A stumble stone outsde a house next to us in Florence

Embedded in the pavement by the front door of houses next to our apartment building in Florence are half a dozen small square brass plaques which force us to remember a terrible period not just in Florence, nor in Italy, but in the whole of Europe – and beyond.

And, as totalitarian regimes continue to flourish and informed debate gives way to angry intolerance and a refusal even to listen to the views of others, they are an  everyday reminder that the price of liberty truly is eternal vigilance, and that democracy dies not in darkness, but in silence.

Gunter Dennig and Stolperstein https://www.stolpersteine-muenchen.de/stolpersteine/ Public domain

For these are Stolpersteine ‘stumbling stones,’ each one recording the death of a victim of fascist persecution during the Second World War.

Mainly Jews assassinated in the Holocaust, they also include homosexuals, ‘gypsies,’ the physically disabled, the mentally ill, and numerous other categories of ‘ousiders.’

Each Stolperstein is the creation of the German artist Gunter Dennig, and is placed outside the last place that the victims lived/worked before the Nazi/fascisti terror overwhelmed them. More than 116,000 Stolpersteine have been put in place since the project began in 1992.

The name Stolpersteine derives from a common phrase among Berliners before WW2. If they tripped over a stone, they said: “A Jew must be buried here!”

All too often the victims of totalitarianism are anonymous. The ‘stumbling stones’ give them back their identity.

Cleaning up a Stolperstein in Munich.

If you believe in argument and debate, respecting the views of others, why not join one of our creative courses at the Watermill? As well as inspiring tuition, beautiful accommodation,warm hospitality, delicious food and wine, we offer convivial conversation, particularly during our evening aperitivi under the sun-dappled shade of the vine verandah. Click here for more.