Looking Down to Remember: Stolpersteine and Europe’s Forgotten Lives

By Emma Poper

Walking along the streets of Europe is one of the most treasured activities among tourists. The streets are akin to the veins in a human; they lead to all the vital parts of a city. Traveling by foot you can stop and take in the atmosphere around you, whether that is the sites of Prague Castle in Czechia, or the fortress looming over Salzburg in Austria. Looking down at your feet is hardly the first thing you think of when you are in a new place trying to take in all that is around you. However, if you take a second to look down you might find something you were never expecting.

“Hello Mrs. Guttmann and Mr. Guttmann,” I say as I look down at my feet. Near my toes lie two small shining stones. They stare back at me; beckoning me toward them. As I crouch down next to them, I read the contents with intense focus.

Hier Wohnte

Else Rahel

Guttmann

GEB. Samulon

10. 1898

Deportiert 19. 5. 1943

Theresienstadt

1944 Auschwitz

Ermordet

 

Hier Wohnte

Oskar Guttmann

1. 1885

Deportiert 19. 5. 1943

Theresienstadt

1944 Auschwitz

Ermordet

These are Stolpersteine (in English: “Stumbling Stones”) a small way to commemorate the people murdered during Nazi extermination and persecution. Placing them in a location where the victim had lived rather than where they had been murdered. A hand-made ten-centimeter concrete cube with a brass plate, a life encapsulated in a small stone. As I look down at these stones, I feel as though I have to apologize. I have to pray for these lives. I mumble the kaddish as I think about the people trapped inside these brass cubes.

           Else Rahel Samulon-Guttmann was one of the first women judges in Germany earning her position and being appointed in 1929. She was fired only four years later when the Nazis came to power. Her husband was optimistic that they would not suffer, therefore, they did not emigrate before the start of the Second World War[1].

           Oskar Guttmann was a prominent lawyer in Berlin before the Nazis seized power.  After Hitler’s rise to power, he managed to hold onto his position probably until 1935 under the so-called Hindenburg exceptions, which prevented the firing of Jewish civil servants who had fought on the front lines of WWI. His father was a rabbi for the Jewish community in Breslau, Germany (Now: Wroclaw, Poland). Mrs. Guttmann and Mr. Guttmann were last heard from in August 1944 via postcard.

Walking from street to street across Europe taking in these little memories I feel like I am gathering a crowd behind me. As I look over my shoulder, I can see the numerous memories and lives following me around; when in reality no one and nothing stands there. A barren street where these people used to live.

The decentralized memorial of Stolpersteine was started by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992. Demnig strives to not only honor Jewish lives, but all of those that were murdered by the Nazis from 1933-1945 including Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, and those with disabilities. These stones are spread out in more than 1,100 cities across Europe and contain the names of the victims along with their date of birth, women’s maiden names, date of deportation, and their site of death along with the date.  In many cases this information is difficult to come by, therefore, not all stones have complete information. As of June 2023, there are over 100,000 stones spread throughout Europe[2]. They allow people to cherish the history and life of individual people during the Second World War, instead of thinking of this history in broad numbers and large figures.  However, some cities and even countries are slow to integrate these memorials into their urban landscape.

Though Stolpersteine have grown to include much of Europe, the initiative to put them in place relies mostly on activists and the families of the victims. For some, the establishment of these stones can be very controversial. For example, in Munich, some Jewish activists believe that it is insulting to place the stones on the pavement because they are literally underfoot, and these people who suffered some of the greatest atrocities the world has seen are being stepped on yet again. In Munich these activists have pushed the city to include Stolpersteine, however, in contrast to them being installed on the ground they are mounted on the sides of buildings. Other communities believe that placing one of these stones will cause their homes to lose value. Underneath it all is the silent admission that if one of these stones is placed outside of your home you must walk outside every day knowing that the address you occupy was once the home of someone who was murdered during the Second World War.

