Anniversary: 5 Years of Memorial Signs,
Marienplatz 15

06.07.2023 04:30 p.m.

Veranstaltung

Students of the städtische Sing- und Musikschule

In July 2018, the first Memorial Signs were installed in Munich. In the following five years, over 200 Memorial Signs have been added, at more than 80 locations throughout the city.

On 6 July 2023, the 5th anniversary of the first memorial signs, a commemorative event was held at the Altes Rathaus in Munich. Dieter Reiter, Lord Mayor of the City of Munich, Dr. h.c. mult. Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, and Anton Biebl, Cultural Officer of the City of Munich gave speeches.

Other speakers included Prof Dr Michele Barricelli from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Christoph Wilker as a representative of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier from District Committee 1 - Altstadt-Lehel.

The Städtische Sing- und Musikschule provided the musical accompaniment.

Following the commemoration ceremony, eleven Memorial Signs for citizens of Munich were placed at five locations close to Marienplatz, the central square of Munich.

All events were held in German and English.

Thursday, 6 July 2023

4:30 p.m.
Commemoration ceremony at Altes Rathaus
Marienplatz 15

Approx. 5:30 p.m.
Installation of the Memorial Signs for Emma, Hertha and Erich Emanuel Steinitz at their former residence
Marienplatz 22

Approx. 6 p.m.
Installation of the Memorial Signs for Hedwig, Jeanette and Rosa Hiller at their former residence
Burgstraße 1

Approx. 6:30 p.m.
Installation of the Memorial Signs for Melitta and Max Wallach at their former business, the Trachtenhaus Wallach
Residenzstraße 3

Approx. 7 p.m.
Installation of the Memorial Sign for Josef Kaltenbacher at his former residence
Marienstraße 10

Approx. 7:30 p.m.
Installation of the Memorial Signs for Betty and Hugo Epstein at their former business house
Sendlinger Straße 21

Flyer (PDF)

Oberbürgermeister Dieter Reiter

Prof. Dr. Michele Barricelli, LMU

A student of the städtische Sing- und Musikschule at the piano

Christoph Wilker, initiator of the Memorial Sign for Josef Kaltenbacher

Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier, initiator of the Memorial Signs at Marienplatz

Students of the städtische Sing- und Musikschule set the musical background

Anton Biebl from the Department of Culture

Memorial Signs for Emma, Hertha, and Erich Emanuel Steinitz

Marienplatz 22

After the memorial service at Altes Rathaus, the Memorial Signs for Emma, Hertha and Erich Emanuel Steinitz were placed on Marienplatz 22.

Hertha and Erich Emanuel Steinitz lived together with their mother Emma, who had been co-owner of a silk and white goods business with a ladies' hat and corset factory since her husband's death, in a flat at Marienplatz 24. In 1940, they were forced to move to Goethe Strasse, where Emma Steinitz died in 1941. The Gestapo deported Erich Emanuel and Hertha Steinitz to Kaunas in Lithuania at the end of 1941, where they were murdered by the SS.

The initiator of the memorial sign, Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier from District Committee 1 - Altstadt-Lehel, installed the memorial signs for Emma, Hertha and Erich Emanuel Steinitz together with Dr h.c. mult. Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, and the Lord Mayor of the City of Munich, Dieter Reiter.

Walking from the town hall to install the Memorial Signs at Marienplatz

Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Brodman, Dr. h.c. mult. Charlotte Knobloch, Mayor Dieter Reiter, and Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier

Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier, Kulturreferent Anton Biebl, Stadträtin Mona Fuchs, and Marian Offman

The new Memorial Signs for Emma, Hertha, and Erich Emanuel Steinitz at Marienplatz

The Memorial Signs for Hedwig, Jeanette und Rosa Hiller

Burgstraße 1

From Marienplatz, the tour continued to Burgstraße, where the Memorial Signs for Jeanette, Rosa and Hedwig Hiller were handed over.

