrasse 12.
On 4 September 1939, they were charged with foreign currency offences. On 14 December 1939, the criminal proceedings took place at the district court. Siegfried Friede, who had been in remand prison since 29 March 1939, was sentenced to ten months in prison and a substantial fine. He served the remainder of his sentence on the same day. Erna Friede was sentenced to five and a half months in prison and a fine.
In accordance with § 3 of a decree of clemency for the civilian population dated 9 September 1939, the proceedings against her were dropped. For Erna Friede, this was the final trigger for a momentous decision. Five days after the verdict was announced, she voluntarily ended her life by taking sleeping pills. Barely free again, Siegfried Friede tried once more on 19 February 1940 to obtain permission to emigrate. This time too, his application was rejected. When his daughter in London learnt of her mother's tragic fate, she also took her own life far from home. Six months later, the emotionally shattered Siegfried Friede also voluntarily followed his wife and daughter to their deaths.
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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