Ernst Krakenberger (*1940) was born in the occupied Netherlands, where his parents emigrated in 1939, following the “Kristallnacht” pogrom in Germany. At the age of one, he was placed in the care of the German-Dutch Stockmann family and remained with them as an “Onderduiker” (a person in hiding) until the end of the war. Ernst’s parents survived several concentration camps (including Bergen-Belsen), and were able to reunite with their four-year-old son in September 1945, by which time Ernst no longer recognized them. The Stockmann family was honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Israeli memorial Yad Vashem for their efforts to protect Krakenberger. In 1966, he moved to Nuremberg Germany to redevelop the family’s business in the hop trade. He worked as an entrepreneur and consultant until 2015. Together with his wife, he has founded a foundation supporting various social projects in Israel, particularly those benefiting Jewish and Arab children.
