Stolpersteine Full of Life

Stolpersteine Full of Life

Amsterdam neighbors are joining forces to remember their neighbors who were killed during World War II on May 4, 2021. By collectively bringing to life the Stolpersteine placed in their neighborhood in honor of these people who were killed.

Stolpersteine

Stolpersteine were created by German artist Gunter Demnig. The stones have a size of 10 x 10 cm. They are concrete stones covered at the top with a thin brass plate. Behind each stone, behind each name, is a human life that was cut short too soon and with brutal violence by the horrific reality of war.

Who were they and what did they do? What dreams did they have and who did they love? And not only is their name on it but also a date of the day they came into the world, full of dreams and everything with them to add something to the world. Then follows a date when they died and in which camp. And each stone begins with: 'Here lived…

Mission

Media Luna is producing this special commemoration on behalf of The Connecting Factor Foundation. The Connecting Factor Foundation embraces the commemoration Stolpersteine Full of Life because it believes that this way of commemorating is of great value to society because it takes place close to home and is an invitation for everyone to connect with this commemoration from their own history and culture. To ultimately pursue a common goal: Preventing war by making visible the loss of people who were just like us.

Implementation

At the commemoration Stolpersteine Full of Life, all local residents are invited to participate in whatever way they can. The commemoration comes about when neighborhood residents decide to work together to ensure on National Remembrance Day, May 4, that "their" Stolpersteine are filled with people of identical age and gender today.

Everyone in the neighborhood will be called upon to participate in a way that suits them. If you are not mobile, perhaps you can look for the life stories behind your laptop? If you prefer not to be visible behind the Stolpersteine maybe you can write down the story for the website? Or take photographs? Or provide the food and drink? Everyone can contribute to this commemoration from their own talent or culture.

During the preparations, neighborhood residents share stories with each other. This allows local residents with a refugee background to share their stories as well. This makes them feel seen and heard during the National Remembrance Day.

People who feel lonely in a neighborhood suddenly become part of a larger collective again. People from immigrant backgrounds feel more at home, not only because they have gotten to know their neighbors better, but also because there is room to learn about history and background back and forth. There will be a cohesion that may make people more likely to wave to each other or have a quick chat.

To encourage participation from the entire neighborhood, we will facilitate meetings to preview and evaluate the commemoration. Ultimately, the goal is that by collectively honoring the people represented by the Stolpersteine, people will have a greater understanding of each other and pay attention to each other. To prevent that, which happened to those who perished in the war.