Following the traces of memory: the Stumbling blocks

In the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Municipality of Parma and ISREC, Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea, together with the Jewish community of Parma presented the “Stumbling blocks” by the German artist Gunter Demning, creator of the project.

The initiative is already present in other European countries and it consists in incorporating, in the road surface of the city, a memorial for the residents who were deported to concentration camps by nazists between 1943 and 1944. In front of the last known residence or the work places of these victims, are placed these squared stones covered in brass, bearing the name, date of birth, date and place from which they were deported, as well as the date of death when it’s known.

The word “stumbling” is meant not in a physical intent, but visual and mental, to make people stop and reflect, even when casually passing by.

The list of the blocks laid:

for the family Della Pergola three blocks in via Pomponio Torelli 10 (from 2017);
for the Levi sisters two blocks in via Bixio 116 (from 2017);
for the family Polizzi four blocks in vicolo Santa Maria 6 (from 2017);
for the family Fano six blocks in strada del Quartiere 9 (from 2017);
for Nullo Foà one block on Piazza Garibaldi 1 (from 2018);
for Renzo Mosé Levi one block in via Cavallotti 30 (from 2018);
for Giuseppe and Sergio Barbieri two blocks in viale delle Rimembranze 36 (from 2018);
for Ulda Camerini one block in via Duca Alessandro 56 (from 2018).

The last blocks were laid on the 6th of February 2019 created by the students of the School of art “Paolo Toschi”, and will be eventually replaced by the original ones of the artist Gunter Demnig.

for Samuel Spritzman one block in Strada Martiri della Libertà;
for Luigi Longhi one block in Via della Salute 46;
for Doralice Muggia one block in Strada dell’Università, 9;
for Ugo Franchini one block in Via Pellegrino Strobel

for Gino Ravanetti one block in Via Emilia Est 54 (from January 2020);
for Augusto Olivieri one block in Viale Bottego 10 (from January 2020);
for Gino Amadasi one block in Via XX Marzo 11 (from January 2020);
for Renzo Ildebrando Bocchi one block in Via Bixio 64 (from January 2020);

from 27 January 2021:
Via A.Saffi Arnaldo Canali, nato nel 1894, arrestato il 13.7.1944, deportato Flossenburg, assassinato il 16.11.1944
Viale Basetti, 12 Michele Valenti, nato nel 1894, catturato nel 1943, Internato Meppen, Liberato il 25.5.1945
Stadio “E. Tardini“, piazzale Risorgimento Renzo Cavallina, nato nel 1921, catturato l’8.9.1943, internato Berlino, liberato il 20.9.1945
Liceo Romagnosi, viale Maria Luigia, 1 Giorgio Nullo Foà, nato nel 1919, arrestato il 29.9.1943, deportato Auschwitz, assassinato il 4.2.1944
Via Bixio 151 Giuseppe Fragni, nato nel 1922, catturato il 15.4.1944, internato Germania, liberato il 25.5.1945
Via Costituente 4/A Piero Iotti, nato nel 1926, arrestato il 15.11.1944, deportato Mauthausen Gusen, liberato il 5.5.1945

from January 27, 2023:
borgo della Pace 8, dedicata a Sergio Larini
via XX Marzo 9, dedicata a Luigi Lusardi;
via Racagni 12, dedicata a Marcellino Jannucci;
via Navetta 33, dedicata a Luciano Iaschi.

At the Tourist office of Parma you can find a map with all the blocks locations..