Stolperstein

Stolperstein in Bonn for Ida Arensberg "Here lived Ida Arensberg. née Benjamin *1870 - deported 1942. Murdered in Theresienstadt on 18.9.1942".

Stolperstein in Berlin for Horst Lothar Koppel.

A Stolperstein (from German, "stumbling block"; plural Stolpersteine) is a monument created by Gunter Demnig which commemorates a victim of the Holocaust. Stolpersteine are small, cobblestone-sized memorials for an individual victim of Nazism. They commemorate individuals – both those who died and survivors – who were consigned by the Nazis to prisons, euthanasia facilities, sterilization clinics, concentration camps, and extermination camps, as well as those who responded to persecution by emigrating or committing suicide.

While the vast majority of stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust, others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (also called gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, Christians (both Protestants and Catholics) opposed to the Nazis, members of the Communist Party and the Resistance, military deserters, and the physically and mentally disabled.

The list of places that have stolpersteine now extends to several countries and hundreds of cities and towns.

History

Before the Shoah, it used to be the custom in Germany for Non-Jews to say, when they stumbled over a protruding stone: "There must be a Jew buried here."

"Here lived"

Gunter Demnig

Information for stolpersteine comes from schools, relatives, and various organizations and especially the database of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Once the research is done, Demnig manufactures a concrete cube of 10 cm (4 inches), which he covers with a sheet of brass. Then he stamps the details of the individual; the name, year of birth and the fate, as well as the dates of deportation and death, if known. The words “Hier wohnte” ("here lived") grace most of the memorials, though others are installed at the individual's place of employment and refer instead to the work. The stolperstein is then laid flush with the pavement or sidewalk in front of the last residence of the victim.

The cost of the stolpersteine is covered by donations, collections, individual citizens, contemporary witnesses, school classes, or communities. One stolperstein costs €95, a price that has remained the same since the project's inception. In 2012, the price will increase to €120.

First stolpersteine

Stolperstein in Hamburg for politician Max Eichholz (in German).

After Demnig had the idea in 1993, the first exhibition took place in 1994 in Cologne. The then priest of the Antoniter church encouraged the project. In 1995, Demnig began to install stolpersteine on trial, without a permit, in Cologne; then in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin. In 1996, he set out 55 stolpersteine in Berlin within the scope of the project “Artists Research Auschwitz”. In 1997, he mounted the first two stolpersteine for the Jehovah's Witnesses Matthias and Johann Nobis in St. Georgen, Austria on the suggestion of Andreas Maislinger, founder of Arts Initiative KNIE and the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service. Four years later, he received permission to install 600 more stolpersteine in Cologne.

Germany

Video of laying a stolperstein in Cologne in 2013

There are thousands of stolperstein memorials located in cities and towns in Germany. Below are just a few of the hundreds of localities, including some of the cities with thousands of memorials each. A more complete list can be found on the list of cities that have stolpersteine.

Stolpersteine in Cologne for Erich and Ella Löbenstein, Gustav and Johanna Meyer.

Stolpersteine in Cologne for Siegmund, Helene und Walter Klein.

Czech Republic

There are stolpersteine in Prague, Kolín, Brno, Neratovice, Teplice, Třeboň, Olomouc and Ostrava.

Hungary

Stolperstein for Móritz Kemény in Budapest

There have been stolpersteine in Hungary since April 2007. The first stolpersteine were installed on Ráday Street, in the center of Budapest. Since then, new stolpersteine have been installed in the towns of Balatonfüred, Kiskunhalas, Kisvárda, Kőszeg, Makó, Mátészalka, Nagykanizsa, Nagykőrös, Pécs, Szeged, Szolnok, Szombathely, Újfehértó, and Zalaegerszeg. About 600,000 Hungarian Jews were deported and murdered, primarily at Auschwitz.

In Hungarian, the word for stolperstein is "botlatókő", literally "a stone that makes one stumble".

Italy

The first 30 stolpersteine were laid in Rome in January 2010 and 54 more were installed in January 2011. The memorials are located in eight different municipi (municipalities) throughout the city.

