Stumbling stone for Paula Luise and Otto Schönhof

The suitcase with an Offenbach address can be found in a display case filled with thousands of suitcases at the Auschwitz memorial. During visits to the memorial, pupils from school classes in Offenbach noticed it, and a Krakow/Auschwitz tour group from the Offenbach History Workshop also noticed the suitcase and set off in search of clues. However, only scant information could be found about the fate of the former owners.

The suitcase belonged to the couple Paula Luise and Otto Schönhof.
Otto Schönhof was born on August 25, 1870 in Offenbach and grew up there. His wife Paula Luise, née Löwenstein, (born January 6, 1881) came from Frankfurt. They married around the turn of the century. Around the same time, Otto Schönhof took over the Offenbach "Schönhof-Strauss shoe and leather goods factory" from his parents.

The Schönhof couple initially lived at Sprendlinger Landstrasse 3 and moved to Bismarckstrasse 67 with their two daughters Margarethe and Elsbeth in 1929. The daughters emigrated to the USA in the 1930s.

In 1940, Otto and Paula Schönhof were forced to move to Ludwigstraße 28. From there, they were both "evacuated" to Theresienstadt on September 27, 1942. In this concentration camp in Bohemia, which the Nazis described as a "Jewish old people's home", overcrowding led to the worst hygienic conditions and starvation. Otto Schönhof was 72 years old at the time and Paula Schönhof was 61. Seventeen days after their arrival, on October 14, 1942, Otto Schönhof died there under unclear circumstances.
His wife remained in Theresienstadt and was deported to Auschwitz in one of the last mass transports on May 18, 1944, where she took the suitcase with her. All luggage was taken from the deportees as soon as they arrived, and they were not allowed to keep any of their personal belongings. Clothing and usable items from the luggage were sent to Germany.

Paula Schönhof died in Auschwitz; the exact date and cause of death are not known. It is conceivable that she was "sent to the gas" because of her age.

The sponsors of the Stumbling Stones for the couple are the participants of the VHS and Geschichtswerkstatt Offenbach study trip to Krakow/Auschwitz in the fall of 2004.

Laid on February 25, 2006