Occasioned by remarks from a far-right politician, leading German politicians – including Heiko Maas, the country’s minister of justice – rushed to avow their support for the Stolpersteine in a debate in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament.

Commenting on the debate, Terry Swartzberg, chairperson of the Initiative Stolpersteine für München e.V., stated: “Each Stolperstein – and there are now more than 65,000 of them – reinforces Europe’s bulwark against haters and forgetters. Stolpersteine are found in more than 1,600 cities in 21 countries. They constitute the continent’s lightning rod against those who espouse persecution and defamation.”