Over the past 30 years, the German artist Gunter Demnig (75) has produced nearly 100,000 gold-covered cobblestones in memory of people who were deported and murdered by the Nazis. There is no question of giving up yet, he says, because the demand is greater than ever.
By installing ‘Stolpersteine’ (‘stumbling stones’) in front of the last known address of the victims, Demnig wants to draw attention to the fate of the victims of the Holocaust.
The artist started the project some 30 years ago, when he laid the first stones in Cologne and Berlin. Nearly 100,000 stumbling stones later, his work is found in 30 different countries, from Finland to Italy, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.
“I never would have dreamed of this,” says Demnig, who had thought of making a few hundred or maybe a thousand gold cobblestones. “I was naive enough to believe that it would decrease after a while, but it’s the other way around: the demand is getting bigger and bigger.” He expects to lay his 100,000th brick this year.
In his studio, Demnig etches by hand the name, date of birth and circumstances surrounding the death of the Holocaust victim in gold. Most of the stones, which can be requested by anyone, he lays himself. The costs are covered by donations and sponsorship from individuals, companies and institutions.
“People ask me why I don’t have it made in a factory,” he says. “I answer that Auschwitz was a murder factory. That is why it is important to me that the text is hammered into the plaques by hand.”
Inspired by the Talmud – one of the most important books in Judaism – which says that a person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten, the stones in front of the buildings bring to life the memories of who once lived there.
The cobblestones commemorate all groups that were victims of the Nazis, including Jews, Gypsy Sinti and Roma, political opponents, homosexuals and “anti-social elements”, or criminals.
The golden cobblestones are a permanent part of the street scene in German cities, and especially Berlin. Locals and tourists alike stop to view the gleaming stones and sometimes leave flowers.
“Here we have a mother who was stigmatized for being ‘anti-social’. The child was placed in a children’s home. They were both murdered,” says Demnig, as he fabricates two stones that will be placed in front of their home in Cologne.
The man is determined to continue his project, but realizes that eventually he will have to delegate the work to colleagues. “As long as my knees are still good, I will continue,” he says.
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