On this day 86 years ago, from November 9 to 10, 1938, Nazi stormtroopers staged the first mass Jewish pogrom: they smashed synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, broke into apartments, beat people "for belonging to an alien culture." According to the official version, 90 people died, according to the unofficial version, a thousand. 30 thousand people were arrested.
This terrible event was called “Kristallnacht” or the night of broken glass. When all the streets were strewn with shards of broken glass, after the windows of Jewish-owned buildings were smashed
The Jews, who had lived in Germany for hundreds of years, considered the German language and culture their native language, fought for the German Kaiser and the Austrian Emperor during the First World War, could not believe that this mass pogrom would become a reality, and that their yesterday's friends and good neighbors would show the world a truly bestial appearance. And to this day, the main question remains how the people who gave the world Goethe and Schiller could turn into a crowd of ruthless murderers in just a few years.
That night became the Rubicon for the Nazis - from verbal threats, infringement of rights and the policy of "ousting" they moved to open, undisguised violence, and terror was sanctioned at the state level. In fact, this was the beginning of the Holocaust, it is no coincidence that November 9 is celebrated as the International Day against Fascism, Racism and Anti-Semitism.
About 130,000 of the half-million German Jews left the country between 1933 and 1937. Most of them went to neighboring countries: Holland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria, and France, which in one way or another became part of the Reich a few years later. And then for these people, everything repeated itself again.
Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Erich Maria Remarque... The list of losses of German science and culture under the Nazis is almost endless. About two dozen Nobel laureates alone, those who had already won the prize or received it later, left Germany in the 1930s.
The "Stolpersteine" project is a public art project by German artist Günter Demnig, which began in 1990. This project is a unique attempt to preserve the memory of the victims of Nazism and the Holocaust in various parts of Europe.
Günter Demnig was born in 1947 in Cologne and became known for his unusual approach to monuments and memorials. In the 1980s, he began working with the theme of memory and historical responsibility, studying how tragic events and their victims can be remembered in the urban environment. His attention was drawn to areas of urban infrastructure that are everyday spaces for people, but are not always associated with historical events.
The "Stolpersteine" project was conceived as a way to remember those who suffered under the Nazi regime, namely Jews, Roma, political prisoners, people with mental and/or physical disabilities, homosexuals and other people who were persecuted during World War II. In 1990, Demnig erected the first such stones in Cologne. The Stolpersteine are 10x10 cm brass plaques installed in the sidewalks in front of houses where victims of the Nazi regime once lived or have lived. Each plaque is engraved with the name, date of birth, date of arrest or deportation and place of death (if known).
The work on the production and installation of the "Stones" is financed by sponsorships and donations, each costing approximately 130 euros. The number of applications is so great that the artist's schedule is currently fully booked.
The name “Stumbling Stones” symbolizes not only the physical act of “stumbling” or “tripping,” when a person involuntarily steps on a stone, but also the metaphorical meaning of “tripping” over memory, over human history, over the tragedy of the past, which should not be forgotten.
Each stone is an individual memorial, not a generalized monument. Demnig emphasizes the importance of remembering each individual, not just mass tragedies. This allows for personalized, relatable moments of remembrance, as opposed to traditional memorials, which can be more detached and abstract.
The project quickly gained popularity, and by the 1990s, the stones began to appear in other cities in Germany and beyond. Today, the Stolpersteine can be found in more than 1,200 cities and towns in 27 European countries, including Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Spain and others. Some stones have been installed outside of Europe, for example, in Israel, Argentina and even the United States.
In 2013, the "stumbling blocks" appeared in Russia as well. Demnig, as always, personally came to Orel to lay four stones. Two of them were for Jewish children who were adopted by a Russian family after their parents were arrested by the NKVD. After the Germans arrived, they were captured and died in a gas chamber.
The third stone is for a Jewish female doctor killed by the Germans, the fourth is for a Russian doctor who worked in the hospital and secretly helped the partisans. According to the organizers, the city was very surprised by this choice. Why are they honoring women and children instead of battle heroes? But over time, the residents accepted this choice and even became proud that Orel became the first Russian city in the project.
