"Stolpersteine" - cobblestones in memory of the victims of Nazism

Berlin (special reporter of ČTK Zuzana Lizcová) - Honoring the memory of the victims of Nazism is still a very current and sensitive topic in Germany today, more than 60 years after the end of World War II. Two years ago, a monumental Holocaust memorial was opened in Berlin to great media interest, and the city is literally dotted with larger or smaller memorials. Some are so subtle that you might trip over them. And that is precisely their purpose - the so-called "Stolpersteine" embedded in the pavement today mark the places where the victims of Nazism actually lived and worked.
    The idea for the placement of stones with a copper surface measuring ten by ten centimeters and a brief description of the fate of a specific victim was born in the early 1990s in the mind of artist Günter Demnig. While working on a project honoring Romani victims of the Holocaust, someone pointed out to him that no "Gypsies" had ever lived in that area.
    Demnig realized how few people knew that entire families were deported to death camps from their very house or street. He then began to search through archives and soon started placing his small memorials at specific locations under the motto "one stone - one person."
    "The difference from others is that this is a civic project and basically anyone can participate," explains the uniqueness of the stones Edeltraud Frankensteinová from the Berlin coordination center of Demnig's project. The memorials are predominantly funded from private sources - anyone can become the patron of "their" stone after paying 95 euros (about 2,700 crowns). Whose memory the money is spent on usually depends on the individual. Today, there are stones for Jewish and Romani victims of the Holocaust, but also resistance fighters or individuals persecuted for their homosexuality.
    Günter Demnig laid the first stones in Berlin in 1996, but the project only started to fully unfold in 2000 with the arrival of Steven Robbins. A descendant of Jews who fled to southern Africa from the Nazis, he came to the German metropolis to search for traces of missing relatives. Soon, students from Berlin schools also became involved in clarifying their fate, and the project began to quickly gain popularity. More and more people became interested in who had previously lived in their house and street, where former neighbors had gone. Many were willing to contribute to honoring the memory of the missing.
    However, Demnig's project has its sharp critics - primarily because the memorials inevitably get dirty and people naturally step on them while walking through the streets. Defenders argue that the stones must lie on the ground - passersby would hardly notice them if they were on façades given their size. It would also be difficult from a technical perspective - for each stone, it would be necessary to obtain the permission of the house owner - this way, a blanket permission from the city administration is sufficient. Additionally, when reading the small text, people must literally bend down before the memorial of the victims.
    The laying of a stone is always accompanied by a larger or smaller ceremony. However, no less important is the work that precedes the creation of the memorial. Donors, activists, and schoolchildren actively participate in clarifying the fates of individual people. "Then it's their stone and their person," says Carola Weinholz from the Berlin center, highlighting that people form an exceptionally personal bond with "their" victim. This often makes the suffering of the individual affect them more than the enumeration of millions of human losses.
    "One student told me that one stone was better than half a year of teaching about the Holocaust," emphasizes Weinholz.
    The laying of stones, which Demnig always conducts personally, is accompanied by a number of slightly amusing technical difficulties. It is often necessary to compare old maps with current ones, as Berlin has changed significantly since the Nazi era - entire neighborhoods have disappeared. Street names and house numbers have also frequently changed. Sometimes it is even necessary to use heavy machinery, including jackhammers, due to the type of pavement - the stone must be firmly set in the ground to prevent theft. The threat comes not only from right-wing radicals but also from ordinary thieves - brass is a valuable metal.
    The first stones have also been placed in Austria and Hungary. If there is interest, Demnig plans to expand the project to other countries as well. According to his website, www.stolpersteine.com, he has already placed over 9,000 shiny memorials in more than 190 communities in Germany.