Malmö has 3 Stolpersteine on Posthusplatsen. The three stones commemorate Schulim Bürger, Walter Gerson and Siegfried Gutmann, who were victims of the Holocaust
SIEGFRIED GUTMANN
FODD 1835 OSTERATH
AVVISAD DEC. 1928
INTERNERAD WESTERBORK
DEPORTERAD 1943
MÖRDAD 20.3.1943
SOBIBOR
HIT KOM
WALTER GERSON
FODD 1882 DANZIG
AVVISAD JUN. 1939
MÖRDAD 12.9.1939
MSZANA DOLNA
HIT KOM
SCHULIM BURGER
FOOD 1887 OLEJOW
AVVISAD DEC. 1938
INTERNERAD DRANCY
DEPORTERAD 1942
MORDAD AUSCHWITZ
Schulim Bürger, Walter Gerson and Siegfried Gutmann came to Sweden for help to save themselves and their families from Nazi persecution, but were rejected. All were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The stones are located at Posthusplatsen, where there used to be a customs office. And it was at the customs office that the three were refused entry to Sweden. That is why the three Stolpersteine are located here.
SIEGFRIED GUTMANN
BORN 1835 OSTERATH
REJECTED DEC. 1928
INTERNED WESTERBORK
DEPORTED 1943
MURDERED 20.3.1943
SOBIBOR
On September 11, 1885, Siegfried Gutmann was born in Osterath, northwest of Düsseldorf. When Siegfried was 15, he was apprenticed as a cattle dealer.
Siegfried married Else Heymann in the 1910s and together they had a son, Heinz Leo Gutmann. The family moved to Schneidemühl in the former Pomerania where they had a farm and cattle trade.
Heinz Leo studied for many years and traveled to Denmark and then Sweden in 1937 where he worked on various farms in Scania.
Siegfried Gutmann and his family had to leave their farm and then moved to Danzig in April 1937, where Siegfried continued cattle trading.
After World War I, Danzig's Jewish population grew to around 60,000. But anti-Semitism grew stronger in Danzig and the local Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and the Nazi laws were introduced. On October 23, 1937, about 60 Jewish-owned shops and the majority of private homes were destroyed by Nazis.
Siegfried decides to travel to Sweden to his son where he can live for a while and then get his wife to Sweden.
On 28 November 1938, Siegfried therefore arrives in Malmö with a steamer from Rotterdam. However, the police suspect that he will not leave Sweden after the three months where there is a residence permit and he will be sent back to Rotterdam.
In 1941, Siegfried and his wife Else are in Amsterdam. The couple is arrested and sent to the Westerbork transit camp, which began to be used by the Nazis in July 1942.
On March 17, they are deported to the Sobibor extermination camp, where they are murdered on March 20, 1943. Else was 48 and Siegfried was 53.
HERE ARRIVED
WALTER GERSON
BORN 1882 DANZIG
REJECTED JUN. 1939
MURDERED 12.9.1939
MSZANA DOLNA
Walter Gerson was born on 12 December 1882 in the then German city of Danzig. Wanting to be a lawyer, Walter studied at several different universities, graduating in 1908.
In 1914, the First World War began and Walter took part in the artillery on the German side, where he was wounded in 1916.
After the war, Walter married Martha Schapira, who was also from Danzig, and they had two children, Fritz and Eva.
When Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933, local Nazis took control of Danzig. The Nazis immediately introduced anti-Jewish laws and it was, among other things, impossible for Jews to work as lawyers.
As a representative of the Jews of Danzig, Walter struggled to bring attention to the conditions of the Jews. The situation in Danzig worsened significantly in 1937, when Jewish homes and businesses were looted and people were mistreated. The consequence was that half of the city's Jewish population fled.
At the end of 1938, Walter and his family began to prepare for their emigration. Because Walter was known to the Nazis for his resistance, life in Danzig became impossible, and the family fled to the town of Rabka in Poland.
From here, Walter traveled to Malmö on 12 June 1939. As he did not have an entry permit to Sweden, he was refused entry and sent back by ferry.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler's Germany attacked Poland. Only days later, Rabka was occupied by Germans. On September 12, German soldiers took Walter, Fritz and his brother-in-law to a forest, where they were shot together with some other Jewish men.
HERE ARRIVED
SCHULIM BURGER
BORN 1887 OLEJOW
REJECTED DEC. 1938
INTERNED DRANCY
DEPORTED 1942
MURDERED AUSCHWITZ
Schulim Bürger was born on 15 March 1887 in Olejow in the then Russian Empire (Oliv in Ukraine) into a Jewish family.
When Schulim was 10 years old, in 1897, the family moved to Vienna and there the father Josef lived as a farmhand and tailor.
During his life, Schulim married twice. He had four children with his first wife Gusta Löwenwirth and 3 years after she died, he married Else Silberstein.
Schulim lived by trade and had various textile businesses during the 20s. In Vienna too, there was widespread discrimination against Jews and also Roma. Neither Jews nor Roma were allowed to vote in Austrian elections.
On the night between March 11 and 12, 1938, German marched forces into Austria. Widespread anti-Semitic and political violence broke out immediately after and many Jews were attacked and publicly humiliated. Both German Nazis and Austrians confiscated Jews property and took over Jewish businesses. They also broke into Jewish homes and looted them for possessions. Through the Anschluss, anti-Semitic laws were introduced in Austria. Jews were not allowed to own businesses, hold government jobs, marry non-Jews or attend the same school as non-Jews.
As a result of the Nazi persecution, the number of refugees increased. Among other things, Sweden introduced a visa requirement for all Austrian citizens. Schulim also tried to travel to Sweden but was rejected and sent back as he was suspected of wanting to stay in Sweden beyond the permitted 3 months.
Schulim, his wife Elsa and the eldest son Herman moved to France, where they were arrested in 1942 and placed in the Drancy concentration camp. On September 9, 1942, all three were deported to Auschwitz on a transport that arrived at the concentration and extermination camp on September 11. It is not known whether they were murdered immediately upon arrival or later.
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