Stolpersteine

June 1, 2023, 11:01 pm

Holocaust memorial project marks milestone with 100,000 ‘stumbling blocks’

Gunter Demnig, who began initiative, says he hopes the Stolpersteine will help create ‘a different image of Germany,’ as US ambassador lays memorial plaque for her relatives

By Pauline CURTET and Deborah Cole

Volunteers clean Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in Brussels, Belgium, during a Yom Hashoah Stolpersteine cleaning event co-organized with the European Jewish Association, April 27, 2022. (Courtesy of Make Their Memory Shine)

April 18, 2023, 6:44 am

In grassroots effort, young Europeans clean ‘stumbling stones’ to gleam like beacons

Make Their Memory Shine organization brings together people of all backgrounds to commemorate Holocaust, identify common values and respect differences

By Renee Ghert-Zand

A swastika carved into a headstone at the Jewish cemetery of Haren, Germany in November 2020. (Courtesy of the Jewish Community of Haren/Eli Nahum/Monitoring Antisemitism Worldwide via JTA)

November 19, 2020, 9:35 am

Swastikas carved into Jewish headstones, memorials daubed with paint in Germany

Cemetery vandalism found in Haren being treated as anti-Semitic hate crime by police; Stolperstein ‘stumbling stone’ plaques for Holocaust victims defaced in Chemnitz, Eilenburg

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Illustrative image of a 'Stolperstein,' or stumbling stone, in Berlin, November 9, 2013. (AFP/Johannes Eisele)

August 11, 2020, 9:58 am

German ‘stumbling stones’ memorialize family of Israeli envoy’s wife

Laura Kam commissioned Dortmund memorial after spending years researching history of her maternal great-grandparents, who died in the Holocaust

By Toby Axelrod

Stolperstein Holocaust memorials, or stumbling stones, in front of an apartment building in the Rome Ghetto. (Marcy Oster via JTA)

December 23, 2019, 9:46 pm

Polish city refuses to install memorial stones for Holocaust victims

Szczecin city architect tells Jewish woman who asked to commemorate her father with ‘Stolpersteine’ that passersby might think the perpetrators of the Nazi crimes were Poles

By Katarzyna Markusz

Mandy Eisemann from Dickerson, Maryland. with her son Levi (4), relatives of the Cohn family, places flowers at four "Stolpersteine" (stumbling blocks) for Karolina Cohn and her family in Frankfurt, Germany, November 13, 2017. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

May 21, 2019, 6:38 am

Sweden will soon get its first Holocaust memorial ‘stumbling stones’

There are more than 70,000 small brass plates placed on the streets of Europe, outside the last known homes of people killed in the Holocaust

By Josefin Dolsten

Volunteers clean stolpersteine in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood on international Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2019. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)

January 28, 2019, 4:49 pm

Berlin grassroots project cleans Holocaust memorials where Jews scrubbed streets

For International Holocaust Remembrance Day, residents of a culturally mixed neighborhood come together to pay respects to WWII victims even while building a united future

By Yaakov Schwartz

Artist Gunter Demnig lays four 'Stolpersteine,' or stumbling stones, a Holocaust commemoration, for Karolina Cohn and her family in Frankfurt, Germany, November 13, 2017. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

August 29, 2018, 3:15 pm

Dutch city accused of plagiarizing Holocaust memorial cobblestones idea

German artist who set more than 50,000 plaques next to Jews’ former homes says decision by Apeldoorn municipality to do so independently is ‘not alright’

By JTA

A view of some “stolpersteine” in Berlin, August 2012. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images via JTA)

July 29, 2018, 10:42 pm

Munich introduces new Holocaust remembrance plaques

Instead of ‘stumbling stone’ memorials placed on the ground, new markers with photos, biographies set in walls of buildings

By JTA

July 28, 2018, 8:50 am

Munich begins swapping out ‘disrespectful’ Holocaust memorials

New plaques replace commemorative cobblestones after complaints they are stepped on and get dirty

By ToI Staff

Illustrative: Three Stolpersteine, or 'stumbling stones,' dedicated to the memory of Josef Geer and to the Hauslauers -- a married couple who were Jehovah's Witnesses -- in Salzburg, Austria. (Noah Lederman/Times of Israel)

July 4, 2018, 9:36 am

Non-Jewish retiree cleans Salzburg’s 388 memorial plaques for Nazi victims

Gerhard Geier polishes the cobblestone memorials so that people ‘will notice them better’

By Gabe Friedman

A man sitting with his foot near a stumbling stone; stumbling stones placed in the road, one near a pedestrian crossing marking. (Noah Lederman/Times of Israel)

August 11, 2017, 11:16 am

Austrians tread carefully as underfoot Holocaust memorials remain controversial

For the past 20 years Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, have peppered the idyllic town of Salzburg, a reminder of the city’s victims. But does anyone notice?

By Noah Lederman

Illustrative photo of Amsterdam, Holland, December 19, 2011. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

April 2, 2017, 12:31 pm

Amsterdam moves postcard-sized Shoah plaque after residents complain

Small memorial cobblestone too confrontational, ‘compromised atmosphere of upscale neighborhood,’ locals say

By JTA

The exterior of Milan's Holocaust Memorial at the site of the notorious Platform 21, where Jews were deported to death camps during World War II, June 22, 2015. (Rossella Tercatin/The Times of Israel)

January 24, 2017, 5:42 pm

Vandals deface new Milan ‘stumbling stone’ Holocaust memorial

Black paint poured on plaque for Dante Coen, who was deported to Auschwitz and then killed at Buchenwald in 1945

By JTA

The Antwerp Central Synagogue in Antwerp, Belgium. (Wikimedia Public Domain)

May 11, 2016, 5:30 pm

Brussels, Antwerp Jews spar over Holocaust memorial cobblestones

Jewish community split over Stolpersteine commemorative plaques in sign of growing rift between Flemings and Walloons

By JTA