Connections between Irish nuns in WW II resistance and the work of Standing Together

On Thursday 24^th of April citizens from Berlin and Donegal gathered in the community hall at the Franciscan Friary in Rossnowlagh, Donegal to commemorate 5 Irish women who were in the resistance against the nazis in World War II. These women were betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück, a concentration camp for women. Four of them were liberated by the Red Cross exactly 80 years ago, at the end of April 1945 (together with 7,500 other women.

There was a unique mix of music, literature and poetry. La Voix mixte travelled  from Berlin to perform at this event and a choral evening with the Donegal Abbey Singers in Donegal town on the 25^th April. These choirs sang for peace and justice and their repertoire included an original composition to the words of Seamus Heaney on Hope and History by Uta Schlegel. Cathy Fleming read from her biography of Sister Kate Mc Carthy.  Winifred Mc Nulty, Donegal poet, read some information about Catherine Crean, Sister Kate Mc Carthy, Sister Agnes Flanagan Mary O’ Shaughnessy, and Mary Cummins whose names and details can now be found on the Irish Embassy website following a similar event in the Irish Embassy in Berlin. Margo Gorman shared her thoughts about the connection between these women and the struggles of ordinary people in Israel and Palestine for peace and justice today. www.standing-together.org.

Why commemorate 5 women out of the millions who had suffered during these times?

They were living and working as nuns, nannies and nurses in France or Belgium at the time of the invasion of the German troops. Ordinary people like us, the crowd in the hall in Rossnowlagh. They wanted to do something and used their skills and abilities to help Allied soldiers to get out of the occupied territory. In doing so they risked their own lives.

We are living in times of disruption, destruction and polarization. We often feel alone and powerless in regard to what is happening in the world and around us. Faced with despair and chaos, we need communication and connection between ordinary people like us and a sense of good things we can do.

Margo Gorman and Hans-Georg Rennert, an Irish-German couple (both with a background in Community work) and the main organizers of the event last Thursday are impressed by the work of Standing Together, a grassroots initiative that mobilizes Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel against the war and occupation, advocating FOR peace, equality and social justice. As Helen Yakoub, a 29 years old Palestinian activist says: “It turns fear into clarity, anger into action, loneliness into something communal.”

Margo and Hans-Georg invited the attendees to donate for the work of Standing Together. 350 Euros were collected and donated to Standing Together. As the organisation writes (in a newsletter dating from 11^th April): “Hope is not something we wait for, hope is something we build through collective action.” #gazaceasfuew #human rights

Margo Gorman and Hans-Georg Rennert, 27^th April 2025

The post Hope and History first appeared on Margo Gorman.

On 14^th November, 2024,  the first 19 Stolpersteine/stumble-stones were laid in Wunstorf. the Heimat of my partner, Schorse. Stolpersteine are small brass plaques inscribed with  individual names and details of their extermination or persecution by the Nazis. Anybody who didn’t fit in was a potential target. Among those who didn’t fit in were the -Jewish people, Sinti and Romani people (known as Gypsies/Zigeuner) Homosexuals, Communists, Socialists, Christians, people with mental or physical disability, freemasons, deserters from military, Conscientious Objectors, people charged with treason, military disobedience or “anti-social” behaviour, Black people, people of many nationalities, Allied forces and those who helped them.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out 
- because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out 
- because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out 
- because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no-one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

Schorse Rennert shares his impressions in German with an English Translation below:

Ihre Namen bleiben. Stolpersteine in Wunstorf verlegt

Am 14. November 2024 wurden die ersten 19 Stolpersteine in meiner Heimatstadt Wunstorf verlegt. Damit hat der Arbeitskreis Erinnerungskultur Wunstorf einen wichtigen Zwischenschritt erreicht. Dieser Kreis engagierter Wunstorfer:innen hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, allen von den Nazis ermordeten Wunstorfern individuelle Denkmale zu setzen. Die Stolpersteine des Künstlers Gunter Demnig sehen sie als die am besten geeignete Form dafür.

