‘Stumbling Stones’ Evoke Strong Emotions

The names of Jeffrey Katz’s family members are depicted on “stumbling stones” in Lembeck, Germany. His relatives owned a home on the property near the stones, before they were evicted in 1942.

(NPR’s Eric Westervelt reported from Germany on Morning Edition about the effort to remember Holocaust victims by engraving their names on bricks, or “stumbling stones,” placed on sidewalks throughout Germany. Some of those stones bear the names of Jeffrey Katz‘s relatives. Jeffrey, NPR’s deputy managing editor for digital news, went to see those stones last year in Lembeck, Germany.)

My roots are so deeply engrained in Germany that I have family trees that stretch back more than 300 years on my mother’s side and almost as far on my father’s side. None of it helped during the Holocaust — they were German Jews. The lucky few left just in time or escaped; most perished.

One of the few remaining hallmarks of their lives are theStolperstein, or “stumbling stones,” made by artist Guenther Demnig.

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