East German town bans future Holocaust memorial plaques
The council said future remembrance should move to the town cemetery after critics argued the sidewalk plaques are inappropriate.
- On Thursday, the local council in Heidenau, near Dresden, voted to ban Stolpersteine—brass Holocaust memorial plaques—from public roads, a motion supported by the AfD and Christian Democrats .
- More than 130,000 Stolpersteine exist across 33 countries, serving as a decentralized memorial to victims of the Nazi regime, though the project has faced controversy with cities like Munich restricting installations.
- Israeli ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor stated that relegating Jewish remembrance to cemeteries makes victims 'invisible once again,' while German Education Minister Karin Prien called the ban 'a scandal.'
- This cross-party vote in Heidenau demonstrates the weakening 'firewall' between mainstream parties and the anti-immigration AfD, as Germany's policy against cooperating with the far right faces increasing pressure.
- AfD figures have increasingly called for changes to Germany's culture of remembrance, emphasizing German suffering during World War II, which critics argue aligns with efforts to downplay the country's Nazi past.
146 Articles
146 Articles
German town sparks outrage as far-right and conservatives rally against Holocaust memorial plaques – WTOP News
GENEVA (AP) — A decision by a city council in in eastern Germany to halt the laying of memorial plaques that honor Holocaust victims has sparked outrage, not least because some of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives joined the far-right Alternative for Germany in supporting the move. The city council of Heidenau, southeast of Dresden, on...
German town sparks outrage as far-right and conservatives rally agains
FILE - Relatives pose for a photograph holding a palm-sized brass Holocaust plaque in German reading, "Johanna Berger, born in 1893, lived here; deported on Nov. 17, 1941, murdered on Nov. 25, 1941 in Kowno/Kaunas Fort IX," by artist Gunter Demnig prior to the placing of the so called, "Stolperstein," or "Stumbling Blocks," in front of her former home in Berlin, Germany, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
Protothema
ΕπιλογέςThe proposal submitted by AfD and CDU stated that many citizens considered this form of commemoration of the victims inappropriate and that it would be preferable for the stones to be placed in the cemetery.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Su-jin = In a small German town, a memorial for Nazi victims... due to opposition from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the center-conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
The decision was supported by both AfD and CDU representatives, but sharply criticized by the Minister of Education and a leader of the Jewish community.
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