REMEMBRANCE – The Stolpersteine land in Ferrara

“Remembrance cannot be an occasional, celebratory event, but must be an integral part of everyday life.” With these words Fortunato Arbib, president of the Jewish Community of Ferrara, introduced a historic moment for the city: the laying of the first Stolpersteine (literally: stumbling stones), scheduled for 16 January in Via Mazzini.
The initiative, part of a project spread throughout Europe, will arrive 5 in the city of the House of Este in 2025 thanks to the Municipality of Ferrara and the local Jewish Community, in collaboration with the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (Meis) and other institutions. The aim is to preserve the memory of the victims of the Nazi-Fascist deportations in Ferrara.
The Stolpersteine, designed by the Berlin artist Gunter Demnig, are small cement blocks covered with a brass plate engraved with the biographical data of the victims of the Nazi-Fascist deportations. They are placed in front of the last known homes of the deportees and, in Ferrara, in via Mazzini, in memory of 15 people from three families: the Rietti-Cavalieri, the Forti-Jesi-Lampronti and the Fink-Bassani-Lampronti families. “To stumble over these shiny blocks bearing the details of the missing will bring to light something essential: they contain not only names to be mentioned, but the history of entire families in Ferrara,” Arbib recalled.
2010: the first stumbling stone in Rome
The laying of the stumbling stones has involved many Italian cities over the past fifteen years starting with Rome, which was a pioneer with the laying of the first Stolperstein in Italy in 2010, on the initiative of the Arteinmemoria association. “Fifteen years after its debut, ours is still a living project that mobilises many forces: schools, families, institutions, municipalities,” said Adachiara Zevi, president of Arteinmemoria. The first stones of 2025 were laid in Rome on 13 and 14 January. Demnig’s project then moved on to Florence and Siena, and will continue in Venice, Milan and other Italian cities before returning to Rome on 12 February.