Artist uses cobblestones to honor victims of Nazis

STORY: This German artist is preparing

to lay the 100,000th cobblestone

commemorating a person targeted and killed by Nazis

(Gunter Demnig, Artist)

"Stolpersteine are stones of remembrance for the victims of the Nazis between 1933-1945. Mostly the stones are placed at the last freely chosen domicile of the people, where they were taken from, where they were at home."

Demnig has been on a mission since 1992

He and his colleagues emboss personal details into

brass which is then hammered onto the stone

and placed to mark the victims’ last residence of choice

"I never dreamed of this, at the time I expected I would be making a few hundred or maybe 1,000 stones and I can say I was naive enough to believe that it would have to decrease at some point because I thought in certain areas all the stones, especially for the Jewish victims, have been laid. But more and more keep being requested, especially for the murders of the disabled. There is more and more interest."

The commemoration stones can

be found in 30 countries across Europe

"For me a vital element is to do this for the relatives and also for young people. Because it is the young people who really want to know how this could possibly have happened in the country of poets and thinkers. And as a reminder that something like this can never be allowed to happen again. And I think then it is clear why I do this."