Stolpersteine

Stolpersteine (German for "stumbling block") is an international project by German artist Gunter Demnig. Each Stolperstein serves as a marker and a memorial for one person deported and killed by the Nazis, installed outside the place where the victim lived.

In various countries, schools, relatives, and diverse organizations research facts about people who were deported or persecuted during the regime of Nazi Germany. The databank of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem provides further information. Once investigations are complete, Demnig manufactures concrete cubes of 10 cm/ 4 in, topped with a sheet of brass engraved with the words, “Hier wohnte” (Here lived), followed by the name, year of birth and the fate of the inhabitant: usually a date of deportation or death. Each Stolperstein is then installed flush into the pavement or sidewalk in front of the last residence of the victim it recalls.

2B Gallery, with Alma on Dobbin, invited Demnig to exhibit his work in Budapest, and he simultaneously installed four ‘Stolpersteine’ on nearby Ráday Street. During that summer he traveled with gallery director, Laszlo Borocz, to six Hungarian cities to continue working on this ongoing project.

This project was supported by the Bipolar German-Hungarian cooperation.  Bipolar is an initiative of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).

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