by Hannah Schepers
Every day, on my way home from Campus, I walk past a set of special stones in the pavement. Shining metallically between the cobblestones, these so-called Stolpersteine, stumbling blocks in German, carry the names of people who were persecuted and terrorised under the Nazi regime. Since 1992, these blocks have been placed in front of the houses in which victims have last lived freely. This commemoration project first started in Germany, but today 116.000 Stolpersteine can be found across 31 European countries, including France and our city, Le Havre.
Le Havre under the Nazi Regime
German troops entered the city in June 1940, after a whole month of bombings had destroyed large parts of the industrial area of the city. Le Havre was part of the zone occupée which includes the whole northern half of France and stretches south along to western coast until the Spanish border.
The Germans established their own administrative system and soon put in place laws against Jews, such as forcing them to wear the yellow star and confiscating Jewish-owned apartments and businesses. To escape these anti-Semitic laws as well as the deportation to concentration camps, that systematically started in 1942, many Jewish people tried to leave Le Havre in direction of Paris, but these attempts were often unsuccessful.
In Le Havre, there are three documented roundups of Jewish citizens, communists as well as other groups persecuted by the Nazis. These were often conducted in reaction to attacks and sabotage against the occupation, in order to intimidate the population and to demonstrate power. Despite being planned and ordered by the German forces, the roundups were executed by French policemen and later even ordered by French officials.
Jewish population in Le Havre
Le Havre was home to a small Jewish population, estimated to be around 320 people. This community was very heterogeneous in terms of social status and origin: some were French, some had come from Northern Africa, and some had come from Eastern Europe to escape pogroms in the late 19th century. Some people were working in trade, while some in more educated jobs like doctors and lawyers.
The four Stolpersteine I walk past every day are located on the Cours de la République, near Rond Point; they carry the names of Anna Fuchs and her three daughters Marie, Simone and Madeleine. According to the Biographical dictionary of victims of Nazism in Normandy by the University of Caen and research done by high school students in Le Havre, Anna Fuchs was born in Russia around 1887 before coming to Le Havre. She was working in trade, which matches the location of their last place of living, since the area around Rond Point was where many merchants had their stores. Her daughters were born in France between 1912 and 1915.
When deportations started in Le Havre in 1942, the family at first was able to hide at their neighbours’ place, but was then arrested and held in the city‘s prison. They were then further deported to other camps in Rouen and later Drancy. In 1943, the family was deported a last time to the concentration camp Sobibor, which is located in the east of Poland. There, all four women were murdered in 1943.
Anna Fuchs‘s sister, Beila Fourmann, had also migrated to France, at first to Paris then Le Havre with her husband. Like her sister, she was working in trade, in a boutique called “Au Louvre Havrais”, which was later confiscated by the Nazis. Beila Fourmann was arrested in 1942, and deported to Auschwitz II in Poland, where she was murdered in 1943.
The Stolpersteine are not only reminders of history but also carry each person‘s individual story with them. The next time you are out in the city, be it Le Havre or anywhere else, make sure to check the ground you are walking on, for you might find a piece of history between the cobblestones.
Le Dragon Déchaîné 