Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Benno and Egon Emanuel Berger
Benno Berger
Born: 07.05.1923
Died: after 28 October 1938
Godmother: Martina Lange
Egon Emanuel Berger
Born: 07.08.1924
Died: April 1979
Godmother: Kerstin Hermann-Nitz
Installation location:
Barbarossastrasse 55Stumbling stone laying on:
5 October 2020
Life path
The Berger brothers were born in Leipzig. Their parents were Ignaz Berger and Sure Raiza Avramovici. They had tied the knot on 29 July 1915. Ignaz Berger lived in Vienna from 1930.
When the mother, who came from a Romanian-Jewish family in Chemnitz, died in the Israelite Hospital in Leipzig on 6 January 1935, it was decided that the "orphaned" sons Benno and Egon should be taken in by their next of kin in Chemnitz. However, they were separated from each other. Benno grew up in the Nussberg family and Egon in the Avramovici family. According to his grand cousin, he was treated like his own son by his foster parents. The brothers became bar mitzvahs, i.e. "sons of duty", in May 1937 and August 1938 respectively. This meant that they were accepted into the circle of community members. Egon finally attended the special Jewish classes at the Chemnitz primary school, which were located in an annex to the Brühl School for Girls. In June 1939, the police chief informed the Avramovici couple that their foster son had to leave the "Reich territory" as a stateless person within two months. With the help of the Kindertransport, he was actually able to leave the country on 8 July 1939 and from then on lived in London. During the war, he served in the British Army.
Benno was no longer in Chemnitz at that time. In 1937, his foster parents had sent him to Ahlem, where he attended primary school at the Israelite Horticultural School. After one school year, he returned to Chemnitz to possibly start an apprenticeship as a gardener. On 28 October 1938, however, he was deported to Poland with his foster family. His further fate is not known.
Ignaz Berger was arrested by the Secret State Police in Vienna on 10 September 1939. On 2 October 1939, he was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was a member of the "Steineträger III" work detail. Ignaz Berger died there on 14 April 1940 as a result of the deprivations.
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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