On June 8, 2022, after years of research and effort, and delays caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Will and I again traveled to Magdeburg, Germany, this time to attend the installation of a Stolperstein to commemorate Tante Ruth as a victim of National Socialism. Gunter Demnig is the artist who began the Stolpersteine Project:
The artist Gunter Demnig remembers the victims of National Socialism by installing commemorative brass plaques in the pavement in front of the last address of choice. There are now Stolpersteine (literally “stumbling stones or blocks”) in at least 1200 places in Germany, as well as in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Gunter Demnig cites the Talmud saying that “a person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten”. The Stolpersteine in front of the buildings bring back to memory the people who once lived here. Almost every stone begins with HERE LIVED… One stone. One name. One Person.
Thirty-four Stolpersteine were scheduled to be installed in Magdeburg on June 8, 2022, Ruth’s Stolperstein was the first to be laid at 9:00 a.m. Her Stolperstein was installed at Walbecker Straße 37 in the city of Magdeburg, on the pavement directly outside Ruth’s childhood home that she shared with her mother, father, brothers, and early on, with her half sister, my grandmother. The summer day weather was gray and overcast, perfectly fitting for a memorial.
Walbecker Straße 37, Magdeburg, Germany, 2020. Author’s photo.
The gardens behind Walbecker Straße 37, Magdeburg, Germany, 2023.
Photo used with permission of Martin Finkler.
Ruth’s Stolperstein before it was set into the sidewalk. Author’s photograph June 8, 2022.
City worker moving the stones in the sidewalk to allow placement of the Stolperstein in front of the building. Author’s photograph.
Will Prunka and Ruth’s great niece, Ilka Knuppel, ‘overseeing’ installation of the Stolperstein. Photograph by Melissa Hall.
The finished, beautiful, Stolperstein installation. This Stolperstein will mark the last place that Ruth lived freely for generations to come. Author’s photograph June 8, 2022.
The commemoration would not have been possible but for the assistance and dedication of the Municipal Working Group “Stolpersteine fur Magdeburg” at the Cultural Office of the State Capital Magdeburg. We were so thankful to be able to be present for the installation ceremony. The many months of organization of this event, led by Waltraut Zachhuber, was perfectly orchestrated. Unfortunately, Waltraut was unable to attend the event, but we were accompanied by Helga Fink, who was infinitely helpful and to whom we are indebted.
Tante Ruth has found a guardian angel who lives in the building, Martin Finkler. He sends me emails with updates of how Ruth’s stolperstein is faring during the different seasons.
Photo by Martin on June 1, 2024, Children's Day in the former East Germany.
Tante Ruth's Stolperstein Installation was covered by local and regional press, both media and print, who interviewed us about our research and this book. Having press at the event shows there have been great strides made in recognizing victims of Aktion T4, but more work needs to be done to share these stories.
Article from the newspaper Magdeburger Volksstimme [People’s Voice], 9 June 2022. Translation of the article below by Larry Collins.
Thirty-four new memorial stones were laid in Magdeburg. They recall the victims of National Socialism in front of their former residences.
Memorial stones were once again laid in Magdeburg as a remembrance of victims of National Socialism. Photos: Uli Lücke
Magdeburg – Numerous new memorial stones were laid in Magdeburg on June 8, 2022. As the action group “Memorial Stones for Magdeburg” shared, another 34 memorial stones found a place on Magdeburg sidewalks. The stones recall residents of Magdeburg who were carried off by the Nazis [Translator note: literally, ‘National Socialists’] and murdered. In this way, twelve different places in three city districts received new memorial stones.
At the laying of the 34 memorial stones, there were again relatives of the victims of National Socialism from the U.S. and from Israel. For the first time this was again possible since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. So, for example, at the laying of a memorial stone for Ruth Mühlmann at 37 Walbecker Street. Relatives from the U.S., great nieces, Ilka and Silke Knüppel, and a close friend of the family, William Prunka, attended the ceremony.
Similarly, a grandson of the Crohn family, whose memorial stone laying concluded the day’s activity, arrived specially from Israel in order to personally attend the laying of the memorial stone in memory of his grandparents in Magdeburg’s Werder district.
At the laying of the stones, the participants of the "Memorial Stones for Magdeburg” action group thanked outgoing mayor Lutz Trümper for his support of the activity. “He brought with him the firm connection of the Memorial Stone Activity to city hall, which led to any and all support guaranteed to it there, which was necessary. This was a strong common sign against every form of antisemitism and racism,” the group explained in its invitation.
The stone laying took the members of the city’s “Memorial Stones for Magdeburg” action group, accompanied by the civil engineering department, to the city’s Sudenburg, Altstadt, and Werder districts. The stones were embedded in the sidewalks, respectively, in places where the former homes of those who were abducted stood or still stand. It always involves the place of residence with the last known address of the victims.
At every place a memorial stone was placed, respectively, a few words were said by the group’s members at the residence or at the location, should the residence no longer exist. Each person’s biographical information, sometimes researched months before, was read. Götz Baerthold provided music for the ceremony.
The next stone-laying activity is planned for September 26, 2022. The group reports that on this day Gunter Demnig, the initiator of the “memorial stones,” will also come to Magdeburg and bring the next stones himself.
Ruth’s 'vicarious witness', Ilka, was present for the poignantly beautiful and emotional Stolperstein ceremony. After decades of victims of Aktion T4 being shrouded in secrecy and shadows, light was cast as the gleaming brass-topped marble stone was installed into the ground upon which Ruth and her family had once walked.
The memory of Ruth was returned to the soil from which the Nazis had tried and failed to eradicate her.
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