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A special kind of monument
The stumbling blocks
The "Stolpersteine" project, initiated in 1993 by Cologne-based artist Gunter Demnig, is the world's largest decentralized memorial. Approximately 55,000 concrete blocks, each measuring ten centimeters on each side and featuring a brass plaque and an inscription, commemorate the victims of Nazi tyranny—currently in over 1,600 locations in Germany and in 20 countries across Europe. In Hanover alone, 330 Stolpersteine have been laid at over 100 different locations throughout the city.
These stones in front of a drugstore on Lister Meile serve as a reminder of the fate of the people who once lived here.
"A person is only forgotten when their name is forgotten"
The Stolpersteine are an art project for Europe, as Gunter Demnig explains on his website www.stolpersteine.eu, “...which keeps alive the memory of the expulsion and extermination of Jews, Roma, the politically persecuted, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and victims of euthanasia under National Socialism.” The concrete stones and brass memorial plaques are produced exclusively by hand in Demnig’s workshop at the Künstlerhof Berlin-Buch (440 pieces per month); the inscriptions provide information about the name, year of birth, and fate of each Nazi victim. Gunter Demnig usually lays the Stolpersteine personally into the sidewalk—and, as far as possible—directly in front of the last residence freely chosen by the victim. “A person is only forgotten when their name is forgotten”—this quote from the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most significant texts, is the motto for Demnig’s Europe-wide Stolperstein project.
Once they have been laid, the Stolpersteine become the property of the city or municipality; for 120 euros, anyone can sponsor the production and installation of a Stolperstein (written applications are accepted by the City of Hanover’s “Culture of Remembrance” project and the German-Israeli Society in Hanover). For example, the Hanover-based magician and entertainer Detlef Simon, alias Desimo, has sponsored the Stolperstein in front of the house on Limmerstraße in the Linden-Nord district. It commemorates the magician Ernst Schünemann, who died of severe pneumonia on February 14, 1941, at the age of only 44, presumably due to the inhumane conditions at the Hameln prison.
28 new stumbling blocks
On November 20, 2015, Gunter Demnig laid 28 new Stolpersteine in the city of Hannover—including two at Waldhausenstraße 5 in the Döhren-Wülfel district, in memory of the Hannover-based Dadaist and Merz artist Kurt Schwitters and his son Ernst Schwitters. A detailed list of all Stolperstein locations in Hannover (as of January 7, 2016) is available for download as a PDF file here: http://www.hannover.de/Media/01-DATA-Neu/Downloads/Landeshauptstadt-Hannover/Kultur-Freizeit/Erinnerungskultur/Stolpersteine/Verlegte-Stolpersteine-in-Hannover-nach-Stadtbezirken
A digital map of the Stolpersteine can be found at www.hannover-gis.de/GIS/?thema=37.
Remembrance in the streetscape
Stumbling blocks
To date, 506 Stolpersteine have been laid in memory of the victims of National Socialism at their last chosen places of residence within the city of Hannover...
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