The Netherlands

The first Struikelstenen (Dutch for "stolpersteine") were laid in Borne, Overijssel in November 2007. Many more were installed in other cities. A list of Stolpersteine in the Netherlands.

Norway

Snublesteiner (Norwegian bokmål language for "stolpersteine") have been installed in Oslo, for instance at Ruth Maier's last residence in Oslo.

Timeline of quantities

As of October 2007, Gunter Demnig had mounted more than 13,000 stolpersteine in more than 280 cities. He expanded his project beyond the borders of Germany to Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary. Some stolpersteine were scheduled to be laid in Poland on September 1, 2006, but permission was withdrawn and the installation was cancelled.

On July 24, 2009, the 20,000th stolperstein was unveiled in the Rotherbaum district of Hamburg, Germany. In attendance were Gunter Demnig, representatives of the Hamburg government and its Jewish community, and a descendant of the victims memorialized.

As of May 15, 2010, there were over 22,000 stolpersteine in 530 European cities and towns in eight countries formerly under Nazi control or occupied by Nazi Germany.

By July 8, 2010, there were over 25,000 stolpersteine in 569 cities and towns.

As of June 24, 2011, Demnig had installed 30,000 stolpersteine.

From the artist's own website: There are already over 32,000 STOLPERSTEINE ("Stumbling Stones") in over 700 locations. Many cities and villages across Europe, not only in Germany, have expressed an interest in the project. Stones have already been laid in many places in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, in the Czech Republic, in Poland (one in Wroclaw, one in Slubice), in Ukraine (Pereiaslav), in Italy (Rome) and Norway (Oslo).

Stolpersteine for Hertha and Alexander Adam, Berlin-Friedrichshain

Criticism

The city of Villingen-Schwenningen hotly debated the idea of allowing stolpersteine in 2004 and voted against them. There is a memorial at the train station and there are plans for a second memorial.

Munich has rejected stolpersteine, following severe concerns claimed by Munich's Jewish Community and particularly its chairwoman, Charlotte Knobloch, then also President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. In other cities, permission for the project was preceded by long, sometimes emotional discussions. In Krefeld, the vice-chairman of the Jewish community, Michael Gilad, said that Demnig's memorials reminded him of how the Nazis had used Jewish grave stones as slabs for sidewalks. A compromise was reached that a stolperstein could be installed if a prospective site was approved by both house's owner and (if applicable) the victim's relatives.

The city of Pulheim was still debating the issue in 2010.

Reactions of passers-by

People’s attention is drawn towards the stolpersteine by reports in newspapers and their personal experience. Their thoughts are directed towards the victims. Cambridge historian, Joseph Pearson, argues that "It is not what is written [on the stolpersteine] which intrigues, because the inscription is insufficient to conjure a person. It is the emptiness, void, lack of information, the maw of the forgotten, which gives the monuments their power and lifts them from the banality of a statistic."

Film

A documentary, Stolperstein was made by Dörte Franke in 2008.

See also

• List of cities by country that have Stolpersteine

Sources

• Kurt Walter & AG Spurensuche, Stolpersteine in Duisburg, Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Duisburg/ Evangelisches Familienbildungswerk, Duisburg (2005) ISBN 3-00-017730-2 (German)
• Marlis Meckel, Den Opfern ihre Namen zurückgeben. Stolpersteine in Freiburg, Rombach Verlag, Freiburg (2006) ISBN 3-7930-5018-1 (German)
• Beate Meyer (editor), Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der Hamburger Juden 1933-1945. Geschichte, Zeugnis, Erinnerung, Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Hamburg (2006) (German)
• Kirsten Serup-Bilfeldt, Stolpersteine. Vergessene Namen, verwehte Spuren. Wegweiser zu Kölner Schicksalen in der NS-Zeit, Kiepenheuer & Witsch (2003) ISBN 3-462-03535-5 (German)
• Oswald Burger and Hansjörg Straub, Die Levingers. Eine Familie in Überlingen, Eggingen (2002) ISBN 3-86142-117-8 (German)
• Stumbling Upon Memories (PHOTOS) (English)

External links

• Gunter Demnig and the Stumbling Blocks
• (German) Gunter Demnig’s homepage