„Der Künstler Gunter Demnig erinnert an die Opfer der NS-Zeit, indem er vor ihrem letzten selbstgewählten Wohnort Gedenktafeln aus Messing ins Trottoir einlässt. Inzwischen liegen STOLPERSTEINE in 1265 Kommunen Deutschlands und in einundzwanzig Ländern Europas. ‘Ein Mensch ist erst vergessen, wenn sein Name vergessen ist’, zitiert Gunter Demnig den Talmud.“ (https://www.stolpersteine.eu/start – Zugriff 18.11.24)

Die Stolpersteine erinnern an 19 Menschen, die hier lebten und aufgrund ihres jüdischen Glaubens erniedrigt, entrechtet, beraubt, ermordet wurden. Nun kann es passieren, dass man auf dem Schlendern durch die Fußgängerzone über die Erinnerungen an diese ehemaligen Nachbarn „stolpert“ und zum Nachdenken angeregt wird. Über die Vergangenheit, die heutige Situation und das mögliche eigene Verhalten.

Eine wichtige Grundlage für die Recherchen des Arbeitskreises bildet das Buch „Das Schicksal der Juden in Wunstorf“ von Heiner Wittrock, 2. Auflage Wunstorf 2007. Mich hat die Lektüre dieser akribischen Arbeit beeindruckt und erschüttert. Für acht aus Wunstorf stammende Juden wurde Auschwitz zur letzten Station ihres Leidensweges. Aus der Langen Straße auf die Todesrampe: das gab es auch in Wunstorf und das darf es niemals wieder geben!

Was können wir dafür tun?

Die Stolpersteine erinnern an: Hans Bensew, Hugo Bensew, Kurt Bensew, Martha Bensow, Werner Bensew, Ferdinand Blank, Renate Salinger, Bernhard Kreuzer, Else Kreuzer, Hans-Joachim Kreuzer, Klaus Kreuzer, Albert Mendel, Henry Mendel, Rosa Mendel, Willi Mendel, Flora Roth, Henriette Schloss, Jacob Schloss, Ruth Schloss

Wer mehr über diese 19 Menschen wissen möchte, kann die Broschüre „Ihre Namen bleiben“ des Arbeitskreis Erinnerungskultur Wunstorf lesen, die hier zu finden ist: https://www.wunstorf.de/portal/seiten/wunstorfer-stolpersteine-922001543-20550.html

Their names remain. Stolpersteine laid in Wunstorf

On November 14, 2024, the first 19 Stolpersteine/stumbling blocks were laid in my hometown, Wunstorf. The Wunstorf Working Group for the Culture of Remembrance has achieved an important milestone. This group of committed Wunstorf residents has set itself the goal of placing individual memorials to all Wunstorf residents murdered by the Nazis. They see the stumbling blocks by artist Gunter Demnig as the most suitable form for this.

“The artist Gunter Demnig commemorates the victims of the Nazi era by placing brass memorial plaques on the pavement in front of their last chosen place of residence. There are now STOLPERSTEINE in 1265 municipalities in Germany and in twenty-one European countries. ‘A person is only forgotten when his name is forgotten’, Gunter Demnig quotes the Talmud.” (https://www.stolpersteine.eu/start – accessed 18.11.24)

The Stolpersteine in Wunstorf commemorate 19 people who lived here and were humiliated, stripped of their rights, robbed and murdered because of their Jewish faith. While strolling through the pedestrian zone, you may stumble across the memories of these former neighbours and be prompted to reflect. About the past, the current situation and how you would have behaved.

The book “The Fate of the Jews in Wunstorf” by Heiner Wittrock, 2nd edition Wunstorf 2007, forms an important basis for the working group’s research. Reading this meticulous work impressed and shocked me. For eight Jews from Wunstorf, Auschwitz was the last stop on their path of suffering. From Lange Straße to the death ramp: that also happened in Wunstorf and it must never happen again!

What can we do about it now?

The post Stumbling Stones first appeared on Margo Gorman.