What are "Stumbling Stones"?

Stumbling stones are 10 x 10 x 10 cm concrete blocks with a brass plate anchored in them. The names and dates of people who were persecuted and murdered during the Nazi era are stamped on the brass plates using raised letters.

What is special about this project by the artist Gunter Demnig is that these small memorials are laid exactly at the places where the people lived before they fled or were arrested. This is a way of remembering the victims of persecution on an individual basis, but it also raises questions about the perpetrators and their accomplices by clearly marking the starting point of Nazi persecution at the former places of residence. The Stumbling Stones are also based on the principle of commitment: a Stumbling Stone is laid when individuals or groups, such as school classes, take on a sponsorship for which a fee is charged.

Gunter Demnig developed the project "Hier wohnte - Stolpersteine" (Here Lived - Stumbling Stones) from 1990 onwards, with various memorial stones that he first installed in Cologne to commemorate the persecution of Sinti and Romanies. In the meantime, 2,733 Stumbling Stones have been placed in Cologne [as of the end of 2023] and a total of around 106,000 Stumbling Stones in 1,850 locations in the Federal Republic of Germany [as of July 2024]. Numerous places in Austria, Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Russia, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Romania, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Lithuania have so far been involved in the project.

A chronology of the Stumbling Stones and information on how to become a sponsor can be found here.

What can I find in the database?

The database contains all the Stumbling Stones in Cologne. In the vast majority of cases, these stones commemorate Jews who were deported and murdered. In addition, Stumbling Stones have been laid for Sinti and Romanies, victims of political persecution, homosexuals, forced labourers, Jehovah's Witnesses and victims of "euthanasia".

In a few cases, stones were placed for people who survived in hiding or in exile. Information about these cases can be found in the database, along with information about special events related to the Stumbling Stones (e.g. damage, protests).

At the request of those affected, numerous Stumbling Stones for Sinti and Romanies were anonymised. In these cases, you will find the designation "Sinteza" or "Rommni" for women and "Sinto" or "Romm" for men.

The artist Karin Richert photographed the Stumbling Stones and their locations. She processed the data sets and the photographs for the database, showing the stone, the location, the building in front of which the stone is located, and the street.

The database can also be expanded to include information on the biographies, the history of the house and the history of the street.

Information on the Jewish victims from Cologne and the Jewish victims who were deported via Cologne can be found here.

How do I use the database?

The database is currently only available in German.