Stolpersteine in CR
The idea to launch the Stolpersteine project in the Czech Republic originated from among the young Czech Jews in 2008, inspired by the impression from the Stones laid in German cities. In parallel (although independently) the same thought occurred in the Czech town of Kolín where it was carried out as a project of a local school.
The initiator of the Czech chapter of the Stolpersteine project is the Czech Union of Jewish Students. Therefore, we have from the outset focused on commemorating the Jewish victims of holocaust – shoah. Because the Nazis have murdered thousand of Czech Roma and politically inconvenient people, we will also lay Stones for these victims. At present, it is the non-profit association Stolpersteine CZ o.s. who runs the project in the Czech Republic.
The first Czech Stolpersteine were set in Prague and Kolín in the fall 2008, since then we lay them once yearly in different locations. The laying itself is done by Gunter Demnig (the author of the Stolpersteine idea) himself who comes for that from German city of Cologne. the most Stolpersteine are located in Prague where we also call them the Stones of the Vanished – in connection with the Prague Jewish Museum’s project the Vanished Neighbors. The project gradually expands to other localities (see the map). Several local executive teams operate in the country, all of them coordinated through this website. (Contact details are here.)
Most Jewish victims from the Protectorate were first deported to the concentration camp in Theresienstadt and quite a precise database of these victims exists – the so-called Theresienstadt database (see here). The Roma organizations assist us in the identification of the Roma and Sinti victims. The key source of information on the victims are of course their living relatives and the Jerusalem Yad VaShem institute. For symbolic reasons, we always try to include among the Stones also the victims with no living relatives, or such where no living relatives are known to us.
The Stolpersteine are placed in the sidewalks’s pavement mostly in “clusters” for the whole murdered families in order for their members’ Stones to be together – it is hence no exception to find places in Prague with three or four Stolpersteine outside one house.
We cooperate with various authorities and organizations. The Prague Mayor has accorded his auspices for the project in 2008, in the permission-seeking phase we work with the Prague City Hall’s departments, City District Administrations, the Landmark Conservation authorities. Getting a permission outside Prague is usually much less of a bureaucratic process.
We have a financial support of private donors as well as sponsorship from some Jewish organizations (the list of donors is here). The production cost of one Stolperstein is EUR 95 which amount is paid to the Gunter Demnig’s team which makes all the Stones. The whole project is strictly not-for-profit and there’s likewise no remmuneration for the executive team. (See more on financing and sponsorship options here.)