Stolperstein

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 (with exceptions possible on a case-by-case basis) before they fell victim to Nazi terror, forced euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide.

[5] Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), 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 (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, 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.

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.

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.

[18] On 16 December 1992, 50 years had passed since Heinrich Himmler had signed the so-called Auschwitz-Erlass ('Auschwitz decree'), ordering the deportation of Sinti and Roma to extermination camps.

[a] 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.

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.

Stones have already been laid in many places in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, in the Czech Republic, in Poland (seven in Wrocław, one in Słubice), in Ukraine (Pereiaslav), in Italy (Rome) and Norway (Oslo).During a talk at TEDxKoeln on 14 May 2013, Gunter Demnig announced the installation of the 40,000th Stolperstein, which had taken place in Oldambt (Drieborg), 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.

[30] 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.

[33] 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.

As of January 2016 the exact number of Stolpersteine has not yet been established, but the main work was done in the larger cities, including Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava.

In Italy, marked differences are observed, as compared to other countries: many Stolpersteine are dedicated not only to Jewish people and members of the political resistance, but also to soldiers of the Italian army who were disarmed, deported to Germany, and made to work as forced laborers there.

They were given special status, so that they were not protected as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions after Italy left the coalition of the Axis powers after 8 September 1943.

Notably, after a year-long campaign in 2011 led by a schoolgirl, Sarah Kate Francis, in the coastal town of La Baule-Escoublac (where 32 Jewish residents, including eight children, were deported), the councillor in charge of relations with patriotic organisations, Xavier de Zuchowicz, refused to allow a request for Stolpersteine to be installed, claiming that to do so might infringe the French constitutional principles of secularism ("laïcité") and freedom of opinion ("liberté d'opinion") and that they would therefore need to consult the Conseil d'État, France's constitutional court.

[47] In November 2022 the first Stolperstein in the UK was installed in Golden Square, Soho, London, commemorating Ada von Dantzig, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943 after she returned to the Netherlands, to rescue her family, who also became victims.

[49] In special cases, Demnig also installs his so-called "Stolperschwellen" ('stumbling thresholds'), measuring 100 by 10 centimetres (39 by 4 in), which serve to commemorate entire groups of victims, where there are too many individuals to remember at one single place.

From there, 1,160 mentally ill persons were deported in December 1939, victims of the forced euthanasia program Action T4, and murdered in Wielka Piaśnica.

A Stolperschwelle was set up in Thessaloniki in front of the house in which Alois Brunner and Adolf Eichmann had planned the deportation and annihilation of 96.5% of the Jewish population of the town.

Demnig also took part in the discussion, stating that "he intends to create a memorial at the very place where the deportation started: at the homes where people had lived last".

[52] The rejection was reconsidered and upheld in 2015; other forms of commemoration, like plaques on the walls of individual houses, and a central memorial displaying the names of the people deported from Munich, will be set up.

[10] A compromise was reached that a Stolperstein could be installed if a prospective site was approved by both the house's owner and (if applicable) the victim's relatives.

[56] Starting in 2009, 23 Stolpersteine for the Belgian city of Antwerp have been produced; however, owing to local resistance to the project, they have been unable to be installed.

Another criticism from IPN has concerned inadequate level of detail provided on Stolpersteine, such as lack of context clarifying that most of the perpetrators of the Holocaust were Germans and not Poles.

In Frankfurt am Main, which had a long tradition of Jewish life before the Holocaust, the 1000th Stolperstein was set in May 2015,[62] and newspapers publish progress reports and invitations for citizens to sponsor further memorial stones.

In Frankfurt, the victim's descendants are not allowed to sponsor Stolpersteine; these have to be paid for by the current inhabitants of the house, ensuring that they will respect the monument.

[68] Often the citizens state that they are motivated by the idea that "they were our neighbours", and that they wish to remember the victims' names, or, symbolically, allow the deported to return to the place where they rightfully belong.