Antwerp and Brussels Jews argue about 'stumbling stones'

It all started with a project by the German artist Gunther Demnig. To commemorate the victims of the Nazi regime, he designed "Stolpersteine" (stumbling stones). A sett of 10 by 10 centimeters with a brass plate is placed in the ground in front of the house where lived during World War II, a victim of the Nazis.

The plate are the name and date of birth of the victim, when the victim was arrested and his deportation data. The intention is that those who walk past just not trip, but must bend or to read the data and thus reminded of the Holocaust.

In more than a thousand cities and communities in eighteen countries have now put tens of thousands of Stolpersteine. In Belgium a few dozen, mostly in Brussels and Wallonia, but not in Antwerp, to the annoyance of the Brussels francophone association Diasporique Agence d'Information.

Patrick Janssens

Initially, let the organization know that they should now protest Monday during the commemoration ceremony holding the Forum of Jewish Organizations (FJO) every year at the Monument to the Deported Antwerp's Jewish citizens. Following protests from the Forum will take place the action Monday for the Antwerp city hall. The activists point Mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) with your finger, but it was his predecessor, Patrick Janssens (SP.A) already refused to places that stumbling stone, as the Jewish organizations themselves are not asking.

Research by the University of Antwerp in thousand Jews in 2012 showed that only 13 percent of Dutch speakers and 29 per cent of French speakers in favor of the stumbling stones.

300 euros

"Memorials which is run in which dogs do their gevoeg and spitting people: no, we find a respectful way to commemorate our murdered family," says Regine Sluszny, vice president of the FJO. "A plaque would be better, but in these houses now live other families, which is not feasible. Moreover, the stone often come to lie in streets where new Belgians living, which are less sensitive to the commemoration of the Shoah. "

Another argument is the price: 120 euros for whom it buys in Germany, the Belgian Association pour la Mémoire de la Shoah is 300 euros. "What about people who are not wealthy, they are not remembered? By the way, the family of a victim who applies for such a stumbling stone. But jobs are entire families disappeared, they would not be remembered, "says Sluszny.

The Antwerp Jewish organizations are already one and a half years in consultation with the Antwerp city government to erect a monument which would be the names of Jews who were sent to concentration camps and have not returned. By the end would certainly have to be where the monument is this year and how it will look. "Our survey shows that the majority of Antwerp's Jews still prefer a monument," said Sluszny.

By Editorial Standard: Inge Ghijs Photo: Bart Dewaele