Stolpersteine are requested and paid for by private people and local groups. A sponsor pays for a stone. Relatives, residents, schools, local foundations and history societies can all take on this role. Costs and waiting times differ by country and organisation, so ask the organisation you approach about its own terms.
Which steps come first?
Local volunteers research the person’s life in archives. They look for relatives and ask the municipality for permission, because the pavement is public ground. Local groups and the municipality are the first places to contact. Ask first whether a stone already lies there, because each person has one stone.
First check the map on Stolpersteine.app to see whether a stone already lies there. The map shows who is commemorated at an address. The inscription usually gives the name, the year of birth and what happened, such as the date and place of arrest or deportation and the place and date of death. Research is needed to find these details.
Which address belongs to the stone?
The stone lies in front of the last home that the person chose freely, before being forced to move, go into hiding or be arrested. Sometimes it is a workplace or a school instead. Each person gets a stone of their own. Families get stones side by side, so that they are together again in front of their home. Stones are also laid for people who survived, so that families are shown complete.
Where to look for information
These archives are useful for researching a person. Use them to check who the person was and where they lived. You can also find a list on the links page of Stolpersteine.app.
- Joods Monument
- Oorlogsgravenstichting
- Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen
- Arolsen Archives
- Yad Vashem
- Kazerne Dossin
- stolpersteine.eu
Sending information about a person
If you know more about a person, such as a photo, a story or a correction, you can send it to the foundation at [email protected]. Since 2019 the foundation has kept a database of stones in the Netherlands and Belgium, together with local organisations.
To see which stones already lie near an address, use the map on Stolpersteine.app.
Read on
Who decides whether a Stolperstein is laid?
Private people and local groups take the initiative. Volunteers look for relatives, and the municipality gives permission because the pavement is public ground.
What happens at a Stolperstein laying? What is the ceremony like?
A Stolperstein is laid in a small ceremony in the pavement, often with relatives, neighbours and schoolchildren. The names are read and flowers are often laid.
How do you research the person on a Stolperstein?
Search the name, year of birth and address of a stone in the archives named on this site. If you find something new, send it to the foundation.
