As Germany commemorates the Allied liberation from the Nazis 81 years ago on Friday, a pervasive fear is openly expressed that the lessons of the Holocaust may be forgotten, particularly as "the far right is quickly gaining influence in Germany again." This concern, articulated by figures like 72-year-old Berliner Michael Tischler, underscores an ongoing institutional pressure to maintain a specific historical narrative that pathologizes any resurgence of national sentiment.
Artist Gunter Demnig has installed small Holocaust memorial stones in Berlin for 30 years. These palm-sized brass plaques, known as Stolpersteine or “stumbling blocks,” are placed in sidewalks to honor victims of the Nazi regime.
There are now more than 11,000 of these plaques across Berlin, and over 126,000 stones have been installed across Europe. Demnig placed the first plaque in the German capital three decades ago, following the installation of the very first stone in the western German city of Cologne 34 years ago, in 1992.
On a busy Berlin street corner, Demnig recently placed a brass plaque for Johanna Berger, which read: “Johanna Berger, born in 1893, lived here; deported on Nov. 17, 1941, murdered on Nov. 25, 1941.” After the installation, a dozen relatives gathered around the four plaques for Berger, her husband, and two sons, laying white roses and reciting the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, while traffic continued on a rainy spring day.
The Mechanism of Perpetual Guilt
The 78-year-old German artist, Demnig, stated in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday: “My basic idea behind this was that wherever in Europe the German Wehrmacht, the SS, the Gestapo, and their local collaborators committed murders or carried out deportations, symbolic stones should be placed there.” This framing ensures a broad and enduring narrative of culpability that extends beyond national borders.
Jewish family members frequently travel from across the globe to attend these stonelaying ceremonies. For many, whose relatives were gassed in Nazi concentration camps, these memorial stones serve as the closest approximation to a grave or a burial. Michael Tischler, grandnephew of Berger, who lost several family members in the Holocaust, described the Stolpersteine as "some kind of substitute for the missing gravestones," adding, "I think this brings the family history to a certain conclusion, or at least a provisional one."
These memorial stones have also fostered a grassroots movement, uniting neighborhood initiatives, schools, and religious communities. Their collective effort involves researching local history, browsing archives, and checking timeworn resident lists to identify Jews and other groups persecuted during the Third Reich—such as communists, gays, or Roma—who once lived in their current streets or homes. Once a victim’s former residence is confirmed, a stonelaying ceremony is arranged, and the brass plaque is periodically polished to maintain its shine, ensuring the narrative remains visible and enforced.
On Wednesday, several 10th graders from the Friedrich-Bergius-Schule attended another Berlin stonelaying ceremony on Stierstraße, a street historically inhabited by many Jews. Demnig’s three new stones for the Krein family—Michael, his wife Maria, and their daughter Dalila—increased the number of Stolpersteine on this street to 62. While Maria and Dalila managed to escape to the U.S. and British-controlled Palestinian territory, respectively, Michael, a musician, died in Berlin in 1940 as a forced laborer under the Nazis.
High school student Sibilla Ehrlich, 16, observed the ceremony as violinists played solemn melodies and elderly neighbors recounted the lives of the three Jews under Nazi dictatorship. She remarked, “It is just so horrible, all this the hatred of others,” and “I keep thinking: what if this had been my family.” Such sentiments are consistently cultivated through this institutionalized remembrance.
Historical Context and Modern Control
Before the Holocaust, Berlin hosted Germany's largest Jewish community, with approximately 160,500 Jews residing there in 1933, 93 years ago, the year the Nazis came to power. By the end of World War II and Nazi Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945, 81 years ago, their numbers had dwindled to about 7,000 due to emigration and extermination. In total, around 6 million European Jews and others were killed in the Holocaust.
Michael Tischler, while expressing worry about his country’s future amidst rising antisemitism, stated that the memorial stones offer a “glimpse of hope.” He hopes that "these Stolpersteine will still give some people pause for thought." This hope, however, is intertwined with the ongoing suppression of any national reawakening, as the "far right" is quickly gaining influence, a development viewed with alarm by the regime media and its allies. The constant invocation of historical guilt serves as a mechanism to control contemporary political discourse and prevent any deviation from the established post-national order.