James Paul Lusk
Writing on democracy, politics and Christianity
On 4th October 2021, members of the Lusk family observed as 'Stolpersteine' ('stumbling stones') were laid outside Beim Schlump 52, the home of Paul and Paula Seligsohn, from where they were taken on 24th October 1939 for deportation to Poland.
Pictured left and right, the Stolpersteine
Present from the family were (second left to second right, above): Sean Lusk, Paul and Kay Lusk, Irina Alves, Jacob Lusk and Andy Lusk. We were joined by Germans who have undertaken the work of commemoration, research and translation, ensuring that the voices of Paul, Paula and millions of other victims (mainly, but not only, Jewish) are heard, and the lessons of the era understood:
- Sabine Brunot (right; above) from https://www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de/en.php;
- Brigitte Balkow, Ursula Eckelmann and Michaela Giesing from https://suetterlinstube.de/ who have transcribed and translated many of the letters;
- Wiebke Lisner (left, above) from Hanover whom we met in Lodz in 2012 and who has been involved with us in translating and researching the story;
- Linde Apel from FZH (https://www.zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de/.../ueber-uns-about), a research institute based in Beim Schlump which is a centre for the study of the story of the Hamburg Jews;
Some residents of 52 Beim Schlump also joined.
About 80,000 stolpersteine have been laid across Europe by the artist Gunter Demnig since 2002. Later we visited the memorials at the sites where the deportees were processed and then transported from Hannover station. Then on October 5th, Anna von Villiez showed us round the museum of the Israelite Tochterschule which Inge attended from 1926-1934.
The Seligsohns, and their daughter Inge, lived to the rear of Beim Schlump 52 (left). Centre: the laying of the stones by the artist Gunter Denwig (right) who has laid abut 80,000 of these across Europe since conceiving of the project in 2002.
Memorials in Hamburg today to (left) the place where deportees spent the night before boarding trains at Hannover Bahnhof (centre, with Paul and Paula's names recorded on the row of plaques) and (right) the rebuilt frontage of 'Israelite Tochterschule', which Inge attended from 1926 to 1934.
