A street in Belgrade with some of the ‘stumbling block’ memorials in the foreground. Photo: BIRN. Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian CapitalMilica StojanovicBelgradeBIRNJuly 5, 202216:31 German artist Gunter Demnig, whose work preserves the memory of Holocaust victims, installed his famous brass ‘stumbling block’ memorials at five locations in Belgrade.

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Gunter Demnig installed five brass plaques known as Stolpersteine (‘stumbling blocks’) in Belgrade on Tuesday, engraved with the names of Holocaust victims, where they born and where they died.

One was installed in Belgrade city centre in front of the building where the Dajc family – Emil, Avgusta, Hilda and Hans – lived. The second location was were well-known Belgrade architect Matvey Ajzinberg lived and third is where publisher Geca Kon and his wife Elza lived.

The others were installed in the Zemun district where Aleksandar Bril lived and in in the Senjak district where Simon and Evgenija Bril lived.

During the ceremony outside the Dajc family’s former home, the president of Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia, Robert Sabados, praised German artist Demnig’s work to “preserve the names of our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, neighbours, friends, who were taken away, torn out, destroyed, even left without a burial place by the mindless Second World War”.

“The stone is there to encourage passers-by, neighbours, bystanders, me, you, all of us, to stop in this hectic moment, read the record and look around in disbelief and ask ourselves the eternal question: ‘Is it possible that this happened?’” Sabados said.

The Stolpersteine project was initiated in 1992 by Demnig, who has installed tens of thousands of small concrete cubes with brass plaques remembering the victims of the Nazis all across Europe. The ‘stumbling blocks’ are placed by the building in which the victim last lived or worked of their own free will.

Belgrade was occupied by the Nazis during World War II and thousands of Jews, Serbs and Roma died in a concentration camp in the city.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

Entrance to a  building in Dobracina Street where Geca and Elza Kon lived with ‘stumbling blocks’ in front of it. Photo: BIRN.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

‘Stumbling blocks’ with information about Geca Kon (left) and his wife Elza (right). He was born in 1873, arrested in 1941 and killed the same year in Vienna. She was born in 1881, arrested in 1941 and shot in Jabuka. Photo: BIRN.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

Entrance to a building in Marsala Birjuzova Street where the Dajc family lived, with ‘stumbling blocks’ in front of it. Photo: BIRN.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

‘Stumbling blocks’ with information about the Dajc family. Emil Dajc (top left) was born in 1883, his wife Avgusta (top right) was born in 1889, his daughter Hilda (bottom left) was born in 1922 and her brother Hans (bottom right) in 1924. Emil, Avgusta and Hans were interned at the Staro Sajmiste concentration camp in Belgrade in 1942 and killed same year. Hilda volunteered to help at the Jewish hospital in Staro Sajmiste in 1941, and was killed the following year . Photo: BIRN.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

A building in Andre Nikolica Street where Simon and Evgenija Bril lived, with ‘stumbling blocks’ in front of it. Photo: BIRN.

Memorials Installed Outside Holocaust Victims’ Homes in Serbian Capital

‘Stumbling stones’ with information about Evgenija Bril (left) and Simon Bril (right). She was born in 1882, interned at the Staro Sajmiste concentration camp in 1941 and later killed. He was born in 1911, interned in the Nis concentration camp in 1941 and killed the following year. Photo: BIRN.

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