Project Stolpersteine Dordrecht

Entrance Auschwitz

On May 2 it was Yom Hasjoa (Holocaust Memorial Day). An international day on which the destruction of six million European Jews during the Second World War is being remembered.

May 4th is national remembrance day in The Netherlands. The message is the same all over the world: never again!

It has been four years since we wrote a message about the Stolpersteine ​​in Berlin, the bronze plates / stumbling blocks in the sidewalk bearing the names of Jewish people who lived there and died in concentration camps.

A Stolperstein

More than 70,000 stones have now been placed throughout Europe. In the Netherlands, the first 'stumbling block' was installed on November 29, 2007 in Borne.

Traveling Light wanted to sponsor 7 Stolpersteine ​​and in doing so commemorate the Holocaust victims. Due to changes in the organization, our order was delayed again and again.

We recently came into contact with the Stolpersteine ​​Dordrecht foundation and we have agreed to sponsor 7 Stolpersteine ​​in the city of Dordrecht (Marja's city of birth).

So, closer to home. The organization in Berlin also figured it was more logical to sponsor stolpersteine in our own country. Later this summer the stones will be installed in the streets of Dordrecht in memory of families who were taken and died during the Holocaust.

Names of Dutch Jewish people murdered in Auschwitz

We were in Auschwitz last year, which made a very deep impression.

Individually and as a non profit foundation, we have a 💗for peoples and nations and wherever we go we bring a message of peace and reconciliation made possible by our Jewish Lord Jesus Christ!

Project Stolpersteine, Berlin

Stolpersteine in Germany

Let your light shine! That is the motto of Traveling Light. In the previous weeks we were able to do exactly so, and well: among Muslims in a Syrian refugee camp (a blog post will follow soon) and for the Jewish community in the streets of Berlin, Germany.

Together with volunteers/supporters Jim & Lynda Hayes we visited the Bethel House of Prayer in Berlin where we prayed for Israel, Germany and Europe. We asked forgiveness for upcoming anti-Semitism, we prayed for reconciliation between Germans and Jewish people and we came against the spirit behind neo-Nazism. 

Very special meeting in the street

That same day we were walking through the Klopstockstraße in the Hansaviertel in Berlin and we stopped to take a closer look at some bronze name plaques that were embedded in the sidewalk. The bronze plaques carry the names of Jewish people who used to live in that street and who were killed during the Holocaust.

While we were standing there we got to talk with a couple who explained to us that these plaques are so called Stolpersteine, or stumblng blocks.... a project of artist Gunter Demnig.

Throughout Germany there are thousands of these Stolpersteine. They are being sponsored by individuals, family members of Holocaust victims, schools, churches, organizations etc. The lady told us that she happened to be the one taking initiative for the Stolpersteine in this street.

At Bethel House of Prayer in Berlin

Our meeting was certainly no coincidence! How awesome that at that moment we were able to add substance to our prayers from that morning (after all: faith without actions is dead): we promised to sponsor SEVEN Stolpersteine.

In the meantime we have received the names of the seven victims: the Lehrhaupt family, the Liebmann family, young Ursel Thomaschewsky and little Ralf Rewald who was only fourteen years old when he was picked up all alone and deported to Auschwitz.

Right there, in the middle of the street, we prayed with this German lady and her Jewish friend from Israel and blessed them with peace, joy and health.

With the sponsoring of these 7 Stolpersteine we want to remember the Holocaust victims and to emphasize the reconciliation message of Jesus Christ (Yeshua ha Mesiach). In Him all nations can find peace!

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you (Isaiah 60:1)