This memorial challenges the social perception of what is significant enough for public memory, and how that memory should be expressed within the urban fabric. Individuals who would otherwise be forgotten in the public memory, insignificant in their own personhood and only commemorated as a mass, are, through the Stolpersteine, given a vocal role in the public memory of the communities involved. The memorial returns a sense of individuality to these people who were forcefully reduced to numbers, building the layers of public memory. As Demnig himself says, ‘A person is only forgotten when his name is forgotten’. The stolpersteine occupy a potent position in the public landscape of lieux de mémoire and milieux de mémoire .While the stones are literally historical references and form local sites of memory in the urban landscape, the experience created by the stones would be more accurately described as a ‘real environment of memory’ than an inserted historical site. While many public memorials are represented through sculptures, plaques, mounted on raised pedestals, separated from the public by a barrier, the stolpersteine are completely accessible. The presentation of the stones fundamentally and literally ties them into the surrounding landscape. The stones are small, simple, making clear reference to traditional markers such as grave stones, and are quite easily overlooked. However, inserted into the public paving, and referring to a building or urban space beyond themselves, the stones form a tangible link between the memory of the individual and the present-day urban fabric. The memorial extends beyond the 10x10cm brass plate; the sidewalk, buildings and urban block are all part of the memorial – true environments of memory that project a much larger landscape of memory across communities, cities and countries.
Aisling O’Carroll
The stolpersteine are also logistically accessible to the public. It is Demnig’s private project; he advertises the stones, each €95, on his website, which chronicles the Stolpersteine project. Anyone may sponsor a stone, but in order for the project to be carried through, extensive research must be completed and evidence provided for each person’s history in the Holocaust and residence before deportation. This process creates another, different, community actively involved in the memorial, engaged in even more historical research. The stolpersteine have hit some of their own stumbling blocks along the way. They have been criticised by some groups for placing the names of victims in a vulnerable position in the public field, to the point that the stones were initially banned in Munich.There have been occasions where the stones have been forcibly removed, or vandalised, but the project has persisted and continues to spread and intensify across the European landscape.
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