Stolpersteine in Ireland
Learn more about Ireland’s first Stolpersteine and those remembered by the world’s largest memorial project.
“A person is not forgotten until his or her name is forgotten.”
On 1 June 2022, six Stolpersteine were installed outside St Catherine's National School, Dublin 8 in memory of the Irish victims of the Holocaust.
Created by German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, The Stolpersteine Project has become the world’s largest memorial project. His vision was to create brass-topped cobblestones that would be embedded in the pavement outside a home or building of significance pertaining to a victim of the Holocaust. More than 90,000 Stolpersteine have now been laid in 27 countries.
Each stumbling stone bears the name of one individual, giving brief details of what happened to them. It is a simple and moving tribute to people whose names can too often be forgotten when focusing on the sheer number of victims of the Holocaust.
The six Stolpersteine remember Ettie Steinberg Gluck, her husband Wojteck and their baby son Leon as well as three Irish Jews who were also victims, Isaac Shishi, Ephraim and Jeanne (Lena) Saks.
Relatives of the six Irish victims, who are now scattered all over the world, came to Dublin for the laying of the Stolpersteine. Ettie Steinberg and many Jewish pupils attended St Catherine's National School in the 1920s and 1930s.
The event was held by Holocaust Education Ireland in association with Dublin City Council and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Relatives of the victims, schoolchildren from St Catherine’s School, ambassadors, members of the Irish Jewish community and the public attended the event.
Joe Schleider, nephew of Ettie Steinberg, with Gunter Demnig at the unveiling of Ireland’s first Stolpersteine.
Image: Marc O’Sullivan.
“The Stolpersteine ceremony was a really important thing for the pupils of St. Catherine’s to experience. It allowed us to talk and educate in a way that was real.”
Recent research by Holocaust Education Ireland
Data presented by Trinity College Dublin's Dr. David Jackson in 2019 revealed there are four victims, while it was previously thought there was only one.
Until 2019, the only Irish Jewish person known to have been murdered in the Holocaust was Esther Steinberg. Dr. Jackson's work uncovered more names, including Isaac Shishi, Ephraim Saks and his sister Lena Saks. They were all born in Ireland but their families returned to Europe when they were children.
All of these Irish-born citizens were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
"Online records now available from a wide variety of sources, including the Holocaust Centre in Jerusalem, have allowed me to piece together these lost and forgotten stories," said Dr. Jackson, a consultant statistician. "I believe there may be more and I will continue to research."
One More Day
Just one more day,
One more day,
I could still have a family,
I could still have my little Leon,
I could have seen Leon’s first day of school,
I wish with all my might,
That my visa would have been approved,
All my life, I have dreamt,
Dreamt of how well my dresses could have sold,
Dreamt of having a bigger family,
Dreamt of sand between my toes in the hot summer sun with the waves crashing in,
All I want is one more day,
One more day and I could still be here today.
— Poem by Cate Mitchell. Sixth class, St Catherine’s National School.
Learn more about their stories.
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Ettie Steinberg
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Wojteck Gluck
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Leon Gluck
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Isaac Shishi
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Jeanne Saks
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Ephraim Saks
