After Demnig had swiped the sand off Berger\u2019s memorial stone and those for her husband and two sons, a dozen relatives drew closer around the four plaques, which are called Stolpersteine, or \u201cstumbling blocks,\u201d in German. They put down white roses and recited the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, while traffic roared by on a rainy spring day.<\/p>\n
Demnig installed the first plaque in the German capital<\/a> three decades ago. By now, one can find more than 11,000 of his memorial stones all over the city. But Demnig\u2019s decentralized Holocaust memorial goes much further than that \u2014 the artist and his teams of supporters have laid 126,000 stones in Germany and 31 other countries across Europe. The first stone was installed in 1992 in the western German city of Cologne.<\/p>\n In a unique way, the shiny brass squares that are embedded in the pavement make passersby stop and interrupt their daily lives for a moment as they bend down to read the names of those who perished. Small children can often be seen as they examine the Stolpersteine closely and demand answers from their parents.<\/p>\n \u201cMy basic idea behind this was that wherever in Europe the German Wehrmacht, the SS, the Gestapo, and their local collaborators committed murders or carried out deportations, symbolic stones should be placed there,\u201d the 78-year-old German artist said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Flowers lay near palm-sized brass Holocaust plaques of the Krein family, after the so called \u201cStolpersteine\u201d, or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d by artist Gunter Demnig, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Artist Gunter Demnig places a palm-sized brass Holocaust plaques called \u201cStolpersteine\u201d, or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d with the names of victims of the Nazi regime in front of their former home at a street in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Artist Gunter Demnig places a palm-sized brass Holocaust plaque called \u201cStolpersteine\u201d, or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d with the inscription \u201d Zallel Rosenrauch, born in 1893, lived here; forced labourer at DUCO AG; deported on 3 March 1943; murdered in Auschwitz\u201d front of her former home in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Artist Gunter Demnig poses for a portrait prior of a ceremony placing palm-sized brass Holocaust plaques called \u201cStolpersteine\u201d, or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d with the names of victims of the Nazi regime in front of their former home, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Relatives shows a photo a palm-sized brass Holocaust plaque reading \u201cJohanna Berger, born in 1893, lived here; deported on Nov. 17, 1941, murdered on Nov. 25, 1941 in Kowno\/Kaunas Fort IX\u201d by artist Gunter Demnig prior to the placing of the so called \u201cStolperstein\u201d or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d in front of her former home in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 5<\/p>\n Flowers lay near palm-sized brass Holocaust plaques of the Krein family, after the so called \u201cStolpersteine\u201d, or \u201cStumbling Blocks\u201d by artist Gunter Demnig, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> Jewish family members oftentimes will travel from all over the world to attend the stonelaying ceremonies, because many of the victims were gassed in the Nazis\u2019 concentration camps and these memorial stones are the closest thing to a grave or a burial.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Stolpersteine are some kind of substitute for the missing gravestones,\u201d Michael Tischler said after Wednesday\u2019s ceremony. The 72-year-old Berliner is a grandnephew of Berger who perished in the Holocaust like several other members of Tischler\u2019s family.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this brings the family history to a certain conclusion, or at least a provisional one,\u201d Tischler said.<\/p>\n The memorial stones don\u2019t only bring solace to the families of the victims, but they have also created some kind of grassroots movement that brings together neighborhood initiatives, schools or religious communities to research the history of their city.<\/p>\n Researching Berlin\u2019s Nazi past<\/p>\n Together, old and young browse through archives and check timeworn resident lists to find out if any Jews or others who were persecuted during the Third Reich \u2014 such as communists, gays or Roma \u2014 used to live in the streets or even homes where they live today.<\/p>\n Once they can confirm a victim\u2019s former place of residence, they arrange for a stonelaying ceremony and make sure the brass plaque is polished periodically, so it won\u2019t lose its shine.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, several 10th graders from the Friedrich-Bergius-Schule attended another Berlin stonelaying ceremony on Stierstra\u00dfe, where many Jews used to live. Demnig\u2019s three new stones for the Krein family \u2014 Michael, his wife Maria and their daughter Dalila \u2014 brought the number of Stolpersteine to 62 on this street.<\/p>\n While Maria and Dalila managed to escape to the U.S. and British-controlled Palestinian territory, respectively, Michael, a musician, died in Berlin in 1940 as a forced laborer under the Nazis.<\/p>\n High school student Sibilla Ehrlich, 16, watched as a group of violinists played solemn melodies and some elderly neighbors talked about the lives of the three Jews under Nazi dictatorship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just so horrible, all this the hatred of others,\u201d she said. \u201cI keep thinking: what if this had been my family.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the Holocaust, Berlin had the biggest Jewish community in Germany. In 1933, the year the Nazis came to power, around 160,500 Jews lived in Berlin. By the time World War II ended and Nazi Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, their numbers had diminished to about 7,000 through emigration and extermination.<\/p>\n All in all, around 6 million European Jews and others were killed in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n As Germany commemorates the Allied liberation<\/a> from the Nazis<\/a> 81 years ago on Friday, many people in Germany fear that the lessons of the Holocaust may be forgotten as the far right is quickly gaining influence<\/a> in Germany again.<\/p>\n![\"Flowers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Germany_Holocaust_Memorial__8_33.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Germany_Holocaust_Memorial_269_4.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Germany_Holocaust_Memorial_61474.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Germany_Holocaust_Memorial__165_.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Relatives](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Germany_Holocaust_Memorial_18_36-1-1.jpg?w=620\")
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\nThe closest thing to a gravestone<\/p>\n