Criticism of the ban on new stumbling blocks in Heidenau

The decision in Heidenau, Saxony, not to lay any new stumbling blocks has sparked sharp criticism. Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) told the Bild newspaper that the ban was a scandal; the decision to “deport the culture of remembrance to a cemetery” is especially true. "Anyone who banishes stumbling blocks and memorials to Jewish life from the public space to the cemetery places death above life and makes Jews invisible once again."

The stumbling blocks made it clear that Jews were, of course, part of life in German cities and villages "before they were persecuted and murdered by the National Socialists." Prien demanded responsibility from the CDU Saxony. "Only those who know and understand their history can learn from it and ensure that it does not repeat itself."

Criticism also from the Stolperstein inventor

Lack of understanding and criticism of the decision in Heidenau also comes from the artist and inventor of the Stolpersteine, Gunter Demnig. The decision does not fit the “C” in the CDU. When it comes to the AfD, however, he is not very surprised - after the party's statements on the subject of Germany's past.

Demnig laid the first stumbling block in front of Cologne City Hall in 1992. The small brass plaques in more than 1,860 communities across Europe - most of them in Germany - now commemorate Nazi victims in front of their former place of residence or work.

City council wants memorial space in cemetery

There are five stumbling blocks in Heidenau, seven more should be added at the request of the Alternative Culture and Education Center association. However, the city council decided by a majority that no more stumbling blocks would be laid in public spaces. Instead, a new memorial area for the victims of war, terror, dictators and National Socialism should be built in Heidenau - preferably in the Nordfriedhof.

The application was submitted by the AfD, CDU and a citizens' initiative. The vote was secret. In support of their application, the AfD and CDU stated that many citizens, relatives and initiatives did not consider stumbling blocks on the sidewalk to be an appropriate form of remembrance. Names of the persecuted would be embedded in the ground and could be walked on.

Anne Nitschke from the Alternative Culture and Education Center speaks of deindividuation and outsourcing of the work of remembrance. She also criticizes the fact that there is no concept for the plans for the memorial area in the northern cemetery.