Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz

Heinrich Neumann
Born: 19.04.1876
Died: 03.12.1953

Dora Neumann, née Grellmann
Born: 18.02.1897
Died: 07.04.1946

Mr and Mrs Neumann were among the many married couples in Chemnitz who had entered into a "mixed marriage".

The businessman Heinrich Neumann was born in Vienna. Together with his brother Sigmund, who was three years older, he had opened a wholesale business in 1908 specialising in the export of hosiery and glove goods.
hosiery and glove goods. The buyer Sigmund Neumann
had been living permanently in Chemnitz since 1906. In October
1908 he had married the merchant's daughter Minna Klipstein.

The company was based at Wiesenstraße 39, which also housed the "Zur Wiesenhalle" restaurant. The brothers later moved their business to the three-storey neighbouring building at Wiesenstraße 41.

On 15 February 1921, Heinrich Neumann married Hedwig Dora Grellmann, who was 21 years his junior and came from Eibenstock (Erzgebirge). She was the daughter of the locksmith Kurt Emil Grellmann. Whether Dora Neumann had converted to Judaism before her marriage can only be surmised. She was later listed in the records as a dissident.

Heinrich Neumann subsequently found a suitable villa property in the suburb of Schönau, which he was able to purchase. From then on, the couple lived in the house at Liliencronstraße 1. Dora Neumann gave birth to a daughter on 23 May 1923. The girl was given the first name Fanni Ruth. All seemed right with the world for the couple after their first child was stillborn in 1921. However, Ruth died on 9 December 1928 as a result of a sinus infection. The girl was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Chemnitz-Altendorf.

In the period that followed, Dora Neumann was repeatedly treated in the mental hospital in Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf. She also sought recuperation in numerous sanatoriums, including Dresden-Weißer Hirsch, Berlin and Karlsbad.

Sigmund Neumann fell seriously ill in the mid-1930s and died on 19 June 1937 in the St. Jakob Municipal Hospital in Leipzig. His mortal remains were transferred to Chemnitz and buried in a grave in the Jewish cemetery. Minna Neumann, his 51-year-old widow, became the new co-owner. The business and storage premises were soon given up. In February 1939, the widow emigrated to the USA. The company was subsequently liquidated.

Heinrich Neumann emigrated to England in May 1939. He found accommodation in the Chelsea neighbourhood. In January 1940, Dora Neumann was still thinking of emigrating to the USA via England. It is possible that the frail woman, who from then on lived with her mother Hedwig Grellmann in Chemnitz (Lutherstraße 20), lacked the strength. Or the outbreak of war prevented her from emigrating.

When war broke out, Heinrich Neumann, who had German citizenship, was categorised as an "enemy alien". According to a military tribunal's decision, he was not interned due to his state of health.

Dora Neumann was in contact with her husband in England until March 1944. "She had been through a lot mentally, had also been influenced by the Gestapo, was told to divorce her husband and had her property taken from her," she said after the end of the war.

On 3 March 1945, Dora Neumann was buried in the air-raid shelter during the heavy Anglo-American air raids on the city. She suffered severe bruising on her legs and back, haematoma and suspected spinal cord concussion. She was treated in the city hospital on Zschopauer Straße. On 5 March, Dora Neumann was taken to Auerswalde, where there had been a children's sanatorium since 1911. Due to overcrowding, she was transferred to the municipal hospital in Küchwald, where her erysipelas were treated further. Despite suffering from thrombosis, she was discharged.

At her own request, Dora Neumann was admitted to the mental hospital on 9 June 1945. Dr Ernst Pasold, her attending physician, had admitted her due to severe depression and general physical weakness. Her condition subsequently improved. In December 1945, she began looking for a flat. On 27 March 1946, she was discharged home unable to work. She lived in Siegmar-Schönau (Leipziger Straße 16). Although Dora Neumann had been looking forward to her release for days, she was probably unable to cope with it. On 7 April 1946, she voluntarily ended her life by taking sleeping pills.

Heinrich Neumann outlived his wife by seven years. Minna Neumann, his sister-in-law, died in New York on 9 December 1950.

Author: Dr Jürgen Nitsche

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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