Stolpersteine are laid for people who were persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. The project does not limit itself to one group. The stones commemorate Jews, Sinti and Roma, people persecuted for political reasons, resistance members, homosexual men, and others. Each stone is for one person.
The groups commemorated
- Jews
- Sinti and Roma
- people persecuted for political reasons
- resistance members
- homosexual men
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- victims of the ‘euthanasia’ murders of sick and disabled people
- forced labourers
- deserters and conscientious objectors
This list is not complete. Stones exist for other groups as well.
People who survived
Stones are also laid for people who survived, for example because they fled or went into hiding. In this way, families are shown complete.
Words on the stones
The inscriptions use short words that say what happened to the person. On Dutch stones you may read ondergedoken (went into hiding), gearresteerd (arrested), gedeporteerd (deported), vermoord (murdered), overleden (died), bevrijd (liberated), overleefd (survived), gevlucht (fled) and verzet (resistance). German stones use words such as deportiert (deported), ermordet (murdered), verhaftet (arrested), überlebt (survived) and befreit (liberated). French stones use né or née (born), arrêté (arrested), interné (interned), déporté (deported) and assassiné (murdered).
Researching a name
Archives help to research a person's life, for example the Joods Monument, the Oorlogsgravenstichting, Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen and the Arolsen Archives.
To see who is commemorated at an address, search by street or city on the map of Stolpersteine.app.
Read on
How many Stolpersteine are there, and in which countries?
There are more than 100,000 Stolpersteine, in about 30 European countries. In the Netherlands and Belgium together there are more than 15,600 of them.
In which countries are there Stolpersteine?
Stolpersteine lie in about 30 European countries, among them Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Here is how the project started and spread.
Stolpersteine in the Netherlands: since when, how many, why here?
The first Stolpersteine in the Netherlands were laid in Borne in 2007. With Belgium, there are more than 15,600, according to Stichting 18 September.
