Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Berek Kagan, Enoch Kagan, Erika Kagan
Berek Kagan
Born: 05.03.1870
Died: after 28 October 1938
Enoch Kagan
Born: 16.10.1900
Died: November 1941
Erika Kagan, née Alexander
Born: 16 June 1904
Died: November 1941
Installation location:
Barbarossastrasse 77Stumbling stone laying on:
29 May 2024
Photos of the laying of the Stumbling Stones
Life path
The sales representative Berek Kagan was born in the town of Meseritz (Poznan province until 1920). He was married to Rachel Bach(a)rach. The couple probably had two sons. In September 1914, Berek Kagan, who also called himself Bernhard, left his homeland and initially settled in Leipzig. It is possible that his wife had already died by then. His son Henoch continued to live in Meseritz.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Berek Kagan was forced to leave the trade fair city as an "enemy alien" and found refuge in Chemnitz on 15 December 1914. When the Russian Empire collapsed, he lost his Russian citizenship. Berek Kagan initially opted for Ukrainian citizenship. When the Ukrainian People's Republic collapsed, he became a Polish citizen.
In the late 1920s, Berek Kagan became involved in the "Jewish Reading Hall" association and was its second chairman for a time. His son Henoch studied at the Hainichen Technical College from September 1919 to March 1923. He left the school as an electrical engineer. Before settling in Chemnitz in 1924, he lived in Halle (Saale) for a few months. Henoch Kagan, who also went by Heinrich in his civil life, advertised the fact that he was allowed to carry out work on behalf of the Chemnitz electricity works. He offered to install lighting and power systems.
In July 1937, he became engaged to Erika Alexander, who came from East Prussia. She was the daughter of Wilhelm Alexander and Mathilde Frankenstein. His fiancée had been living in Stuttgart until then. Their wedding took place in Chemnitz in November 1937. Their marriage remained childless. From then on, the couple lived at Barbarossastrasse 77.
As a Polish citizen, Berek Kagan was deported to his supposed home country on 28 October 1938 as part of the Nazis' "Poland Action". He has been missing ever since.
Unlike his father, Henoch Kagan was stateless. He was arrested during the November pogrom of 1938 and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp. After his return, he was forced to prepare for emigration. In June 1939, the couple listed Peru as their destination. However, they actually emigrated from Berlin to Latvia, where they settled in Riga. A postcard reached Herta Nagel, Erika Kagan's sister, in London in July 1939.
The Wehrmacht captured Riga on 1 July 1941. The Riga ghetto was formed on 21 July 1941. Mr and Mrs Kagan were forced to "live" in the ghetto from then on. It can be assumed that they were murdered on 30 November 1941 at the latest, when the previous inhabitants of the ghetto were murdered to make room for the Jews to be deported from the German Reich.
Author: Dr Jürgen Nitsche
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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