A Stolperstein is a small stone set in the pavement, with a brass plate on top, made for one person. An ordinary memorial plaque or monument usually stands in one place and often commemorates several people at once. The difference lies mainly in the place and in the number. To learn more about the stones themselves, read what is a Stolperstein.
The place: in the pavement, at the door
A Stolperstein lies flush with the pavement, in front of the last home the person freely chose. A memorial plaque often hangs on a wall or stands in a square. To read a Stolperstein, you have to bow. The name therefore lies close to the place where the person once lived.
Stones are requested and paid for by private people and local groups, such as relatives, residents and schools. Volunteers first research the person’s life and ask the municipality for permission, because the pavement is public ground. Stones are also laid for people who survived.
The material and the form
Each stone is a concrete block about 10 by 10 by 10 centimetres, with a brass plate on top. The text is stamped into the brass by hand, letter by letter. Since 2005 the stones have been made by hand by the sculptor Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender in Berlin.
One stone per person, in many places
Each Stolperstein is for one person. There are more than 100,000 of them, spread over many towns in Europe. Each person receives a stone of their own, at their own address. For places where very many people were victims, there is the Stolperschwelle: a long brass strip with one text for the whole group.
The alternative in Munich
The city of Munich does not allow Stolpersteine on public ground. It uses plaques and steles on walls and posts instead. Charlotte Knobloch, long-time head of the Jewish community of Munich, objects that the names of victims lie on the ground, where people walk over them. Supporters answer that walking past is not disrespect, and that bowing to read is the point.
To find the stones at an address you know, search the map.
Read on
How do you explain Stolpersteine to children?
Start with the stone itself: a small brass plate in the pavement with a name and the words here lived. Then explain who lived there and what happened.
Stolpersteine in the classroom: a lesson or project
A short school lesson on Stolpersteine: read a stone, find its address on the map, research the person in archives and attend a laying.
What are the golden stones in the pavement?
The shiny squares are Stolpersteine, memorial stones for people persecuted by the Nazis. Each lies in front of the last home the person chose freely.
