The Stolpersteine project, which has already set around 70,000 plated stones along the streets of some twenty countries, pays homage to the Jews deported to Nazi concentration camps. Each stone is set in front of the person’s documented residence, contains the name and dates of their birth, exile and deportation and states whether they died or survived their deportation.

The project was launched in the 1990s, thanks to the German artist Günter Denmig, as a civic memorial response recording the absence of all the individuals deported to the various extermination camps.

A work for learning about the past

The initiative has been taken to schools, enabling students to work on their technical and documentary knowledge by collecting the life stories of these individuals and the social and historical contexts that led to the rise of fascism and Nazism.

The first of the Stolpersteine plated stones was set in C/ Ferlandina, 65, in Ciutat Vella, in memory of Eliseu Villalba Nebot. This resident was born on 4 April 1905 in Poble-sec and was a member of the ERC political party and the deputy-director of the Mercat del Ninot. He enlisted and fought at the front, in response to Franco’s coup d’état, but went into exile in France after the Republican defeat.

The German invasion of France led to Eliseu Villalba’s arrest and deportation to Mauthausen and subsequently Gusen concentration camps. He was liberated and repatriated. He died on 12 July 1977 as a result of a car accident.

The setting ceremony was attended by family members, friends and student representatives of the Institut Infanta Isabel d’Aragó school. The Memòria Democràtica website contains the stories of twelve Barcelona residents who will have Stolpersteine dedicated to them.