A small brass plaque has been laid in the pavement in Golden Square, Soho to commemorate the life of former resident Ada van Dantzig, who died in Auschwitz.
Stolperstein – Photo (c) Westminster Council
Ms van Dantzig was a Dutch-Jewish paintings conservator working at the National Gallery who came to London in the 1930s and worked and resided in Golden Square in Soho, but later re-joined her family in the Netherlands. In early 1943, she was arrested in France along with her mother, father, sister Jenny and brother Paul. On 11th February 1943 she was deported from the transit camp Drancy to Auschwitz. Ada, along with her parents were murdered on the 14 of February 1943.
The installation’s artist, Gunter Demnig, created the project almost 25 years ago to commemorate victims of Nazi Persecution during the Holocaust. Over 100,000 of stones have now been laid in 26 countries throughout Europe.
The location of the stones is chosen as the last address of those being remembered. Therefore this one has been installed in the pavement, where people may “stumble upon it” in Golden Square. Gunter Demnig cites the Talmud saying that “a person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten”. The Stolpersteine in front of the buildings brings back to memory the people who once lived here.
The stone was installed on 30th May.
Stolperstein installation – Photo (c) Westminster Council
What a fantastic and deeply moving idea. I’d never heard of these.
Thank you for this post. If you would like to visit, the address of the stone is 3 Golden Square.
This is such a poignant and perfect memorial. I have seen many in Berlin, especially in the former Jewish neighbourhoods where the pavements are liberally covered with them . Just now in Amsterdam I have seen them here and there. There are many large imposing memorials but to me these tiny marks of respect for murdered individuals speak volumes.