Stumbling stones in Chemnitz
Elsbeth Sommerfeld, Gerda Kaes
Elsbeth Sommerfeld, née Markus
Born: 17.04.1884
Died: after 10 May 1942
Gerda Kaes, née Sommerfeld
Born: 24.03.1911
Died: after 10 May 1942
Place of installation:
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz 13a (today 13, new building)Stumbling stone laying on:
29 May 2024
Photos of the laying of the Stumbling Stones
Life path
Elsbeth Sommerfeld was the second wife of the merchant Hermann Sommerfeld. After the early death of his first wife in August 1907, he entered into another marriage with Elsbeth Markus. She came from Neutomischel in the province of Posen (Polish: Nowy Tomyśl). The couple lived in Berlin from December 1910 to December 1911, where their only child was born.
After returning from Berlin, Hermann Sommerfeld opened a cloth, woollen and linen goods shop in Chemnitz under his own name, which he had entered in the commercial register in February 1915. The shop was located on Königstraße. He had followed his younger brother Julius Sommerfeld, who had given up his residence in Berlin in February 1911. Elsbeth Sommerfeld, who everyone called Else, supported her husband in the business.
Hermann Sommerfeld died "unexpectedly" on 28 January 1927 in the presence of his brother Julius, as the family's obituary put it. He was only 52 years old. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in the Altendorf neighbourhood. Elsbeth Sommerfeld continued to live in Chemnitz. She gave up the business for good in October 1929.
Her daughter Gerda was a seamstress by profession. She worked for the fashion house "Gebr. Wertheimer". From July 1934, she was married to the non-Jewish businessman Guido Kaes, which made her a "Protectorate citizen". After her divorce, she lived with her mother. They lived for a while in the corner house at Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz 13a. Her financial situation worsened from year to year. In the summer of 1935, Elsbeth Sommerfeld was forced to rent out a large furnished room to a "better gentleman". The widow was still unable to pay the rent for the spacious flat. So she had to move into a neighbouring house (No. 6).
The women lived in Siebenbeuthen (Crossen district) for a short time. After their return, they moved into an emergency flat in a "Jews' house". In January 1940, she received 200 Reichsmark from Adolf Wassermann, her former employer, to cover her living expenses. Gerda Kaes found work in the auxiliary kitchen of the new Jewish old people's home on Antonplatz. She earned 7.40 Reichsmark a week and gave her mother her wages as a board allowance. Elsbeth Sommerfeld was a welfare recipient and received 8.50 Reichsmark from the Jewish Cultural Association. This was not enough to live on. Elsbeth Sommerfeld and her daughter therefore had to sell some of their small household effects. In June 1941, she sold some crystal vases and a twelve-piece fruit crockery set. Gerda Kaes had to part with her beds, among other things, in order to collect her repaired shoes, which had been at the shoemaker's for weeks. A possible emigration to the USA, where three distant relatives lived, remained a dream.
Elsbeth Sommerfeld finally lived in the "Jews' house" on Zöllnerstraße, where the Jewish religious organisation was based. Gerda Kaes had found a place to sleep in another house.
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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