WARNING: Content highly depressing. Read at your own risk and with a cup of tea.

As I may have mentioned earlier, I've been doing a lot of research in the past week or two for a big presentation that I have to give next week. (We all have to do one over a topic of our choice at the end of the orientation program.) I chose to do mine over Stolpersteine, which literally translates into "stumbling stones." I noticed many of them here and there in the sidewalks upon my arrival and learned their story soon afterward. Each stone begins with "Here lived" and carries a name and story of a Holocaust victim. Most of the victims were Jewish, but there are also stones for gypsies, the politically persecuted, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, etc. It gives their birthday, when they were arrested/deported, where they were taken, and when they died. The stones are then placed in the sidewalk in front of the house where they lived.

The project first started in the mid-90's in Cologne by an artist named Gunter Demnig, whose reasoning was: Ein Mensch ist erst vergessen, wenn sein Name vergessen ist: "A person is first forgotten when their name is forgotten." It took several years to get it underway as many people were not comfortable bringing attention to the painful history behind their homes and the questions they might raise about how they came to live there, among other reasons. However, once it took off, it really took off. There are now Stolpersteine in more than 480 places in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands, and the numbers are growing every year. There are over 2000 in Hamburg alone, many of which are in the area around the university where I spend most of my time. There are two in front of the Smith center, for example.

Lastnight I read an interview with Peter Hess, the man who does all the technical coordination of the laying of Stolpersteine in Hamburg. He says that he gets phone calls every day from people all around the world wanting Stolpersteine for family and friends from Hamburg that were killed during that time. "They have no graves," they say. That really struck me. He also said that he gets a lot of calls from people wanting to know if Jews had lived in their homes, so that they can place a stone for them as a memorial, even from complete strangers. School groups and businesses also call wanting to know if there had been victims that had been teachers there or had been employees. He must then go through all the lists in the city archives looking for names, calling classmates from half a century ago, scrounging around for the true story. Then say it turns out that there had been a Jewish teacher at a school that had been deported, the kids will work together to come up with the money (95 euro) for a stone to be placed in front of their school for that teacher.

The more I learn about this project, the more fascinated I become and the harder it is for me to learn more. In coming to Germany, I had no idea I would be so affected by the same history that I'd been learning about for years in school. Maybe it's something about the location, about being here where these people lived and died and where all these terrible things happened. There are little reminders about it everywhere you go. For example, this entire family was deported to Auschwitz where they were all killed. They lived in a building that I pass every day. (Click for a closer look.)

The stones come in ones, twos, threes,...

..sevens...

...nines, and on and on.

In a similar vein (gotta get all the depressing stuff done with in one post), yesterday Sarah and I went to the Sankt Nikolaikirche, St. Nicholas' Church, which was first built in the 12th century has Hamburg's highest steeple. It was destroyed in the great fire that destroyed many parts of the city in the late 1800s, was restored, and then was destroyed again by the bombings in 1943. The steeple and a few parts of the outer wall somehow survived, and it was decided to leave it as a memorial for those who died during that time. The steeple, still blackened with the soot of the bombings, was secured and eventually fitted with a glass elevator that takes you up to the 76-meter viewing area.



In the basement there is a fascinating and incredibly horrific exhibit of photographs, quotations, old video clips, and other artifacts from the Allied air raids in the summer of '43 and the devastating aftermath thereof. I knew that Hamburg had been heavily hit during the war, but seeing the visual evidence made it sink in. It was one of the most heavily destroyed cities during the war, most of which happened in three days by the British and US airforces. 35,000 deaths, only half of which could be identified, 120,000 wounded, over 80,000 buildings destroyed or damaged, 357,360 homes, and that was just the immediate damage. I think you get the picture.

There have been a couple times where I've caught myself wondering why the Nazis would bomb their own people, only to realize that now I'm seeing the other side and that it was my country that did this. Now more than ever I cannot begin to fathom how it was possible for human beings have done this to one another. What's harder is to realize that people are still hurting one another in such devastating ways today.

That visit followed by Stolpersteine research left me in such a state that it was necessary to indulge in my last SnackPack chocolate pudding. Sigh. Hard to learn about. Important to know about. Needless to say, it hasn't been an easy week.

(Don't say I didn't warn you about the depressing part.)

Now to end this on a happier note before more homework, this afternoon I'm going to my program director's house (Joe) to bake REAL American chocolate chip cookies with Sue, his wife, who has REAL baking powder and REAL brown sugar. We'll be enjoying them this evening at their "election results" party, as today is the day when all of Germany has to vote. YUM!