Berta Reif

Berta Reif is a Stolperstein in Stuttgart, Germany, set into the pavement as a memorial to victims of Nazi persecution. You encounter a small brass plaque among the surfaces of everyday life. The stone marks a last freely chosen place where a persecuted person lived, worked, or studied. Its quiet position allows remembrance to enter ordinary streets without separating history from daily life.

German artist Gunter Demnig initiated the Stolpersteine project in 1992. The first stone was laid in Cologne, and the memorial has since spread across Europe. Each ten-centimetre concrete cube carries a handmade brass plate engraved with a victim’s name and life dates. Jewish victims form the majority, while Sinti and Romani people, Poles, homosexuals, disabled people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others are also remembered. Local schoolchildren, relatives, and historical organisations often research the individual histories behind the stones. The personal engraving process preserves a name where persecution tried to impose anonymity.