a Stolperstein for Ela Lapis

In Berlin today* my grandfather and I attended the placement of a "Stolperstein" memorial stone for his uncle who was killed in the holocaust. To be honest, I think I'd rather the memorial stones said something about the victim's life ("Violinist") rather than just "murdered". So it goes -- the holocaust is always a very depressing topic. But I am happy that now, through the work of my father, Ela Lapis, who might otherwise have been forgotten, is now permanently commemorated at the site of his former home in Berlin at Motzstrasse 83.

He was a Jew, married to my great-grandfather's sister Dora (Fricke) Lapis. My dad, who did all the research, wrote these words to read at the stolperstein setting:

"Ela Lapis was a violinist and Kapellmeister in Berlin during the 1920s and 30s, and a victim of the Holocaust. He was part of the cultural life that flourished in Berlin. His wife was my great-aunt, Dora. He left no direct descendants, but his memory has journeyed far. In 1943, Ela’s widow Dora was bombed out of their home here in Berlin and moved to Dresden, where she survived the firebombing of 1945. In 1947 she reconnected with her brother Wilhelm in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Ela’s memory was saved by my grandmother. It remained there for 36 years, until it was rediscovered in 1983, when I retrieved old photos, letters and documents which my grandmother had carefully saved. Ela’s memory then traveled from Rio to Mission Viejo, California, and there it remained for another 29 years. In 2012 my wife and I visited our son working in Hanover and we discovered Stolpersteine. And we visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin and discovered that Ela had been murdered in Riga. And now we honor his memory, back in Berlin, where this journey began, 71 years ago."

* April 23, 2013