SHARE
COPY LINK

GERMAN WORD OF THE DAY

German word of the day: Stolpersteine

You’ll see this word a lot on and around November 9th in Germany, commemorating the Jews murdered by the Nazis.

German word of the day: Stolpersteine
Photo credit: Francesco Ungaro / Unsplash + Nicolas Raymond / flickr

What does it mean?

Stolpersteine, literally translated as “stumbling stones,” are small brass plates found outside the former residences of Jews taken, deported, and murdered during the Holocaust.

Each one is put in place of an old cobblestone outside the residence, wherever it is – even if the residence is no longer there or someone else currently lives there. If multiple Jews were taken from the residence, multiple Stolpersteine may appear there. Typically engraved on the plates is “hier wohnte” or “here lived” followed by the person’s name, maiden name if a married woman, date of birth, and the place and date of their death – typically in a ghetto or camp.

How do you use it or where might you see it?

Stolpersteine is a noun generally used in most contexts and understood to be implicitly plural, although you can also explicitly indicate plural use by saying die Stolpersteinen. In both cases, use the article die. If you want to make it clear that you’re talking about a single such brass plate, you can use the masculine der Stolperstein.

Stolpersteine are found predominantly in Germany, but are laid in cities around Europe, with the help of a German foundation. You’ll likely find a few newspaper articles about Stolpersteine around this time of year as Germans commemorate Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass” on November 9th, 1938, which saw Jewish-owned businesses and synagogues targeted with violence, with the blessing of the ruling Nazis.

READ ALSO: ‘Everything has changed’: What led to, and followed, Kristallnacht?

A Stolperstein dedicated to Dagny Herzberg is laid outside her former residence in Schönwalde-Glien, near Berlin in May 2022.

On the Kristallnacht anniversary every year, some people in Germany will pay their respects to victims by laying flowers at Stolpersteine, or by polishing the brass plates so they shine again in renewed remembrance and respect.

In addition to news articles, you might find tips on how to polish Stolpersteine in YouTube videos, for example.

You might, for example, see a clipping or video with this headline.

Stolpersteine reinigen. Eine einfache Anleitung – Cleaning Stolpersteine. A simple guide

READ ALSO: Stolpersteine: Standing defiantly in communities amid rising tensions

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

GERMAN WORD OF THE DAY

German word of the day: Sommersonnenwende

This German word marks the changing of seasons, and the longest day of the year.

German word of the day: Sommersonnenwende

Die Sommersonnenwende, pronounced like this, is the German term for the summer solstice, which is the day that marks the meteorological beginning of summer in Germany and the northern hemisphere.

Alternative names for the day are Sommer Solstitium, which comes from the Latin term, and Mittsommer.

Like so many great German words, the term for the summer solstice is a compound noun which translates quite literally. It’s made up of three simple words: Sommer (summer), Sonnen (sun) and Wende (turn or turnaround).

So the name for the summer solstice in German is meant to remind you that this is the day that the sun ends its journey northward in the sky, and turns around.

As you can probably guess, the winter solstice is called die Wintersonnenwende.

You might recognise the term Wende from another compound noun that got a fair amount of attention in recent years – Energiewende, which means energy transition, has also been used to describe Germany’s big picture plans to phase out fossil fuel use.

The summer solstice usually falls on June 21st or 22nd. But it fell on June 20th this year, due to 2024 being a leap year.

How is ‘die Sommersonnenwende’ observed in Germany

Humans have taken note of, and celebrated, the summer solstice for thousands of years.

Archaeologists suggest that Stone Age cultures were already able to determine the day. Evidence of this was uncovered in 2004 at the site of a 7000-year-old solar observatory found in Goseck in Saxony-Anhalt.

Among Germanic tribes, the summer solstice was celebrated with pagan folk festivals that often included fire rituals.

After Christianization of the region, the Catholic Church tried to abolish the pagan solstice traditions – eventually designating the day for a memorial day for John the Baptist (June 24th), and adopting the fire as a symbol for Jesus Christ. 

Most of the original solstice traditions have been lost, but some are being reinvigorated for tourism, especially on the Baltic Sea coast.

More broadly, the long daylight hours experienced in the weeks before and after the summer solstice, offer a chance to stay out or do outdoor activities late into the evening. There are also a number of music festivals around Germany at this time of year.

READ ALSO: How to make the most of Germany’s long summer days

Use it like this:

Die Sonne geht so spät unter, es muss die Sommersonnenwende sein.

The sun is setting so late, it must be the summer solstice!

Haben Sie dieses Jahr Pläne, die Sommersonnenwende zu feiern?

Do you have plans to celebrate the summer soltice this year?

SHOW COMMENTS