Stumbling Stone Memorial
Located near the top of the hill at Apelbergsgatan 36 lies a small commemorative plaque. These are installed into the pavement directly in front of a Holocaust victim’s last known, voluntary residence.
Hans Eduard Szybilski was born August 29, 1907 in Elberfeld (known today as part of Wuppertal), Germany. He worked as a traveling salesman for the British raincoat manufacturer, Mackintosh.
In Sweden, Hans applied for a residence permit several times. In one of Hans’ motions, he cited “Rassenschande”, wrongful prosecution as his reasoning for seeking asylum. he was arrested and handcuffed, taken to a ferry, and deported. At first, Germany refused to let the Jew back in and Hans was taken to Copenhagen, then Oslo and for the sole purpose of closing his business in Sweden, Sweden granted Hans a short stay permit. Hans was forced to leave Sweden on December 1st, 1938.
Hans received a residence permit in Finland. He resided in a hotel in Helsinki, then in another hotel in Turku. Early in 1939, Hans applied for a residence permit again in Sweden.
Finland had in their employ a German double agent. In Finland, Hans was arrested on false charges and detained for a year. Then he was wrongfully arrested again in 1941 & 1942 and deported to Berlin.
February 19, 1943, Hans Eduard Szybilski was deported on Transport 29 from Berlin to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On that train there were 997 Jewish men, women and children including several others that were expelled from Sweden and Finland. There are only 6 known survivors from that transport. The remaining, including Hans Eduard Szybilski, were either murdered immediately in the gas chambers or later while on forced labor crews under harsh conditions.
