Stumbling stones of Albert Levi and Helene Levi

Albert and Helene Levi, who in Essen-Werden They lived in the Netherlands and ran several shoe stores, fleeing Nazi persecution to the Netherlands. There they were interned and finally deported to Auschwitz in 1943, where they perished.

Albert Levi and Helene Levi are commemorated with a Stolperstein (memorial plaque) at Wigstraße 15 in Essen-Werden on Baldeneysee, their last residence. Albert Levi was born there on December 15, 1876. His wife Helene (born May 20, 1979), née Schwarz, originally came from Kall, a municipality in the district of Euskirchen.

The Levis emigrated to the Netherlands on September 17, 1939. There, during the Western Campaign, as the Nazis advanced through the Benelux countries and encircled the British and French, they encountered the Nazis. The Westerbork camp—originally a refugee camp for those fleeing Nazism—was evacuated shortly before the Wehrmacht's invasion, and attempts were made to transport the refugees to ports from which they could reach Great Britain. These efforts failed, and the refugee camp was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp. Westerbork became the "Police Transit Camp for Jews," one of two concentration camps.

From there, the Levis were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp. They are said to have arrived there on September 14, 1943, and to have been murdered just three days later, on September 17, 1943.