Karin Prien on the stumbling block ban: “It’s a scandal”

kna/dmn | Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) criticizes the decision against further stumbling blocks in the public space of the city of Heidenau. The ban is “a scandal,” and the idea of ​​relegating the culture of remembrance to a cemetery is even more so, the politician told Bild: “Stumbling blocks in public spaces make destroyed Jewish life visible and give back a piece of dignity to every single person who is persecuted.”

The memorial stones made it clear that Jews were of course part of life in German cities and villages before they were persecuted and murdered by the National Socialists. The minister was particularly critical of the proposal to shift commemoration to cemeteries: “Anyone who banishes stumbling blocks and memorials to Jewish life from the public space to the cemetery places dying above life and makes Jews invisible once again.”

Prien also made an appeal to his own party: "I also see the CDU in Saxony as having this responsibility. Because only those who know and understand its history can learn from it and ensure that it does not repeat itself."

The Shoah survivor and President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria Charlotte Knobloch is known throughout Germany as a critic of the memorial stones embedded in the ground for victims of National Socialism. But she describes the decision of the city council in Heidenau as “completely the wrong approach”.

“I was never a fan of the concept of stumbling blocks,” explains Knobloch when asked by the taz. But decentralized commemoration, which “permeates and shapes” the public space, is crucial “for a real culture of remembrance.” She had criticized the concept of the stumbling blocks, saying it was undignified that the name of the murdered was being trampled on the sidewalk.

But: Removing places of remembrance from the cityscape, as is now happening in Heidenau, is “in any case the completely wrong approach,” says Knobloch. “I am appalled that a democratic party would support such a transparent maneuver by the extremists from the AfD.” She demands that the democratic center should find itself again and “bring about a better solution.”

City councilors from the AfD and CDU had approved the request to stop laying stumbling blocks in memory of victims of National Socialism in Heidenau, Saxony, near Dresden. It was passed by a majority on Thursday evening. There were 13 yes votes, 6 no votes and one abstention.

In the cross-party motion for a resolution with the “Upper Elbe Alliance for More Democracy,” representatives of both parties called for stumbling blocks to be rejected “in public streets and sidewalks” in the future.

Many citizens, relatives and initiatives do not consider this form of remembrance of the victims of National Socialism to be appropriate, the application said. However, the applicants had no personal contact with memorial initiatives or relatives, as they confirmed to taz.

The Alternative Culture and Education Center (Akubiz) association had previously applied for two stumbling blocks to commemorate the couple Fritz and Martha Goldstein, who were arrested, dispossessed and deported during the Nazi dictatorship in Heidenau for anti-Semitic reasons. As Mayor Conny Oertel told taz before the vote, the city council will reject the relocation of the two memorial stones.