The winner of the Benedict Prize of Mönchengladbach, the artist and initiator of the Stolpersteine, Gunter Demnig, wants to use the donated prize money for new Stolpersteine in the flood-ravaged Ahr valley. The artist has now informed the chairman of the association “Benediktpreis von Mönchengladbach”, Helmut Linnenbrink, in a letter. The prize is endowed with 5000 euros. The sum is provided by the Gladbacher Bank. Demnig wrote: “All stumbling stones damaged or washed away by the flood will be reinstated by us.” A possible remaining sum is to flow into school projects supervised by Katja Demnig, the artist’s wife.
Throughout Europe, Demnig commemorates the victims of the Nazi dictatorship with his Stolpersteine. At their last place of residence, he sets brass memorial stones in the pavement, thus keeping alive the memory of people who lived there before they were deported, expelled and murdered by the National Socialists.
