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Suspect caught after attacks on Stolpersteine in Weimar!
A 51-year-old man was arrested in Weimar for allegedly damaging 33 stumbling blocks. Investigations are ongoing.
Suspect caught after attacks on Stolpersteine in Weimar!
In recent years, the situation surrounding stumbling blocks in Germany has noticeably worsened. These small memorial plaques, which commemorate the victims of National Socialism, are increasingly the target of vandalism. There is now a first ray of hope, especially in Weimar, where 33 stumbling blocks have been damaged since the beginning of the year. Police have arrested a 51-year-old man who was caught red-handed defacing Achava Festival posters. This arrest was hailed as a success by Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD), especially since the suspect was not known to the police and the state security agency was involved in the investigation. Evidence linking him to the Stolpersteine attacks has been seized.
Gunter Demnig, the creator of the Stolpersteine in the 1990s, has laid countless memorial stones in cities such as Weimar, Eisenach and Erfurt since his first project. Despite the current damage, the mayor of Weimar, Peter Kleine, is counting on positive developments in the city, especially with the installation of seven new stumbling blocks this Friday. The representatives of Jewish cultural institutions are relieved about the arrest and hope for a return to calm.
Increase in anti-Semitic incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia
However, the situation is not only limited to Weimar. An annual report from the Rias research and information center documents a dramatic increase in anti-Semitic incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia. An alarming number of 664 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in 2023, an increase of 152 percent compared to the previous year. These incidents include 59 anti-Semitic-motivated damage to property, which also affected numerous stumbling blocks in Brühl, where targeted vandalism took place over several months.
In Brühl, for example, stumbling blocks were smeared with the number code “88” and made illegible with black paint. These are not isolated cases, as the discussion about right-wing extremism and anti-Semitic tendencies is becoming increasingly louder in the city council. Mayor Dieter Freytag (SPD) highlighted the difficulties in catching perpetrators in the act.
Social cohesion required
In a country where anti-Semitism, racism and hostility to democracy must be recognized as a nationwide problem, the “Together for Brühl” initiative is a ray of hope. Led by Susanne Bourier, this initiative calls for people to report anti-Semitic incidents to the authorities. Bourier has already filed two reports himself. Rias's work, which offers support to those affected and documents incidents, plays a central role in this context.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports the anti-Semitism research and information center in order to counteract increasing anti-Semitism. The trend is also negative in Berlin. In the first half of 2024, 21 anti-Semitic damage to memorials were recorded, a significant increase compared to the entire previous year. The incidents after October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel took place, are particularly striking, which certainly also significantly contributed to the wave of anti-Semitic vandalism.
The abundance of incidents uncovered makes it clear that the memory of the Nazi victims and their remembrance must be urgently protected. Stumbling blocks are an essential part of social memory and should be viewed not only as places of remembrance, but also as training centers against forgetting.