Stolperstein


A Stolperstein is a concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate persons at the last place that they chose freely to reside, work or study before they fell victim to Nazi terror, forced euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide., 100,000 Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial.
The majority of Stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people, Poles, homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition, and Freemasons, Spanish Republicans along with International Brigades soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers.

Origin of the name

The name of the Stolpersteine project invokes multiple allusions. In Nazi Germany, an antisemitic saying, when accidentally stumbling over a protruding stone, was: "A Jew must be buried here". In a metaphorical sense, the German term Stolperstein can mean "potential problem". The term "to stumble across something", in German and English, can also mean "to find out ". Thus, the term provocatively invokes an antisemitic remark of the past, but at the same time intends to provoke thoughts about a serious issue. Stolpersteine are not placed prominently, but are rather discovered by chance, only recognizable when passing by at close distance. In contrast to central memorial places, which according to Demnig can be easily avoided or bypassed, Stolpersteine represent a much deeper intrusion of memory into everyday life.
Stolpersteine are placed right into the pavement. When Jewish cemeteries were destroyed throughout Nazi Germany, the gravestones were often repurposed as sidewalk paving stones. The desecration of the memory of the dead was implicitly intended, as people had to walk on the gravestones and tread on the inscriptions. The Stolpersteine provocatively hint at this act of desecration, as they lack any kind of defense against new acts of shame. While the art project thus intends to keep alive the memory, implying that improper acts could easily happen again, the intentional lack of defense against potential desecration also created criticism and concern. Some German cities like Munich still do not accept the setting of Stolpersteine, and look for alternative ways of commemoration instead.

"Here lived ..."

Research about future Stolperstein locations is usually done by local school children and their teachers, victims' relatives, or local history organizations. The database of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the online database of the Mapping the Lives publication of the 1939 Germany Minority Census are used to search for names and residential addresses of Nazi victims.
When research on a particular person is completed, Demnig sets out to manufacture an individual Stolperstein. The person's name and dates of birth, deportation and death, if known, are engraved into the brass plate. The words Hier wohnte are written on most of the plates, emphasizing that the victims of persecution did not live and work at any anonymous place, but "right here". The Stolperstein is then inserted at flush level into the roadway or sidewalk, at the individual's last known place of freely chosen residence or work, with the intention to "trip up the passer-by" and draw attention to the memorial.
The costs of Stolpersteine are covered by individual donations, local public fund raising, contemporary witnesses, school classes, or community funds. From the beginning of the project until 2012, one Stolperstein cost €95. In 2012, the price increased to €120. Each individual Stolperstein is still manufactured by hand, so that only about 440 of them can be produced per month. Today, it may take up to several months from the application for a new Stolperstein until it is finally installed.
Starting in 2005, Michael Friedrichs-Friedländer has partnered with Gunter Demnig to install about 63,000 Stolpersteine in 20 different languages. Friedrichs-Friedländer explained to a reporter that he has not changed the engraving process and all engraving continues to be completed by hand; this is purposeful, to prevent the process from becoming anonymous.

First ''Stolperstein''

On 16 December 1992, 50 years had passed since Heinrich Himmler had signed the so-called Auschwitz-Erlass, ordering the deportation of Sinti and Roma to extermination camps. This order marks the beginning of the mass deportation of Jews from Germany. To commemorate this date, Gunter Demnig traced the "road to deportation" by pulling a self-built, rolling pavement-printing machine through the inner city to the train station, where the deportees had boarded the trains to the extermination camps. Afterward, he installed the first Stolperstein in front of Cologne's historic City Hall. On its brass plate were engraved the first lines of the Auschwitz decree. Demnig also intended to contribute to the debate, ongoing at that time, about granting the right of residence in Germany to Roma people who had fled from former Yugoslavia.
Gradually, the idea arose of expanding the commemoration project to include all victims of Nazi persecution, as well as always doing so at the last places of residence which they were free to choose. A Stolperstein would symbolically bring back the victims to their neighbourhoods, to the places where they rightfully belonged, even many years after they had been deported. Gunter Demnig published further details of his project in 1993, and outlined his artistic concept in a contribution to the project Größenwahn – Kunstprojekte für Europa. In 1994, he exhibited 250 Stolpersteine for murdered Sinti and Roma at St Anthony's Church in Cologne, encouraged by Kurt Pick, the parish priest. This church, located prominently in Cologne city centre, was already serving as an important commemorative institution, and has been part of the Cross of Nails community since 2016. In January 1995, these Stolpersteine were brought to different locations in the city of Cologne, and laid into the pavements.
Another 55 Stolpersteine were set up in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin in 1996, during the "Artists Research Auschwitz" project. In 1997, the first two Stolpersteine were laid in St. Georgen, Austria, commemorating Jehovah's Witnesses Matthias and Johann Nobis. This had been suggested by Andreas Maislinger, founder of Arts Initiative KNIE and the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service. Friedrich Amerhauser was the first mayor who granted permission to install Stolpersteine within his city. Four years later, Demnig received permission to install 600 more Stolpersteine in Cologne.

Growth

By October 2007, Gunter Demnig had laid 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 1 September 2006, but permission was withdrawn, and the project was cancelled.
On 24 July 2009, the 20,000th Stolperstein was unveiled in the Rotherbaum district of Hamburg, Germany. Gunter Demnig, representatives of the Hamburg government and its Jewish community, and descendants of the victims attended. By May 2010, more than 22,000 Stolpersteine had been set in 530 European cities and towns, in eight countries which had formerly been under Nazi control or occupied by Nazi Germany.
By July 2010 the number of Stolpersteine had risen to more than 25,000, in 569 cities and smaller towns. By June 2011 Demnig had installed 30,000 Stolpersteine.
In 2013 Gunter Demnig stated on his website:
During a talk at TEDxKoeln on 14 May 2013, Gunter Demnig announced the installation of the 40,000th Stolperstein, which had taken place in Drieborg, Oldambt, Netherlands, on 3 July 2013. It was one of the first 10 Stolpersteine in memory of Dutch communists who were executed by the German occupation forces after their betrayal by countrymen for hiding Jews and Roma.
On 11 January 2015, the 50,000th Stolperstein was installed in Torino, Italy, for Eleonora Levi.
On 23 October 2018, the 70,000th Stolperstein was installed in Frankfurt, Germany, for Willy Zimmerer, a victim of Nazi euthanasia who was murdered at Hadamar on 18 December 1944, when he was 43 years old.
On 29 December 2019, the 75,000th Stolperstein was installed in Memmingen for Martha and Benno Rosenbaum.
On 26 May 2023, the 100,000th Stolperstein was installed in Nuremberg for Johann Wild, a firefighter.

Locations

Stolpersteine are always installed at the last place that the person chose freely to reside, work or study, with exceptions possible on a case-by-case basis. The most important source for potential locations is the so-called Judenkartei, which was set up at the 1939 census of Germany as of 17 May 1939. In cases where the actual houses were destroyed during World War II or during later restructuring of the cities, some Stolpersteine have been installed at the former site of the house.
By the end of 2016, Gunter Demnig and his co-workers had installed about 60,000 stones in more than 1,200 towns and cities throughout Europe: