Welcome – here you find the new sites of Minden’s Stumbling Stones.
The sites are still under construction. We’ll try to complete them as soon as possible.
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“Stumbling Stones” – Stones – Lest We Forget
“The Path of Remembrance” in Minden
On November 21st, 2005, the sculptor Gunter Demnig
has laid the first stumbling stones in the city of Minden.
The “Path of Rememberance” will be extended:
In 2012, there will be more sites installed and more stones laid.
In memory of Dieter Knobelsdorf
Born 6.6.1933 – Died 6.6.2009
Dieter was a good friend and a member of ‘Arbeitskreis Stolpersteine’ (team stumbling stones) in Minden.
The stumbling stones were very important to him, to remind people of those who had lived and worked in our neighbourhood.
He helped with researching the subject and was responsible for the first English translation.
We are in his debt.
Dieter, we miss you.
Phrases written by the children: Shameful – Criminal – Nazis out – No neo Nazis in Minden – Suffering – Disbelief – No discrimination – No racism – Fear – Defend at the beginning – Basic rights – Anger – Disgust – Worry – Grief – Outrage
Sixty years after liberation from the National Socialist Regime the ‘Peace Week Action Group, Minden’ (Friedenswoche Minden – friwo -), is making a special contribution in an effort to keep memories alive.
The group has taken up the idea of Gunter Demnig, an artist from Cologne who, in 1994, began laying ‘Stones Against Forgetting’ in his home town.
Symbolic stones are laid to remind people of their former neighbours who were deported and murdered, under the Nazi regime, because they were Jewish, Gipsies (Sinti and Roma), victims of euthanasia, homosexuals, or were persecuted because of their political or religious beliefs.
“For me it is important to bring the names of the murdered back to where they lived”, says Gunter Demnig. His project has been responsible for laying 9,000 Stumbling Stones in Germany, and other countries, in more than 160 towns.
The Peace Week Action Group, Minden, would like to remind the Minden population of the names and fate of former neighbours. Stumbling Stones are laid in front of their places of residence, showing their names, dates of birth, year of deportation and the location of their murder. At the end of the project, which will last for several years, a memorial path of remembrance will have been laid as a warning.
The Peace Week Action Group is supported by the Society for Christian/Jewish Cooperation, the Jewish community and the Town of Minden. The project is financed solely by donations, and not by the use of public funds, to show the genuine interest and participation of the general public.
Group members have been working for many months establishing the names of the victims, their places of abode and their final fates. The sculptor, Gunter Demnig, laid Minden’s first Stumbling Stone in the old part of the City on 21st, November, 2005.
In the sixtieth year after liberation from the national-socialist regime the “Friedenswoche Minden” (Peace Week Minden Action Group) wishes to make its special contribution to keeping memories alive.
The group has taken up an idea by the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig who started in 1994 to lay “Stones Against Forgetting” in the streets of his native town. Symbolic “stumbling stones” are laid to remind people of their former neighbours who were deported and murdered under the nazi regime because they were Jews, gipsies (Sinti or Roma), victims of euthanasia, homosexuals or were persecuted for political or religious reasons.
“For me it was important to bring the names of people who were murdered back to where these people lived”, says Gunter Demnig about his project. Until december 2006 he has laid more than 9000 stumbling stones in more than 160 German and foreign towns.
“Peace Week” wishes to call the names and fates of former neighbours from Minden back into public memory. It causes “stumbling stones” to be laid in front of the victims’ houses, showing their names, the year of their births, the year of their deportation and year and place of their being murdered. At the end of the project which is planned for several years a path of remembrance and warning will have been created, a memorial to discover by walking.
“Peace Week” enjoys the support of the “Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation”, the Jewish community and also the Town of Minden. It is important for us that the project is financed only by donations as a result and a sign of participation by the citizens. Public funds are not involved.
A group of members have been working for several years now to establish the victims’ names, their former dwellings, and their final fates.
On November 21st, 2005, the sculptor Gunter Demnig has laid the first stumbling stones in the upper part of the old city of Minden.
At an evening meeting in the “Hall of Tolerance” (“Saal der Toleranz”) of the Jewish synagogue the sculptor Gunter Demnig explained his project of “stumbling stones” to a large interested audience, among them Minden’s Mayor Michael Buhre (who addressed himself especially to Gunter Demnig and the members of the Werberg family, who had come from the USA on this occasion.
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The general public is called upon to support the project
- by listing up names and former dwellings of people from Minden who were deported and killed under the nazi regime,
- by sponsoring a stumbling stone at the price of 120 Euro each,
- by making donations to cover the general costs of the project.
- Donations are tax-deductible.
Contacts for the project can be made by
Sabine Schulz
Hans Langescheid –>More information can be supplied by:
Aktionsgemeinschaft Friedenswoche Minden e.V., Alte Kirchstr. 1a, 32423 Minden (Germany)
phone 00 49 571 – 2 43 39 or per E-Mail: friwo@gmx.de
Donations to the following account:
Int. Bank Account Number:DE52 4905 0101 0089 4007 25
Sparkasse Minden-Luebbecke
SWIFT-BIC.: WELADED1MIN
DE: 89 400 725
Friedenswoche Minden “stumbling stones”