The father of Hedwig, Rosa and Jeanette (Johanna) Hiller had bought the house at Burgstraße 3 (now Burgstraße 1) back in 1872. The three sisters lived in the house together. Hedwig Hiller died in 1934 and her sisters Jeanette and Rosa were forced by the Nazis to leave the house in 1940 and move into the overcrowded infirmary of the Jewish Community. In 1942, the sisters were deported to Theresienstadt, where both sisters died in the same year.

Following the installation of the Memorial Signs for Rosa, Hedwig and Jeanette Hiller, the initiator of the Memorial Signs, Ariella Chmiel, as well as Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Brodman and Anton Biebl from the Cultural Department spoke.

Ariella Chmiel, initiator of the Memorial Signs

Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Brodman

Anton Biebl, Department of Arts and Culture

Installation of the Memorial Signs for Hedwig, Jeanette und Rosa Hiller

Prof. Dr. Michele Barricelli, LMU

Memorial Signs at Burgstraße

Melitta and Max Wallach

Residenzstraße 3

Max Wallach ran the Dachau weaving mill and fabric print shop for the Trachtenhaus Wallach run by his brother at Residenzstraße 3. His wife Melitta Wallach worked in the Wallach Volkskunsthaus in Ludwigstraße, which was jointly owned by the Wallach brothers. After the expropriation of the weaving mill and fabric printing works by the National Socialists in 1938, Max and Melitta Elisabeth Wallach moved to Residenzstraße with their young son. They were able to save their son Franz Julius on a Kindertransport to England, but they themselves were deported by the Gestapo to Theresienstadt in 1942 and finally to the Auschwitz extermination camp in 1944, where Melitta and Max Wallach were murdered by the SS.

Jamie Hall, family member and initiator of the Memorial Signs, told the Wallach family history after the Memorial Signs for Melitta and Max Wallach were installed. Dr Regina Prinz from the Stadtmuseum München spoke about the Wallach brothers‘ business and showed an original bag made by the Wallachs’ company.

The Hall family, relatives and initiators of the Memorial Signs

Dr. Regina Prinz of the Münchner Stadtmuseum

Jamie Hall, relative and initiator of the Memorial Signs

Commemoration for Melitta and Max Wallach

Memorial Signs for Melitta and Max Wallach

Dr. Regina Prinz and Jamie Hall with an original bag from the Wallach brothers' factory

Josef Kaltenbacher

Marienstraße 10

As a Jehovah's Witness, Josef Kaltenbacher made house calls to talk to people about the Bible despite the Nazis' ban to do so. Josef Hitzler denounced him for this in 1936. After a trial at the Munich Special Court, the Gestapo sent him to the Dachau concentration camp. From there he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1939 and murdered by the SS in 1940.

Christopher Wilker, initiator of the memorial sign, and Dr Daniel Baumann from the city archives spoke after the memorial sign for Josef Kaltenbacher was installed, with the saxophone ensemble providing the musical accompaniment.

Commemorative event for Josef Kaltenbacher

Dr. Daniel Baumann, Stadtarchiv München

The installation of the Memorial Sign

The Saxophon-Ensemble playing at the commemoration for Josef Kaltenbacher

Christoph Wilker, initiator of the Memorial Sign for Joseph Kaltenbacher

Memorial Sign for Josef Kaltenbacher

Betty and Hugo Epstein

Sendlinger Straße 21

Betty Epstein, née Wallach, ran a jewellery shop at Sendlinger Straße 21. After the death of her first husband, she married Hugo Epstein in 1921. In 1938, she was forced to give up the business. In the same year, Hugo Epstein was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp for several weeks after the so-called ‘Kristallnacht’. In 1942, the Gestapo crammed the couple into the ‘Judenlager Milbertshofen’. Hugo Epstein died there after a few weeks. Betty Epstein was deported by the SS to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she died in the same year.

The relative Gilbert Short placed the Memorial Signs he had initiated for Betty and Hugo Epstein on the house at Sendlinger Straße 21, where Betty Epstein had run her jewellery shop until 1938. Anke Buettner from the Monacensia im Hildebrandhaus then told the story of Mr and Mrs Epstein.