Poland is one of the countries that has been slow to take on these memorials. Before the war, Poland was home to 3.3 million Jews. During the war 90% of the population of Polish Jews was murdered, the most of any country. In 2008 Wroclaw (the city where Oskar Guttmann’s father was a Rabbi) was the first Polish city to install Stolpersteine. Now Wroclaw has the most in all of Poland, thirteen in total[3]. In comparison, a city like Salzburg where there are over 500 Stolpersteine[4]. Wroclaw has its own troubled history. Wroclaw was formerly the German city of Breslau, therefore, all of the Jews that were deported from the area were not Polish, but German. The Jews of Breslau were erased twice first by the Nazis and then by the Poles. The first stone was placed on Nowowiejska Street and was a dedicated Jewish convert to Catholicism, who was murdered in Auschwitz, Edith Stein. Edith Stein was beatified by John Paul II in 1987 and then made a Saint of Europe for being, “a daughter of Israel who as a Catholic during Nazi persecution, remained faithful to the crucified Lord Jesus Christ and, as a Jews, to her people in loving faithfulness[5].” The process of installing Stolpersteine is complicated and requires the cooperation of the city magistrates. Other big cities in Poland including Krakow and Warsaw (which contained the largest Jewish ghetto in Europe, around 450,000 people) have yet to install any Stolpersteine to memorialize the very large Jewish populations that lived there before the war.

The OP ENHEIM Foundation works to preserve the memory of German Jews in Breslau. The Foundation is housed in the former Oppenheim house where a family of Breslau Jews lived for a long period. Their work includes the placement of Stolpersteine outside of the house to commemorate the Herz family that lived there. Before the placement of these stones in front of the house, the OP ENHEIM foundation held a discussion for the community called, “Stolpersteine in Poland – commemoration – whom, by whom, for whom?”. They encouraged debate about the subject and engagement from the community. The Herz family is now memorialized with four stones outside of the OP ENHEIM house.

The debates about Stolpersteine continue across many countries in Europe even after almost 80 years past the end of the Second World War. I can’t help but appreciate these little tokens of memory. It is so difficult to think about the murder of millions of people. It is inconceivable and for good reason; the human mind cannot grapple with the amount of murder and death in the Second World War. Therefore, as I step along the streets of strange cities I’ve never been to before I remember to look towards the ground to remember the steps that came before mine. After each step I take and each stone I see, another individual joins those who follow me around. I live my life and celebrate my traditions so that those who had to hide and were persecuted for affiliation with the same religion can live in tandem with me. I enjoy gathering names, encountering souls, and remembering lives. We have to look down and retrace the steps of those who came before us; we must confront the hard history so that we can begin to look up and move forward.

Works Cited

1. Rowekamp, Marion. “Else Rahel Samulon-Guttmann.” Jewish Women’s Archive, jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/samulon-guttmann-else-rahel. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
2. “stolpersteine” or Memory You Can Stumble on – Op Enheim, openheim.org/en/aktualnosci/stolpersteine-czyli-o-pamieci-ktora-mozna-sie-potknac/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
3. “Teresa Benedict of the Cross Edith Stein (1891-1942) – Biography.” Vatican, www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19981011_edith_stein_en.html. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
4. “Warsaw Ghetto.” Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/ghettos/warsaw.html. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
5. “‘Stolpersteine’ by Gunter Demnig : Public Art.” “Stolpersteine” by Gunter Demnig : Public Art, www.salzburg.info/en/salzburg/creative-salzburg/art-in-public-room/other-street-art/stolpersteine#:~:text=In%20Salzburg%2C%20the%20first%20brass,who%20were%20expelled%20or%20killed.&text=The%20some%20500%20Stolpersteine%20or,with%20edges%20measuring%2010%20cm. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.

 

[1] Rowekamp, Marion. “Else Rahel Samulon-Guttmann.” Jewish Women’s Archive

[2] Holocaust Memorial Project Marks Milestone with 100,000 “stumbling Blocks” | The Times of Israel

[3] “stolpersteine” or Memory You Can Stumble on – Op Enheim

[4] “‘Stolpersteine’ by Gunter Demnig : Public Art.”

[5] “Teresa Benedict of the Cross Edith Stein (1891-1942) – Biography.”