Heidenau bans street plaques for Nazi victims
German town bans 'stumbling stone' memorials to Nazi victims
Saturday, 26 September 2026
Warm-up
- How does your town remember past events or people?
- Should memorials be on streets or in special places? Why?
- Have you ever noticed a small plaque on a building or pavement?
Vocabulary
- memorial
- Something that helps people remember a person or event.
- plaque
- A flat metal plate with words or names on it.
- ban
- To officially stop something from being allowed.
- councillor
- An elected member of a town or city council.
- cemetery
- A place where people are buried.
- donation
- Money given to help a project or cause.
- survivor
- A person who has lived through a very hard or dangerous event.
- extremist
- A person or group with very extreme political ideas.
Reading
A wave of criticism has followed a decision in Heidenau, a town near Dresden in Saxony, to ban “stumbling stone” memorials for victims of the Nazis. Germany’s education minister, Karin Prien, called the move a scandal. Since the 1990s, Stolpersteine have spread across Europe, including Germany and Austria. The small brass plaques are often set outside victims’ homes or workplaces and are frequently funded by donations.
Councillors from the AfD and the conservative CDU in Heidenau voted for the ban. In Saxony, the AfD has been labelled extreme-right by intelligence services, and some branches are classed as extremist, which the party rejects. The council motion said some citizens felt this kind of commemoration was inappropriate. It said future memorials should be placed at the city’s Nordfriedhof cemetery so people cannot step on them.
CDU politician Karin Prien criticised her own party’s role. Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch also opposed removing memorials from the cityscape.
Comprehension
- Which town decided to ban the stumbling stone memorials?
- Who called the decision a scandal?
- Which parties’ councillors voted for the ban in Heidenau?
- Where did the motion say future memorials should be placed?
- Why did the council want memorials moved to the cemetery?
Grammar focus
Present perfect vs past simple
Present perfect = have/has + past participle: use it for past actions that continue or have results now. Past simple = past form: use it for finished actions at a specific past time (yesterday, last year).
- A wave of criticism has followed a decision in Heidenau
- Councillors from the AfD and the conservative CDU voted for the ban.
Grammar exercise
Complete each sentence with the correct verb form.
- Since the ban, residents (express) ___ concern.
- Yesterday, councillors (debate) ___ the memorials again.
- So far volunteers (collect) ___ donations for replacements.
- Last year officials (place) ___ memorials at a cemetery.
- Recently people (send) ___ messages of support.
Discussion
- Are street memorials better than memorials in cemeteries? Why?
- What places in your city should have memorial plaques, and why?
- How should towns decide where remembrance belongs?
- Can small memorials in daily life change public attitudes?
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