Stolperstein

Stolpersteine for the Feder family in Kolín, Czech Republic
Stolperstein installation in Amsterdam Beethovenstraat 55 on 3 October 2018

A Stolperstein (pronounced [ˈʃtɔlpɐˌʃtaɪn] ⓘ; plural Stolpersteine) is a ten-centimetre (3.9 in) concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. Literally, it means 'stumbling stone' and metaphorically 'stumbling block'.

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.[1] As of June 2023, 100,000[2] Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial.[3][4]

The majority of Stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust.[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.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sp24 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 100thousand was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Theatrical release of award-winning doc Stumbling Stone". Documentary Campus. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  4. ^ Swann Nowak. "Stolpersteine vs Memorial". FH Potsdam. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  5. ^ Gross, Tom (25 April 2019). "Honouring the dead, one stone at a time". Standpoint. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2023.