Stolpersteine: Commemoration of Nazi victims: Magdeburg is planning 19 new stumbling blocks

The city of Magdeburg is planning to lay a total of 19 new stumbling blocks to commemorate the victims of Nazi terror.

According to a statement, 15 of the paving stones covered with brass plaques will be laid on October 15th. Four more will follow on October 20th. Relatives of those murdered and persecuted will travel from Germany and the USA to lay the stumbling blocks. The municipal working group “Stumbling Blocks for Magdeburg” is responsible for the organization.

This is the 48th and 49th time that stumbling blocks have been laid in Saxony-Anhalt's state capital. There are a total of 909 stumbling blocks in the city so far. Most of them commemorate Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.

Stolpersteine will no longer be laid in Heidenau

In Heidenau, near Dresden, Saxony, a decision by the city council on the subject of stumbling blocks recently caused criticism and discussions nationwide: At the end of September, the local parliament decided by a majority, at the request of the AfD and CDU, not to place any more stumbling blocks in public streets. Instead, the commemoration should preferably take place in the city's northern cemetery, so that "direct entry into the memorial elements is excluded," the decision said.

In Munich, too, following a city council decision, stumbling blocks will not be laid on city property. Instead, memorial signs with photos and brief biographical details in front of residential buildings draw attention to the fate of the victims of National Socialism who used to live there.

There are stumbling blocks in many countries

The Stolpersteine form of remembrance has been around since the 1990s and in many European countries. The small stones, which are usually financed by donations, are laid at the last known place of residence or work of victims of National Socialism - their names and dates of life are written on a brass plate on the top of the stones.