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  1. Tim
    Tim February 18, 2023 at 6:11 pm | | Reply

    Catherine,
    I too had never heard of these stumbling stones and am in awe of the power of this idea. Perhaps if we planted more of these reminders of the suffering of our brothers and sisters throughout our daily lives and had the courage to enter into them, we could diminish the amount of ongoing suffering that is inflicted on both a personal and communal level. In Matthew 21:44, Jesus says, “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” Those who were memorialized in these stones were crushed. Thanks for the reminder that each day I must gain more courage to take time for the grief, suffering and brokenness around me. May it trip me up, and break my heart to pieces so that I can become less, and a healing presence can take my place instead.

  2. Robert
    Robert February 18, 2023 at 3:28 pm | | Reply

    Thanks so much for posting this Catherine. I had never heard of these stones before. It was sad to read about how they had worked so hard to create a life for themselves in the jewelry shop, only to have everything taken away from them. In the English translation they referred to the stones as “stumbling blocks”. It made me wonder if that is where the phrase comes from. I was also intrigued by the idea of a decentralized memorial as a way of making an impact that is broad in reach but also personal as a simple yet powerful means of remembrance. Very powerful.

  3. Val Troy
    Val Troy February 18, 2023 at 10:48 am | | Reply

    So poignant. It’d make you stop and think for sure.

  4. Berry
    Berry February 18, 2023 at 9:59 am | | Reply

    Yes. In the neighborhood where I stay in Berlin, outside as many as every third doorway along Soorstrasse just blocks from Theodore Heuss paltz U-bahn stop, there is one to 5 of thes blocks in the sidewalk. Whole families – generations of families even. A stark reminder, in a durable medium designed to LAST, of where we’ve been as a civilization, and what happened. As you said, it feels very personal when you see their house, their door, and a mere meter or two away, the brass block with their details – name, age, dates…. sometimes I view the blocks as the persons legacy, ever warning to the future.

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