Stolpersteine, literally "stones to trip over", are 10×10 cm brass-coated paving stones set into the pavement in front of the houses of the victims of the Nazi regime, according to an original design by the German artist Gunter Demnig. The first stone was laid on 16 December 1992 in front of the City Hall in Cologne. Already more than 88 000 Stolpersteine or Stones of the Disappeared have been installed in 26 countries in Europe and so in their way constitute the largest memorial in the world.
Gunter Demnig found inspiration in the words of the Talmud, "A man is only forgotten when his name is forgotten."
Stolpersteine placed in front of the homes of the victims preserve the memory of the people who once lived there. The project commemorates all victims of National Socialism who were persecuted or murdered by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. It also commemorates those who committed suicide under the weight of circumstances. Stones can also be laid for those who managed to escape in time or for the survivors of the concentration camps.
The idea to launch the project in the Czech Republic came from the Czech Union of Jewish Youth and the first stones were placed on Prague sidewalks in October 2008. Today there are 466 Stolpersteine in Prague and this number increases by about 50 every year. Others can be found for example in Ostrava, Olomouc, Kroměříž, Kolín and two hundred of them also in Brno.
Sixty-two-year-old British engineer Trevor Sage who lives in Prague 15 years, began cleaning the stones, revealing the stories of those whose names are engraved on the cubes.
In 2018 he found the location of 284 stones from various sources. He then entered this information into an online map and set out to gradually clean Stolperstein. During his research on the stones of the missing, he gathered a lot of information about the victims and deportations, as well as many photographs and touching life stories.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Jewish people in Prague in a broader context, come to join us on a 3-hour walking tour inside the former Jewish ghetto, visit Old Jewish Cemetery and 6 historic synagogues.
