Stolpersteine Ban Sparks Outrage
Heidenau council bans new Stolpersteine following controversial CDU and AfD vote.
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Heidenau’s council in eastern Germany voted to reject new Stolpersteine—brass-plated sidewalk memorials to people persecuted or murdered by the Nazis—after a motion backed by the far-right AfD and the center-right CDU. Supporters say the plaques can be stepped on and should give way to a memorial site at the town’s Northern Cemetery, while opponents argue that placing them near victims’ former homes makes remembrance visible and risks being lost if moved to an unspecified site. Holocaust-remembrance advocates and the project’s creator condemned the decision, and the CDU’s cooperation with the AfD has renewed debate over Germany’s informal political firewall against the far right.
Key Points
1
The ban passed in a secret ballot by 13 votes to six, with one abstention.
2
Heidenau already has five Stolpersteine. One commemorates Paul Gröger, the town’s mayor until 1933, who was arrested after the Nazis came to power, abused in a concentration camp and died by suicide shortly after his release.
3
The city administration opposed a blanket ban, saying it was neither necessary to establish a central memorial nor justified by the proposal.
4
Heidenau Mayor Conny Oertel backed the proposal, saying the stones can be obscured by leaves, dirt or rainwater and that people may walk over them without noticing or understanding their significance.
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