Stolpersteine, Berlin

Gunter Demnig's Stolpesteine project sees tiles set into the pavements of German cities - with the exception of Munich, whose government refuses to permit them: hopefully this will change - and other European cities, in memory of victims of the Holocaust. The tiles are set into the pavements outside the last known addresses of victims before they were arrested, deported and so on. Early versions of the tiles jutted out of the pavement causing pedestrians to stumble and look down to see what had tripped them: the history that many wish to forget. All recent Stolpersteine are embedded in pavements to avoid accidents. I've seen the tiles in Hamburg and Berlin and they are incredibly haunting, especially when you see people coming and going from their homes, which once were the homes of those whose fate is set in the pavements outside entrances. Anybody wishing to help pressure the government in Munich to permit Demnig to set tiles into the pavements of Munich should google up the Stolpesteine Munich initiative which campaigns tirelessly for a change in the policy of the Munich government and help take action.