Gunter Demnig: Karl Küpper Prize for the inventor of the stumbling blocks

Gunter Demnig: Karl Küpper Prize for the inventor of the stumbling blocks

Köln, Deutschland - Gunter Demnig, the creative pioneer behind the stumbling blocks, was honored with the Karl Küpper Prize, an important award for his tireless efforts for memory of the victims of National Socialism. The festive award took place in the historic town hall of Cologne, where Demnig, which appeared in rustic work clothes, accepted this prestigious price. The price endowed with 10,000 euros was awarded for his outstanding commitment and his civil courage, as the city of Cologne emphasized in its reasoning. This award aims to honor people who are committed to a diverse society and human rights, and comes at a time when civil courage is required to fight for forgetting.

an unforgettable inheritance

Demnig has laid over 113,000 stumbling blocks in 32 countries to this day, which are reminiscent of the fates of people who were persecuted. These small, brass -layer memorial cubes are installed in over 1,200 German municipalities and numerous other countries. They stand in front of the former places of residence or sites of the victims - including Jews, Sinti and Roma as well as homosexuals and political persecuted. The campaign is considered the largest decentralized memorial in the world, which is growing steadily and keeps memory alive. In his words of thanks, Demig reflected on the beginnings of his work and emphasized that the first stumbling block was laid without permission, which earned him a certain nervousness because it did not want to be reported for theft. To date, he has set around 3,000 stumbling blocks in Cologne alone.

The award ceremony, which took place on December 8, was not only a tribute to Demnig, but also a request for vigilance against current tendencies of suppression. Mayor Henriette Reker, who was part of the jury, also praised the long-term campaign as "really awesome" and underlined the importance of demnig's work for civil courage in public spaces. The price itself was introduced to commemorate the courageous carnivalist Karl Küpper, who used political humor as a weapon during National Socialism to fight the regime, and took great personal risks, as [Deutschlandfunk] reported.

The award is considered extraordinarily important, especially at a time when memorials are often affected by vandalism-a topic that spoke in his acceptance speech, but without being carried out by his project to continue the stumbling block campaign. "As long as the knees participate," joked Demnig, who cannot be discouraged by lack of student support in Thuringia, where the statements of interest have increased recently, as [ksta.de] noted.