In school, the concept of National Socialism came up again and again. We were presented with the background and consequences of that historical period many times and in different school subjects. However, “Euthanasia” and the forced sterilisation of people with mental/physical disabilities or a mental illness had never been thematised. This is a theme that requires you to engage with the subject matter. That is why I chose to occupy myself with the topic within the given framework.

Particularly memorable for me was the intensive engagement with the poems that Grete had written. To read the lines and to feel the suffering accompanying the verses, afforded me an intimate insight into the extent of the torments to which the victims of sterilisation and “Euthanasia” were subjected.

To honour them by laying stumbling stones in their memory was, I felt, a fitting way to round off everything. The calm presence of the stones, giving us space to remember these people, makes them a completely unique type of memorial. In addition, the act of laying the stones was characterised by this calmness. The individual stages in Gunter Demnig’s practiced procedure also make clear how commonplace this type of inhuman crime was at the time.

Much has happened since then. There is no doubt about that. However, the deeper I delved into the subject matter, the more I realised that we could have achieved a lot more. The stigmatisation of people with disabilities and mental illnesses is still an everyday occurrence. It must be thematised and dealt with accordingly.

Ruth Rohmer, July 2021