20 new stumbling blocks

With 20 new stumbling stones, the Beckum Heritage and History Association and the town of Beckum are commemorating other victims of National Socialism who had their last home in Beckum.

22 May 2023
Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich, Cornelia Baumann and Stefan Wittenbrink.
  • Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich, Cornelia Baumann and Stefan Wittenbrink.

20 stones with 20 names stand for another 20 people from Beckum who fell victim to the terror of National Socialism. Through research by the History Workshop of the Beckum Local History Association, further victims have been identified who are now to receive stumbling blocks in front of their last chosen place of residence. The artist Günter Demnig, inventor of the inscriptions engraved on brass plaques, which can be found all over Germany and beyond, will lay the new stones in Beckum on 7 June.

Jeanette Windmüller stumbling block
A stumbling stone commemorates Jeanette Windmüller, who was murdered in Riga at the age of 58 and last lived at Weststraße 32.

Against forgetting
"Never again - we take this very seriously. It is our duty to keep the horrific history and individual fates in our consciousness. And that's why we as the town of Beckum are naturally very happy to support the laying of the new Stolpersteine," said the mayor at a press event. Head of department Cornelia Baumann pointed out that anti-Semitic statements were on the rise again: "We have to stand up and oppose them," she emphasised. Stefan Wittenbrink from the Beckum Heritage and History Association presented the fate of the Windmüller family of horse dealers, who last lived at Weststraße 19, as an example. Kurt, his wife Herta Klara and his father Salomon Windmüller all committed suicide, Kurt just a few weeks after he was banned from his profession in 1933, his wife followed in May 1935. His father was imprisoned in Beckum for six weeks for removing an NSDAP poster, he was humiliated and disenfranchised and took his own life in December 1935. The Stumbling Stones commemorate fates like these. They mark the beginning of a path that often ended in an extermination camp. With the stones in front of the last places of residence they chose themselves, the memory of the people who once lived there is kept alive.

Last self-chosen places of residence
Further Stolpersteine will be laid at Neubeckumer Straße 15, Nordstraße 19, 24 and 52, Lippweg 7 and 23, Clemens-August-Straße 5, Oststraße 12 and 35, Vorhelmer Straße 13 and Alleestraße 7. There are already 31 Stolpersteine in Beckum, at the following locations: Alleestraße 35, Clemens-August-Straße 1, Nordstraße 8, 11, 16, 24, 32, 34 and 52, at Oststraße 13, 14 and 35, at Vorhelmer Straße 13 and at Weststraße 32. Hugo Krick from Beckum is often behind the research of the previous stones.

The existing stumbling stones for Clara and Paula Heine at Nordstraße 24 will be replaced as part of the new campaign, as it is now known that the two sisters were murdered in an experimental gas plant. The previous inscriptions speak of their deportation, possibly to Poland. With the new stones, there will be 51 Stolpersteine in Beckum.

Sponsors wanted
The local history association is covering the costs for the 3 stones of the Windmüller family on Weststraße.
Update (24 May 2023): Sponsors were sought for the other stones. Fortunately, sponsorships were found for all the stones within a very short time.

Further information:
Homepage Stumbling Stones Campaign
Beckum Stumbling Stones