But Munich has never been on this list. It sounds like a cruel irony, but "stumbling blocks" are prohibited in the city where Nazi ideology was born.
The ban was first imposed in 2004, when the project was still in its infancy. For ten years after that, local activists collected signatures in its support.
The scale of the action was enormous: an open letter in which famous actors, directors, politicians, historians and ordinary residents demanded permission from the city was signed by one hundred thousand people. Munich has something to remember: today it is known about three thousand Jews who were deported from the city to death camps. The number of other victims - political enemies, religious figures, victims of euthanasia - remains unknown. But the project was rejected once again.
"A person is forgotten when his name is forgotten," Demnig says of his project, quoting the Talmud. Despite the enormous scale of the work, he refuses to automate the process of making the plaques. Each one is made by hand and installed by Demnig and his partner Michael Friedrichs-Friedländer. And the townspeople take care of them, regularly wiping away the plaque that forms on the metal over time.
The project has received support from many organisations, as well as local communities, who see it as an important way to combat the forgetting of historical events.
The process of installing the stones is part of a community collaboration, often involving collaboration with local residents, schools and organisations. Demnig works closely with historians as well as relatives of the victims to gather accurate information for each plaque. Some stones are erected in memory of people whose names and stories only became known after extensive research.
The documents of the Hamburg registry office dispassionately preserve the data on 49 infant deaths in the women's camp of Langenhorn alone. Prisoners from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were brought here for forced labour. Some of the five hundred Jewish women, gypsies and "criminal elements" arrived at the camp in the last stages of pregnancy. However, this did not exempt them from twelve-hour work shifts for the good of Germany.
To give birth, women were sent to the city clinic, after which they returned with the child back to the machine. Few children managed to live for a little more than a month, most died after a few days. Camp doctor Blumenthal, who determined the cause of death, after the war had difficulty remembering that there were babies in the camp. However, there was only one cause of death - a severe form of digestive disorder. The official norm for newborn nutrition - half a liter of milk per day - remained only on paper.
The project also draws people's attention to the historical processes associated with Nazism and makes them reflect on the role of their own cities in these events. In some cases, the installation of stones has become an occasion for public discussions, which helps people to better understand the consequences of World War II and Nazism for Europe and the world.
Günter Demnig's project has become not only a way to perpetuate the memory of the victims of Nazism, but also an important tool for modern generations to understand the importance of fighting historical forgetting and denial. The "stumbling blocks" remind us of the value of human life and how tragic events can leave unhealed marks in history, as well as the importance of remembering the past in order to prevent its repetition.
The project has also been subject to some criticism, especially from those who believe that the installation of such stones can be perceived as a "commercialization" of tragedies. However, overall, it remains one of the most visible and effective ways of preserving memory in a public space that combines art and social responsibility.
"Stolpersteine" are not just monuments, but a means through which people can connect with history, experience it in a personal context, and be involved in the process of remembrance and responsibility. Unlike large monuments and memorials, Stolpersteine are small, but their significance is enormous, because they fill everyday spaces with people whose lives were destroyed in the Holocaust.
However, a 2019 survey showed that the majority of Germans believe that Germany has fully atoned for its guilt. However, according to the same study, more than 34% of Germans allow for the possibility of a return of dictatorship. It is characteristic that the least likely to believe in this (17%) are voters of the AfD (Alternative for Germany), a party whose leaders periodically make statements that in the history of the Third Reich “not everything is so clear-cut” and that “German youth should not be instilled with a sense of guilt.” In the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, AfD deputies tried to reduce the amount of funds allocated for the maintenance of monuments to the victims of Nazism, arguing that the country should focus on the positive moments of its history. In other words, the fight for Germany’s past and the culture of remembrance is still ongoing.
Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
By confirming your order you unconditionally accept these General Conditions of Sale
