Düsseldorf (stone memorial, Heinefeld)
Historical background
See also: Düsseldorf (memorial, Alter Hafen)
Before the war, in the Golzheim district in the suburbs of Düsseldorf there was an encampment called Heinefeld. It was a settlement – a camp, made of hand-made huts, which was home to a group of the unemployed and the homeless, including the Roma and Sinti.
In 1934, a Catholic priest Matthias Beckers came to Heinefeld. He began work in the nearby parish of St. Bruno immediately after graduating from university. He was sent here to help, carry out pastoral work and to create a rector church in Golzheimer Heide in Düsseldorf-Stockum.
Father Beckers worked with the nomads of Heinefeld, and at the same time tried to defend them against state policy. However, the Sinti from the settlement were taken to the Höherweg camp and then to Auschwitz, while the priest was forbidden to preach and ordered to leave the country.
On August 12, 1945, Father Beckers returned to Heinefeld from his exile near Wroclaw, where he was hiding during the war. Officially, the Holy Family Parish was established in 1951, and Father Matthias Beckers was the parish priest in this church until 1975. The priest died in 1985 and in 1990 a memorial was erected to commemorate his person, his work as well as the Roma and Sinti who lost their lives during the war.
Description of commemoration
At the northern edge of the area today called Henefeld Platz, at the path crossing the square from east to west, there is a low light orange-red stone, with a bronze plaque on it. A raised inscription with a decorative font is clearly visible on its matt background. The whole plaque is stylised to look as if it was in a frame.
Inscriptions
In German:
Pfarrer Matthias Beckers / baut ab 1934 hier in der Siedlung ‘Heinefeld’ / die katholische Gemeinde ‘Heilige Familie’ auf. / Sein Eintreten und seine praktische Hilfe / für die Armen und Verfolgten, zu denen / damals auch viele deutsche Sinti und Roma / gehörten, ahnden die Nationalsozialisten / mit Predigt- und Aufenthaltsverbot. / Versteckt in der Erzdiözese Breslau / überlebte er diese Zeit und kann hier / seine Arbeit nach dem Krieg bis 1975 / fortsetzen.
Translation:
In 1934, a parish church named Matthias Beckers built a Catholic community of the Holy Family in the “Heinefeld” settlement. For his help to the poor and persecuted, including the Sinti and Roma, he was punished by National Socialists who banned him from preaching and ordered him to leave the country. He survived the way hidden in the diocese of Wroclaw and was able to continue his work until 1975.
Date of the unveiling
1990
Initiator
Katholische Pfarrkirche Heilige Familie (Holy Family Parish), Carl-Sonnenschein-Straße, 40468 Düsseldorf, Germany
heiligefamilie.de
+49 211 478050
Address
Heinefeld Platz (near the northern edge), 40468 Düsseldorf-Golzheim, Germany
Location
51°15’44.8″N 6°45’58.6″E
51.262444, 6.766278
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Materials
Puvogel, Ulrike/Stankowski, Martin: Gedenkstätten für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation, 2., überarb. und erw. Auflg., Band I, Bonn 1995, S. 529-530.
Gallery
