German town of Heidenau bans Stolpersteine memorials following joint vote by AfD and CDU

Council vote in Heidenau

On Thursday evening, 24 September 2026, the town council of Heidenau in Saxony approved a measure prohibiting the placement of new Stolpersteine on public sidewalks. The motion passed by secret ballot with 13 votes in favor, six against, and one abstention. The proposal was initiated by René Kirsten of the local civic group Bürgerinitiative Oberelbe für mehr Demokratie (BOD) and received decisive backing from councillors representing the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The municipal administration in the town near Dresden opposed the ban, arguing that decentralized memorials situated directly in daily public spaces remain central to remembrance.

Relocation to the Nordfriedhof

Heidenau currently contains five brass stumbling stones. Debates over the memorials began after the Alternative Cultural and Educational Center of Saxony applied for permission to install seven additional stones, offering to fund all associated costs. Proponents of the ban asserted that pedestrians stepping over brass plaques embedded in sidewalks disrespects the memory of Nazi victims. The council decided instead to establish a centralized memorial site at the town's Nordfriedhof cemetery for victims of war, terror, dictatorships, expulsion, and National Socialism. Opponents, including Free Democratic Party councillor Norbert Bläsner, countered that Holocaust victims require distinct and visible remembrance within the cityscape.

In favor13

Against6

Abstentions1

In favor

13 votes

Against

6 votes

Abstentions

1 votes

Data from the article text

Political backlash across Germany

The joint vote between the CDU and the AfD prompted criticism from federal politicians and survivor organizations. Federal Education Minister Karin Prien, a CDU member, condemned the outcome and stated that her party in Saxony shared responsibility for the decision.

“Anyone who banishes Stolpersteine and memorial sites commemorating Jewish life from public spaces to the cemetery is prioritising death over life and rendering Jewish people invisible once again.”

Christoph Heubner, executive vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, also criticized the cooperation between CDU representatives and the AfD in the local council.

“This is a transparent and shabby attempt to throw Heidenau's Nazi victims out of the town once again and dispose of them where, in the AfD's opinion, commemoration has long belonged: in the cemetery.”

Green Party co-leader Felix Banaszak described the vote as a scandal, pointing to the breach of political distance between mainstream parties and the AfD.

Project history and artist response

The Stolperstein initiative was launched in the 1990s by German artist Gunter Demnig, who laid the first brass plaque in Cologne in 1992. The project has expanded internationally, with source estimates indicating between 116,000 and 128,000 brass plaques installed across more than 30 European countries. The 78-year-old artist, based in Alsfeld, rejected the claim that pedestrians walking over stones was disrespectful and stated that he would continue the project.

“These ladies and gentlemen who made the decision should never enter St. Peter's Basilica again. You have to walk over graves there.”

Demnig also stated that the CDU should consider dropping the Christian initial from its name for abandoning its values. Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and president of the Jewish Community of Munich, noted that while Munich uses wall plaques rather than stumbling stones on municipal land, decentralized commemoration in public space remains vital to Germany's culture of remembrance.