In commemoration of the Reichspogromnacht on 9 November 1938 and the deportation of our Jewish fellow citizens on 22 October 1940

This memorial, designed by sculptor Helga Sauvageot, was installed at the town hall in 2008 at the initiative of the city council to commemorate the victims of the Nazi terror regime. Jewish and non-Jewish citizens were deported, murdered, or driven to their deaths by the Nazi regime and its supporters between 1938 and 1945.

Here in front of the town hall in Edenkoben, Jewish citizens were expelled and deported from the town immediately after Kristallnacht.

This memorial bears the names of 16 Jewish citizens who were deported and murdered, as well as another Jewish citizen who was driven to suicide.

November 9, 1938, also marked the continuation of the already existing brutal exclusion and the beginning of further systematic persecution of Jewish citizens in Edenkoben.

The names of two non-Jewish citizens of Edenkoben who were executed in the name of the National Socialist regime are also on the memorial plaque.

Jewish fellow citizens were transported into buses with the caption “Free ride to Palestine.” Photo: private

Name of the fatalities

† Blum Emilie,
† Cohen Elise,
† Cohen Jacob,
† Damm Hans,
† Eppler Bertha,
† Eppler Isidor,
† Gärtner Moses,
† Gottlieb Grete,
† Hirsch Anna geb. Loeb,
† Hirsch Paula geb. Friede,
† Hirsch Richard,
† Hirsch Siegmund,
† Dr. Hirsch Theodor,
† Dr. Kahn Robert,
† Kaufmann Emil(e),
† Kaufmann Franziska,
† Kern Bella Pauline,
† Kern Ferdinand,
† Kern Emil,
† Kern Helena,
† Kern Karoline,
† Kern Meta,
† Kern Siegmund,
† Kesstecher Benno,
† Mayer Barbara,
geb. Michel,
† Mayer Else,
† Mayer Jacob,
† Mayer Margot,
† Mayer Ruth,
† Mayer Max,
† Michel Martha,
† Minster Carl,
† Neu August Hermann,
† Reif Elisabeth,
† Rosenthal Susanne (Suzanne),
† Rössner Eduard,
† Samson Anna geb. Beissinger,
† Samson Carl,
† Samson Elsa (Elisabeth),
† Samson Else,
† Samson Isidor,
† Samson Kurt,
† Samson Julius,
† Samson Siegfried,
† Schneb Emma geb. Michel,
† Tausig Hermann,
† Tobias Pauline,
† Weidenreich Helene geb. Gernsheim,
† Weidenreich Julius

Exhibition "GURS 1940"

The deportation and murder of Jews from Southwest Germany

There were two deportations of Jewish citizens in Edenkoben:
In November 1938, the local Nazi Party gathered Jewish citizens on the market square in front of the town hall in connection with Kristallnacht. They were transported to Baden, near Karlsruhe, in a rented bus bearing a "Free Ride to Palestine" poster. There, they were abandoned in an open field and threatened not to return to Edenkoben.

As can be seen in the photo on the left, this deportation was carried out by the SA in public with the participation of a large number of Edenkoben citizens.

Some of these deportees nevertheless returned to Edenkoben due to a lack of alternatives.
On October 22 and 23, 1940, the "Wagner-Bürckel Action," named after the Nazi Party Gauleiters of Baden and the Palatinate, Wagner and Bürckel, took place. During this action, over 5,500 Jewish citizens from Baden and over 800 from the Palatinate and Saarland were deported to the Gurs internment camp in southern France (a total of 6,500 people). Baden and the Palatinate were subsequently declared "Jew-free" by the Nazi Party. Edenkoben's Jewish citizens were also deported.
The memorial lists 16 names of Jewish citizens who were deported and murdered. The Memorial Book for the Jewish Victims of National Socialism at the Federal Archives in Koblenz contains the names of other Jews who were deported and murdered. They were either born in Edenkoben or lived in Edenkoben for a short or long period of time.

In Gurs, interned under inhumane conditions, the first Jews, including Jews from Edenkoben, died. Those who were unable to escape from Gurs were deported from there to concentration camps in the East and murdered there. An elderly Jewish citizen was not deported. Living in isolation in Edenkoben and left to fend for himself, he committed suicide.

The memorial also bears the names of two non-Jewish citizens who were executed by the Nazi judiciary in 1944.

Memorial at Ludwigsplatz