New Stolpersteine in Dresden: Honor Nazi Victims at Hygiene Museum
- Seven new Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, were embedded into the museum forecourt at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden on Tuesday to honor Jewish staff members and board executives...
- The newly laid memorial stones remember employees and board directors who were dismissed from their posts and driven out of office starting in 1933.
- Three additional ground monuments are scheduled for installation across the Dresden urban area on October 7, accompanied by an open public commemoration ceremony at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum that...
Seven new Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, were embedded into the museum forecourt at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden on Tuesday to honor Jewish staff members and board executives persecuted by the Nazi regime. The installation marks the first time a designated “head stone” (Kopfstein) has been laid in the city to explicitly document the institution’s historical complicity in racial policies during the National Socialist dictatorship.
Honoring Persecuted Hygiene-Museum Staff
The newly laid memorial stones remember employees and board directors who were dismissed from their posts and driven out of office starting in 1933. Among the individuals honored on the museum forecourt is physician Marta Fraenkel, who lived from 1896 to 1976 and held various leadership roles at the institution. City administration officials stated that the newly introduced head stone specifically highlights the museum’s role as an instrument of Nazi racial policy. More than 400 stumbling stones now commemorate victims of National Socialism across Dresden.
Upcoming Memorial Events and Broader Project Scope
Three additional ground monuments are scheduled for installation across the Dresden urban area on October 7, accompanied by an open public commemoration ceremony at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum that same evening. Artist Gunter Demnig initiated the international memorial project in the mid-1990s. Across Europe, more than 130,000 brass plates measuring ten by ten centimeters have since been laid, typically placed outside the last freely chosen residences or significant workplaces of victims. Recent debates regarding the significance of the memorials have resurfaced following a decision by the Saxon town of Heidenau to halt further installations of the stones locally.