Seven stumbling stones were unveiled at Brialmontlei, Terliststraat, and Antoon Van Dyckstraat in Antwerp. Each commemorates a member of the Jewish Suchowolski family who perished during the Shoah.
In the early 20th century, Mordka Suchowolski emigrated from Poland to Antwerp with his wife Golda and their sons Meyer Wolf (nicknamed Morris) and Sewer (John). They later welcomed a daughter, Mathilda, who eventually moved to the United States. Following the rise of the Third Reich and the looming invasion of Belgium, Mathilda urged her family to emigrate as well, but unfortunately, her pleas went unheeded.
Morris married Sabina Rakower in Antwerp, and the couple had a daughter, Suzanne. John married Tobia Mandel. The family members established a new life in their new city. For instance, John was not only a diamond dealer but also a masseur, boxing champion, and artist. They lived in Brialmontlei, Terliststraat, and Antoon Van Dyckstraat. After the occupation, John and Morris became involved with the Secret Army, the resistance.
In 1942, following the introduction of the yellow Star of David and the subsequent deportations, Mordka and Golda chose to go into hiding, along with Morris, Sabina, Tobia, and Suzanne. They all found refuge in the Ardennes village of Chardeneux. There, Morris continued his resistance work but was betrayed in July 1943. He and his wife were arrested, taken to the Dossinkazerne in Mechelen, and later deported to Auschwitz. Sabina was gassed upon arrival. Morris was assigned to various Arbeitskommandos but met the same fate in Dachau in August 1944.
Golda, Mordka, Suzanne, and Tobia were relocated from Chardeneux to a monastery in Namur. In August of that year, the monastery was bombed by Allied aircraft targeting the bridges over the Meuse, resulting in their deaths.
John remained in Antwerp, where he was arrested during a raid at the end of 1943. He was sent to the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, and Buchenwald. During a death march in 1945 towards Dachau, he was murdered.
The Stolpersteine, or Stumbling Stones, commemorate victims of the Nazi regime and were conceived by German artist Gunter Demnig, who installed the first Stolperstein in 1992. Each stone is a cobblestone with a brass plaque bearing the name, date of birth, date of deportation, place, and date of death of the commemorated individual, set into the pavement outside their former home.
To date, over 100,000 stumbling stones have been placed across Europe. However, Antwerp—a city with a significant number of victims of the Third Reich—has lagged behind in this initiative, with only 272 stones currently installed.
The first stumbling stones in Antwerp were only laid in 2019, making the city one of the last major European cities to adopt the project.
Each stumbling stone in Antwerp is the result of a private initiative, without support from the city. “This is particularly due to Willem Kenis, who works tirelessly for the concept and conducts all the research,” said Tatjana Scheck, who presented at the unveiling.
“This is a special project because many relatives remain in the dark about what happened to their families at that time. Moreover, you can literally pause at such a stumbling block. This remains important even eighty years later, across generations.”
“This is a special project because many relatives remain in the dark about what happened to their families at that time. Moreover, you can literally pause at such a stumbling block. This remains important even eighty years later, across generations. Today, Sabine Suchowolski Charbit is not only here as a granddaughter; she is also here with her own grandchild. In this way, both the previous and current generations are represented.”
Sabine Suchowolski Charbit concluded: “My great-grandparents, my great-uncle, and my great-aunt are remembered here. That is a very beautiful thing. They died in concentration camps, but there is no memorial with names. Until now, there was nothing. But now, with these stumbling stones, there is finally a tangible memory of my family.”
