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Five new stumbling blocks in Brandenburg: Commemoration of the Schwarz family
On September 10, 2025, five stumbling blocks were laid for the Schwarz family in Brandenburg an der Havel to commemorate the Holocaust victims.
Five new stumbling blocks in Brandenburg: Commemoration of the Schwarz family
On Wednesday, September 10, 2025, the laying of five stumbling blocks in honor of the Schwarz family was ceremoniously celebrated at Ritterstrasse 92 in Brandenburg an der Havel. These memorial stones expand the series to a total of 16 stumbling blocks in the city, which commemorate Jewish citizens as well as a democratic politician and a Catholic priest. Ritterstrasse 92 was the last freely chosen residential address of the family, which had to suffer due to National Socialist persecution and whose story is now remembered.
Josef Schwarz, actually Josef Rottenberger, was born in southeastern Poland in 1884 and was listed in the Brandenburg address book as a cigar salesman. In 1912 he married Amalie Rosenblüth, which led to the name combination “Josef Rottenberger, called Schwarz”. From 1917/18 he turned his back on the cigar industry and opened a shop at nearby Ritterstrasse 84 before purchasing Ritterstrasse 92 in 1933, where he continued his clothing business.
The fate of the family
Josef had three children with Amalie: Bertha, Max and Herbert. Bertha, born in 1913, fled to Belgium in 1939 and on to Cuba before marrying in Florida in 1947. Max, who was born in June 1918, emigrated to the USA in 1938 and opened a jewelry store there with his brother. Herbert, who was born in 1923, emigrated to the USA via Marseille in 1941.
The parents' fate was tragic: Josef and Amalie Schwarz were arrested on October 6, 1938 and convicted of Jewish slaughter. They were unable to realize their planned attempt to leave Cuba in November 1938. After their arrest in Hanover, they were deported to Tarnów in Poland in June 1939, where they died in April 1941.
Memory and responsibility
Mayor Steffen Scheller emphasized the importance of the stumbling blocks at the ceremony. They are a warning against inhumanity and a sign of remembrance. The laying of the stumbling blocks was initiated by Max's daughter Marna Schwarz-Carroll, who came to Brandenburg an der Havel with her family. In her moving speech, she recalled the atrocities of the Holocaust and made clear the importance of remaining vigilant against repetitions of such times.
Stolpersteine are an important symbol of remembrance of Holocaust victims not only in Brandenburg, but also in many other cities in Germany and beyond. Life stories are repeatedly researched and documented in order to keep the legacy of the persecuted Jewish families alive and to encourage reflection. Again Daily Mirror reported that there are also numerous events taking place that deal with the history of Jewish families and the fate of those who were persecuted. These remind us how important it is to actively work against forgetting.
The Schwarz family's stumbling blocks are now part of this heartwarming and at the same time warning story that affects us all and where every individual has the responsibility to speak out against injustice.