In February, I had the opportunity to attend the Stolpersteine Memorial of Lisel Haas, her father Adolph Haas and Grete Bermbach, Lisel’s partner.

Stolpersteine is an art monument project by Gunter Demnig which keeps alive the memory of people persecuted by the Nazis, including Jews, Sinti and Roma, politically persecuted people, queer people and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Stolpersteine is a decentralised memorial across Europe with most blocks in Germany. The project embeds square brass blocks into the ground to make people “stumble“ and remember those who were persecuted.

It was a great honour to attend the ceremony of laying of the blocks to mark the persecution Adolph, Lisel and Grete experienced that led to them being forced from their home. 

I was lucky to meet Till Bermbach and his wife Sanna. Till is the great nephew of Grete Bermbach and the son of renowned photographer Lore Bermbach. I reconnected with Dr. Kathrin Tilmanns who has also been working on the Haas/Bermbach legacy and I also met with the Holtmeyers who are family of one the close friends of Lisel & Grete. These personal meetings keep bringing Lisel and Grete into the light. 

It was an incredibly moving ceremony seeing the names put back, where they belonged. This is another piece in the jigsaw of making women photographers and refugees visible. We are grateful to the city of Mönchengladbach, and in particular Ilona Gerhards who initiated the Stolpersteine for Adolph, Lisel and Grete. 

You can read about and see more pictures from the event on the Rheinische Post website here.