Memory stone laying in Friedrichshain: The Cohn family is honored!

Memory stone laying in Friedrichshain: The Cohn family is honored!

Warschauer Straße 24, 10243 Berlin, Deutschland - On July 18, 2025, a special ceremony will take place in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. Five stumbling blocks are moved to commemorate the fate of the Cohn family, which was pursued under National Socialism. The event will start at 9 a.m. at Warschauer Straße 24. District Mayor Clara Herrmann, who will underline the importance of this commemoration, will also be present

The stumbling blocks are more than just plaques. They are part of an artistic project that was launched in 1992 by the German artist Gunter Demnig. Stumbling blocks, handmade 10 cm tall concrete cubes with brass plates, contain the names and life data of victims of the National Socialist persecution. The aim is to commemorate people from people's last place of residence before they were victims of the Nazi terror. By June 2023, over 100,000 such stones have already been relocated, which makes it the largest decentralized monument in the world, as wikipedia

The history of the Cohn family

Jakob Cohn was born in Fordon in 1873 (now Bydgoszcz, Poland). He was a merchant and founded a leather business in Berlin in 1903. In 1910 he married Ellen Apt, born in Dresden in 1887. The couple had lived at Warschauer Strasse 24 since 1912 and had three children: Eva (born 1923), Irene (born 1924) and Ernst (born 1928). After seizing the National Socialists in 1933, the family was exposed to numerous persecution. Jakob suffered from the boycott of Jewish business and had to close his business in 1938. The family tried to emigrate to another country, and at the end of January 1939 Eva and Ernst emigrated to England.

Jakob, Ellen and Irene Cohn received a visa for Ecuador and left Germany in July 1939. Before they started their final path to freedom, they drove to England to say goodbye to Eva and Ernst. The beginning of the Second World War allowed the family to temporarily stay together in England, but where they had to deal with considerable difficulties. The Cohns lived contemporary relationships and were dependent on the help of charity organizations.

The meaning of the stumbling blocks

The stumbling blocks are part of a social memory project that not only recognizes the victims of the Holocaust, but also the groups persecuted by the National Socialists such as Sinti, Roma, disabled and homosexual. The name "Stolperstein" alludes to the metaphorical importance that reminds of the obstacles that these people had to overcome in their lives and their history. These memorial stones are embedded in the sidewalk and should be discovered by chance to keep the memory of the victims alive, such as