Auszug aus einem Brief von Henry Stern an die ErinnerungsWerkstatt anlässlich der Anbringung des Erinnerungsbandes für seine Vorfahren in der Völkstraße 39 am 23. Januar 2019 um 15:00 Uhr

The Herrmans, a very close and loving family, had two daughters, 12 and 18 years of age. The daughters, Trudi and Margot were expected to leave their parents and join their cousin, Fred Stern, on the Kindertransport to England. When it came time to board, the girls could not tear themselves away from their parents. Their pleadings persuaded their mother to keep the family together in Augsburg while awaiting their emigration documents for England

Permission to emigrate was delayed and delayed again. They were deported by the Nazis. A classmate of the girls, Edwina Hutzelman, who later became a nun, recited prayers for the Margot and Trudi as the girls worked as slave laborers in an Augsburg military factory. She carried a poem written by Margot in her prayer book throughout the war. The family transported by train was never heard from again

The Herrmans were murdered because of antisemitism and intolerance which rose up in what was considered, civilized society. There are no graves for the Herrmans, nor was there any funeral with prayers for them.

A stranger in the Augsburg Jewish cemetery decided to incorporate their names on their own tombstone so that the names and dates of the two girls are engraved to memorialize their existence

The Herrmann’s Family will be represented by Henry (Heinz) Stern and his wife, Adele, from New York. Henry and his brother Fred lived a street away from the Herrmanns on Mozartstrasse 7. Because other, non Jewish children were forbidden to play with them, their sole playmates were Margot and Trudi

The memorial after all these years is expected to be attended by leaders of the community and the Augsburg press under the guidance of the ErinnerungWerkstatt.

Fred Stern, a published poet, wrote a poem commemorating his two girl cousins. His brother, Henry and his wife will read that poem at the memorial in German and English. The Kaddish prayer will recited.

The tragedy of these two girls expressed in their own writings and conversations with the family, was compounded by their strong attachment to their parents and a strong conviction to the ultimate goodness of mankind

With kind regard,
Henry Stern

Nephew and cousin to the Herrmann family
Eye witness to Kristallnacht
Emigree to England 1939 then U.S.