Art project "Stolpersteine"

to commemorate the victims of national socialism

Stolpersteine - Stumblingstones in Burghaun

ONE STONE - ONE NAME - ONE PERSON.

 

"Stolpersteine" (literally “stumbling stones”) are an art project that commemorates the victims of national socialism (victims of the Nazis 1933-1945), keeping alive the memory of all Jews, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, dissidents, Jehovah’s Witnesses and victims of euthanasia who were deported and exterminated.

 

The artist Gunter Demnig remembers the victims of National Socialism by installing commemorative brass plaques in the pavement in front of their last address of choice. There are now more than 38000 STOLPERSTEINE in over 610 places in Germany as well as in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Norway and Ukraine.

 

About Gunter Demnig's vita:

 

  • 1947 born in Berlin
  • 1967 - 1974 art studies
  • 1974 state examination in order to teach at high- and elementary schools 
  • 1974 starting as a free artis and professor at University of Kassel
  • 1993 plan for the project STOLPERSTEINE
  • 1997 first installation of stumblingstones in Berlin/ Kreuzberg

Gunter Demnig cites the Talmud saying that "a person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten". The Stolpersteine in front of the buildings bring back to memory the people who once lived here. Each “stone” begins with HERE LIVED…

 

The brass plaques are handmade by the artist and are installed by him personally. For 120 euros, anybody can sponsor a stone, its manufacture and its installation.

 

The Stolperstein project in Burghaun was realized in the course of four installations, the first one on 27th September 2011, followed by a second one on 29th May 2012, and a third on 5th September 2012. The last installation took place on 9th November 2012. The art project was made possible by the initiative “Stolpersteine in Burghaun”, founded by Elisabeth Sternberg-Siebert in autumn 2010, in cooperation with the Burghaun municipality and major Alexander Hohmann. Due to numerous sponsors from in- and outside the Burghaun municipality all in all Stolpersteine for 50 victims of the Nazi dictatorship could be embedded in the pavements. May the Stolpersteine in Burghaun keep the memory of the wrongs of the past alive and remind the passers-by of their responsibility to not let any new injustices happen.

 

 "THE SECRET OF REDEMPTION IS COMMEMORATION"

 

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