Paving stones in memory of the Holocaust victims also in the Czech Republic

Berlin/Prague - Germany is literally dotted with memorial "stones" that commemorate individual victims of the Holocaust - Jews, Roma, and homosexuals. In the sidewalks and paving of 345 German cities, more than 15,000 metal plates have already been embedded, as part of a unique project by Cologne artist Gunter Demnig. These conspicuous memorials - Stolpersteine - are soon to be unveiled in Prague and Kolín in the Czech Republic as well.
    The success of the Stolpersteine project is based on a simple idea. A stone cube with a brass surface measuring ten by ten centimeters is embedded in the pavement at places where the Nazis drove out their victims, who were then taken to concentration camps.
    On each stone, there is a brief description relating to the person who lived at that location. It includes place of birth, date of deportation, and place of murder. "The name is meant to return to where those people had a home," Demnig explained to Die Welt, outlining the main idea of his civic project, which he began to slowly realize in 1996.
    Meanwhile, the demand for memorial stones has reportedly grown abroad as well. The first 12 were laid in Austria, including in the town of Braunau am Inn, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. Several stones are also in Hungary and the Netherlands, and in October, the Czech Republic and Poland will join them. In Prague, the Czech Union of Jewish Youth is collaborating with Demnig on the project. "The author will come to Prague in early October and participate in the installation of the first nine stones," said union chairman Petr Mandl to ČTK today. The exact locations where the stones will be placed will be known by the end of the month, according to him. They contacted Demnig because they felt that Prague also deserved this reminder of its former citizens.
    "We have a request from the Jewish community for placement in the sidewalk," Jakub Vaculín from the Prague 1 city hall told ČTK. According to Vaculín, it is non-standard because similar items are usually placed on buildings. The request is currently being reviewed by the construction department because the stone must obtain a building permit, then the transportation department, which oversees the sidewalks, will make a decision.
    Next year, the stones are expected to appear in Belgium as well, and there is reportedly interest from France and Italy. Information about the project can be found on the internet site www.stolpersteine.com.
    The ceremonial placement of the stones often involves descendants of the victims. The production and installation of each stone is funded exclusively from private sources - one costs 95 euros (2300 crowns).
    The project truly took off after the year 2000, when descendants of Jews Steven Robins and schoolchildren got involved in elucidating the fates of missing relatives in Berlin. More and more people became interested in who lived in their house or street and where they had gone. Even those who were previously unaware of the dark past of a house suddenly became willing to contribute from their own pockets to the unveiling of the stone memorial.
    The extraordinary response to the idea is also evidenced by the fact that a documentary film has been made about the project, which was screened at the international film festival in Locarno over the weekend and will enter cinemas in Germany on November 13.
    However, the stone plaques also have their prominent opponents, who do not like that people literally step on and "trip over" the fates of Holocaust victims. Critics include, for example, the chairwoman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, and Munich's mayor, Christian Ude. As a result, there is not a single memorial stone on municipal land in the Bavarian metropolis, while Hamburg has 2,380 and Berlin will have two thousand in November.
    Demnig argues the advantages that the stones have over traditional memorial plaques on building facades: People cannot easily overlook them, and if they want to read what is written on them, they literally have to lean down before the memorial of the victim. However, there is also a practical reason. For placing memorial plaques in pavement, there is no need for the consent of individual homeowners; one general permit from the city hall is sufficient.
    Demnig faces particularly unpleasant resistance in the East German states, where a strong neo-Nazi scene accompanies each stone unveiling with a strong police presence. In East Germany, 41 of these memorials have already been damaged, and in the city of Halle, eight of them were even stolen.