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The town of Heidenau in eastern Germany has banned new Stolpersteine Holocaust memorial plaques after a motion by the AfD and CDU, sparking outrage from politicians, a Holocaust survivor, and the International Auschwitz Committee.
The town of Heidenau in eastern Germany has banned the installation of new Stolpersteine, the brass Holocaust memorial plaques that mark the last known residence or workplace of Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution.
The motion was proposed by the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and the center-right Christian Democratic Union, or CDU. It was backed by the city council of Heidenau, a town near Dresden in Saxony, on Thursday. The parties argued that passersby are walking over or even stepping onto the names of the victims. Their local branches instead proposed that future Holocaust commemorations should be kept at the town's memorial site at its northern cemetery, German media report.
Stolpersteine Project Reminds Public of Nazi Atrocities
The Stolpersteine, meaning stumbling blocks, are found across Germany and in other European countries. They are intended as a daily reminder of Nazi atrocities. The small 10cm brass cubes are often installed in sidewalks outside residential homes. They are the work of German artist Gunter Demnig, who initiated the project in the 1990s.
They all carry similar information, such as the individual's name, date of deportation, and place of death. To date 116,000 plaques have been installed across 31 countries, the vast majority in Germany. Demnig himself has rejected the recent motion in Heidenau. Speaking to German media, he said the blocks must be visible in the specific locations where people used to live or work.
He said they help bring history to life for young people. He said he was not surprised by the ban, given the AfD's recent electoral successes. Of the CDU, he said the party should perhaps drop its C, because they have clearly left Christianity behind. Felix Banaszak, co-leader of Germany's Green Party, described the ban as a scandal.
Critics Condemn Heidenau Ban on Holocaust Memorial Plaques
He said the reasoning that people were stepping on the blocks was absurd. He told German media that the blocks bring the names and fates of the victims into our everyday lives and prompt us to pause for a moment. Charlotte Knobloch, the president of a Jewish association in Bavaria and a Holocaust survivor herself, described the town council's decision as the completely wrong path.
Speaking to Germany's Funke Media Group, she said that while she herself was not a friend of the Stolpersteine concept, decentralized commemoration that is not banished from public spaces is key for the country's culture of remembrance. The International Auschwitz Committee slammed the CDU's support of the motion as scandalous, according to Deutsche Welle.
Its executive vice president said it was a transparent and despicable attempt to drive Nazi victims in Heidenau out of the city once again and dispose of them where, according to the AfD, their memory has belonged a long time ago, at the cemetery. The AfD has long challenged Germany's forms of commemoration of the atrocities committed under Adolf Hitler.
AfD Challenges German Remembrance Culture and Education
In Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD recently sealed its best-ever win in state elections, a prominent AfD official described their vision to overhaul the state's school history lessons as more Bismarck, less Hitler. On a federal level, the party was designated as a far-right extremist organization by German domestic intelligence, although that designation is currently under review. Individuals within the party have also been accused of being extremists.
Aside from the fact that a far-right policy has been approved at the local level in Germany, the move lays bare a growing issue in German politics: adherence to the Brandmauer, or firewall. This is an informal position for mainstream parties that sees them rule out cooperation with the AfD. The firewall is designed to keep the far right out of political decision making and stifle their growth, but it is under serious pressure.
The CDU's willingness to work together with the AfD to pass this motion has sparked criticism of the CDU leadership. It comes at a time when the Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz is already facing a crisis over poor performances in recent regional elections. CNN has approached both parties for comment. The move has sparked backlash, with opponents arguing that part of the purpose of the memorials is their subtle intrusion into everyday life.
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CTVNews:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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