Cleaning campaign for Chemnitz stumbling blocks
Schools, associations and interested parties are looking after 64 stumbling blocks that commemorate victims of National Socialism in Chemnitz
All 64 Stolpersteine, which commemorate the victims of National Socialism on footpaths in the city, are to be made spick and span again. Schools, associations and interested parties are taking part in a major cleaning campaign in the week of 22 April. By the end of the week, the Stumbling Stones will be free of dust and dirt at 43 of the sites where they were laid.
Pupils from the Dr. Wilhelm André Grammar School have set themselves the task of visiting eight stones on the Kaßberg on 24 April. They will start the cleaning campaign at 13:30 at Hübschmannstraße 26.
Pupils from Chemnitz Rottluff primary school are also taking part. The company zebra Werbeagentur, which sponsored a Stumbling Stone last year, is inviting the young girls and boys to a joint breakfast on 25 April at 9.30 a.m. at Kopernikusstraße 16 in Chemnitz. Managing Director Jörg Fieback and Andreas Liese from Chemnitz city council will talk about the Stolpersteine project. They will be commemorating the entrepreneur Hugo Sussmann and his son Julius, who once lived at Kopernikus 16. Hugo Sussmann was arrested and murdered in 1944. His son Julius fled to Holland and committed suicide there. The two stumbling blocks will be cleaned together after the talk.
Media representatives are cordially invited to attend the meeting and the cleaning activities.
The stumbling blocks can be cleaned with a tried and tested household remedy: a flour and salt vinegar consisting of two tablespoons of flour, two tablespoons of salt and sufficient vinegar.
The cleaning campaign was organised by the Stumbling Stones Working Group, a project group of the city administration under the patronage of Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig. In the 80th year after Hitler came to power, this cleaning campaign is intended to commemorate the Jewish victims who were persecuted, discriminated against and murdered. The date is not coincidentally in April, but commemorates 1 April 1933, the beginning of the boycott of Jewish businesses and the book burning on 10 May 1933.
Information about the project:
The "Stumbling Stones" commemorate citizens of Chemnitz who were victims of the National Socialist regime. They were murdered, deported, expelled or driven to suicide during the period of Hitler fascism. The 10 x 10 cm Stumbling Stones are set into the pavement in front of the house where the people to be honoured had their last address. The name and life dates of the victims are engraved on the brass plate of the concrete stones. Anyone who sees them as they pass by should stumble over them in their mind, pause for a moment and read the engraving.