Stolperstein
This morning’s Boston Globe has a story about the Stolperstein Memorials that can be found across Europe.
Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones,” identify European citizens taken from their homes in World War II. Each begins with the phrase “Here lived.” They then document the birth date, date of deportation or escape, and, if known, the date and place of death. Laid into the pavement in front of the last voluntarily chosen residence of these citizens, the plaques are the life’s work of German sculptor Gunter Demnig, whose inspiration comes from a passage in the Talmud: “A person is only forgotten when his name is forgotten.”
On one of my many business trips to Budapest, a colleague in the office mentioned these to me, and it happened that I had been walking past a Stolperstein each morning on the way to the office.
In front of an apartment door
embedded in the sidewalk cobblestones
is a memorial to Aczél Bertalan (in the Hungarian custom, the last name is given first).
