A town in eastern Germany has approved a motion to stop the future installation of Stolpersteine—small brass plaques commemorating victims of Nazi persecution.
The decision was made by the council in Heidenau, near Dresden in Saxony, following a motion backed by Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the ruling centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The Stolpersteine are a prominent part of Germany’s Holocaust remembrance culture. The plaques are placed in pavements outside homes where victims of Nazi persecution once lived.
Under the decision, no new plaques will be installed in Heidenau, while future commemorations will instead be concentrated at a memorial site in the town’s northern cemetery.
Supporters of the motion argued that some residents considered the cobblestone-shaped plaques inappropriate because they are embedded in the ground and can be walked over.
The town administration had opposed a blanket ban, saying there was no need to prohibit future Stolpersteine in order to create a central memorial.
The decision has also reignited debate over the CDU’s informal “Brandmauer”, a political firewall intended to prevent cooperation between Germany’s mainstream parties and the AfD.
Charlotte Knobloch, head of a Jewish regional association in Bavaria, criticised the decision, saying she was shocked that a democratic party had supported what she described as an AfD initiative.
The AfD has previously faced criticism over statements concerning Germany’s Nazi past and Holocaust remembrance. Local branches of both the AfD and CDU did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
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