German town bans 'stumbling stone' memorials to Nazi victims

What the report says

A town in eastern Germany has sparked criticism after local councillors in Heidenau, near Dresden in Saxony, voted to ban new Stolpersteine, the small brass memorial plaques placed in pavements for victims of Nazi persecution. According to the BBC, the motion was backed by councillors from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and the conservative CDU. It said some residents considered the plaques an unsuitable form of commemoration and proposed moving future memorials to the Nordfriedhof cemetery instead.

The decision drew a sharp response from Germany’s education minister, Karin Prien of the CDU, who told Bild that the ban was a scandal. She argued that pushing Jewish remembrance out of public spaces would make Jewish people invisible again. The BBC also reported criticism from Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and head of the Jewish Community in Munich, who said removing memorials from the streets was the wrong approach.

Stolpersteine have been installed in many European cities since the 1990s, usually outside the homes or workplaces of victims and often funded by donations. The BBC said the project’s creator, artist Gunter Demnig, linked the Heidenau decision to the growing political strength of the AfD. The dispute highlights wider tensions in Germany over how to remember Nazi crimes and where memorials should appear in public life.