A (; plural ; in English ) is a concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The 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, or deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. , 100,000 had been laid, making the project the world's largest decentralized memorial.
The majority of 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 (both Protestants and Catholics), 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 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 can mean . The term , in German and English, can also mean . Thus, the term provocatively invokes an antisemitic remark of the past, but at the same time intends to provoke thoughts about a serious issue. 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, represent a much deeper intrusion of memory into everyday life.
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 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 , and look for alternative ways of commemoration instead.
Description
Research about future locations is usually done by local school children and their teachers, victims' relatives, or local history organizations. The database of 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 . The person's name and dates of birth, deportation and death, if known, are engraved into the brass plate. The words () 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 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 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 cost €95, equivalent to in . In 2012, the price increased to €120, equivalent to in . Each individual 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 until it is finally installed.
Starting in 2005, Michael Friedrichs-Friedländer has partnered with Gunter Demnig to install about 63,000 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 (), 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 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 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 (). In 1994, he exhibited 250 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 were brought to different locations in the city of Cologne, and laid into the pavements.
Another 55 were set up in the neighbourhood of Berlin in 1996, during the "Artists Research Auschwitz" project. In 1997, the first two were laid in , 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 within his city. Four years later, Demnig received permission to install 600 more in Cologne.
Growth
By October 2007, Gunter Demnig had laid more than 13,000 in more than 280 cities. He expanded his project beyond the borders of Germany to Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary. Some 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 was unveiled in the 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 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 had risen to more than 25,000, in 569 cities and smaller towns. By June 2011 Demnig had installed 30,000 .
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 , which had taken place in Drieborg, Oldambt, Netherlands, on 3 July 2013. It was one of the first 10 in memory of Dutch communists who were executed by the German occupation forces after their betrayal by countrymen for hiding Jews and Roma."'Stolpersteine' (stumble blocks): Tracks and paths: Gunter Demnig at TEDxKoeln ". Retrieved 13 June 2013.
On 11 January 2015, the 50,000th was installed in Torino, Italy, for Eleonora Levi.
On 23 October 2018, the 70,000th 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 was installed in for Martha and Benno Rosenbaum.
On 26 May 2023, the 100,000th was installed in Nuremberg for Johann Wild, a firefighter.
Locations
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 (), which was set up at the 1939 census of Germany as of 17 May 1939. In cases where the actual houses were destroyed during or during later restructuring of the cities, some have been installed at the former site of the house.
By the end of 2016, Gunter Demnig and his co-workers had installed about in more than and cities throughout Europe:Holocaust-Gedenken / Münchner kämpfen für Stolpersteine. In: Die Welt, 29 April 2015, retrieved 4 May 2015.Monika Klein: 60.000 Stolpersteine sind das Mahnmal. In: Rheinische Post (online-version), 31 January 2017, retrieved 20 February 2017.
Germany (since 1992) Austria (since 1997) The Netherlands and Hungary (since 2007) Poland and Czech Republic (since 2008) Belgium and Ukraine (since 2009) Italy (since 2010) Norway (since 2011) Slovakia and Slovenia (since 2012) France, Croatia, Luxemburg, Russia and Switzerland (since 2013) Romania (since 2014) Greece and Spain (since 2015) Belarus (since 2014) Lithuania (since 2016) Finland (since 2018) Moldova (since 2018) Denmark and Sweden (since 2019) Serbia (since 2021) Bosnia and Herzegovina (since 2024) Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands (since 2024)
Netherlands Since 2007, Demnig has frequently been invited to place in the Netherlands. The first city to do so was . As of 2016, 82 have been installed there. By January 2016, in total, more than 2,750 have been laid in 110 Dutch cities and townships, including Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam, but particularly in smaller cities like (92 ), (183), (244), and (263 each). In March 2016 Demnig was in the Netherlands again, placing stones in , , and , and Amsterdam. In the latter city he placed 74 stones; 250 had already been placed, and there were requests for 150 more.
Czech Republic In the Czech Republic, the work on started on 8 October 2008 in Prague and was initiated by the Czech Union of Jewish Students. Today, are found across almost the entire country. As of January 2016 the exact number of has not yet been established, but the main work was done in the larger cities, including Prague, , and . There are also in the small cities of (15) and (nine). One of them commemorates Hana Brady, who was murdered at the age of 13. Since 2010, a in also commemorates her father.
Italy
Work in Italy began in Rome on 28 January 2010; there are now 207 (in Italian called ) there. In 2012, work continued in the regions of Liguria, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Lombardy. Veneto and Tuscany joined in 2014, Emilia-Romagna in 2015, Apulia, Abruzzo and Friuli-Venezia Giulia in 2016, Marche in 2017. In Italy, marked differences are observed, as compared to other countries: many 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.
France