"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen."
("Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.")
-Heinrich Heine
They have these little brass sidewalk "stones" scattered throughout the city. There are over 11,000 of them, each in front of a building in which a Jew or a Jewish family once lived. If the building is no longer standing, then the stone is placed in front of the area on which the building once stood.
Each one of these has the same information:
Geb. (born)
Deportiert (deported)
Ermordet in (murdered in)
It's a small memorial to the thousands of people that were forced to leave their lives and homes, and in so doing, were made to suffer in ways that I can't possibly imagine.
All for what?
This city is alive with history and the presence of human tragedy. It haunts you if you are sensitive to it.
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