Scattered across the whole city - but also in Cologne, Munich, and even Paris - the “stumbling blocks” are 10x10 centimeter brass plates on concrete cubes. Embedded in the pavement they may catch the eye of the attentive passer-by. Started in 1995, the project serves as a reminder of the persecution of Jews during the Nazi regime. On each plate is the name of a victim, some information about the life, and the place of the assassination. Each block is placed in front of the entrance of the last residence of the person.
Alone in the Kreuzberg district there are 800 of them to be found. The blocks were the idea of Gunter Demnig, a native of Cologne. Financed by private sponsorship and citizens’ action committees at a cost of 95 Euros a piece, they are mental stumbling blocks that, as the artist puts it, “allow remembrance to take place where ostracism began - in the last place of residence.”