Stolpersteine are small stone cubes that bear a brass-plate that has been engraved with the name of a Jewish war victim. These stones are laid on the pavement in front of the last known address of the victims who were deported or who escaped. The first stones were laid in the Netherlands in 2007; Nijmegen joined the ranks this year when stones were laid on two separate occasions, the latest of which took place this month when 27 stones were laid at six addresses in East Nijmegen.
When it came to the laying of these Stolpersteine, the timing was no coincidence: on the day that the stones were laid - 18 November 2022 - it was exactly eighty years ago that the largest raid was carried out in the city: on the eve of this fateful day, 196 Nijmegen residents were snatched from their homes and were sent to Westerbork; for most of them, their journey ended in one of the concentration camps. Out of these 196 people, only four of them survived the war.
Ria van den Brandt, who is a researcher at the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, heads the foundation that has taken the Nijmegen Stolpersteine under its wing. The foundation aims to eventually lay around 450 stones which, at the current pace, should take twenty years. The next stone-laying ceremony will be held next April in the Hazenkamp neighbourhood, where the stones will be laid in the presence of Gunter Demnig. He is the man who launched this initiative in 1992 as a means of commemorating victims all over the world with a special stone, all identically executed with each victim’s name, date of birth, and the date of their murder and the location where this atrocity took place. Some of the stones include extra information about the victim, such as whether they were liberated or if they survived.
The story behind the stone
Because the story behind each of the names is investigated and recorded, the laying of each stone takes time. “We want to reveal the history,” says Van den Brandt: “Behind each of the names is a story, and when all of the miniatures are put together, they tell the big story. For the surviving relatives, there’s the added benefit of finding out how their family story of survival fits within the larger narrative.”
The intention behind the stones is just as exceptional as the wording behind them; that people will ‘stolpern’ or ‘stumble over’ these memorial stones ‘with both their heart and their mind’; each stone is meant to be a gentle nudge that reminds people that the Holocaust must be remembered. Van den Brandt has devoted much of her working life to the Holocaust; she is the author of a standard reference work on Theresienstadt and is also the driving force behind the annual lecture in Nijmegen that is given during Holocaust Memorial Day in January. When it comes to whether or not the stones have actually helped to remind people about the Holocaust, for Van den Brandt it is all about empirical data. “Since we started this initiative, the circle of people who are involved in Nijmegen has been increasing. I don’t need to conduct any research to know that the stones are achieving their mission.”
Van den Brandt refers to the simple stone-laying ceremony in East Nijmegen this month, which began with the laying of five stones at Ruisdaelstraat 73. This was the last known address of the Fraenkel family, who lived there during the war with their two small children. Violinist Thomas Ruffmann provided the musical accompaniment, Amsterdam chazan Nachshon Rodrigues Pereira sang a prayer and Van den Brandt recalled the Fraenkels in the presence of neighbours from the Ruisdaelstraat and the surrounding area. “As a group, you come together to reflect on something that is barely comprehensible. We’re trying to save these stories from oblivion by returning them to the city. This is especially beneficial for the bereaved, for whom we often unlock an unknown part of history.”
See also: stolpersteine-nijmegen.nl. The House of Nijmegen’s History in the Mariënburg Chapel is holding an exhibition that is dedicated to the raid that took place on 17 November 1942; the exhibition runs until 31 December. If you wish to know more about the stories behind the Stolpersteine in Nijmegen, please visit www.oorloginnijmegen.nl. On Friday 2 December, Frouke Arns’ wall poem ‘Raid, November 1942’ will be unveiled at the entrance to the Keizer Karel Garage.
Photo: Location of the Stolpersteine in the Ruisdaelstraat, Nijmegen/Gerard Verschooten