Snublesteiner | Museum

A man is not forgotten until his name is forgotten.

According to Jewish tradition, a person dies twice – first at the time of their earthly death, then when their name is said or thought for the last time. The German artist Gunter Demnig has taken up this way of thinking and used it as the starting point for the art and memorial project Stolpersteine or Snublesteiner. Each stone is designed as a 10x10cm cobblestone, covered with a brass plate on which the name, year of birth, year of deportation, date and place of death are engraved. Each stone represents one single person, one individual. The stones are cast into the pavement in places where Jews or other victims of Nazism lived or worked until they were deported and killed.

This is what we stand for

As a museum for a national minority, we strive for quality, accessibility, collaboration and continuous innovation in everything we do. We shall be relevant, timely, inclusive and respectful in all aspects of our work. These values guide us in fulfilling our mandate in a meaningful and sustainable way.

We don't stumble over stones – we stumble over names, over lives that were broken but never forgotten.

Stumbling blocks

Explore stumbling blocks that mark important Jewish sites in Trondheim.

Stumbling blocks are more than a person.
We cannot bring our relatives back to life, but we can give their names new life. The Jewish Museum in Trondheim The Jewish Museum in Oslo runs the project in Norway and collaborates on laying stones for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The first ones were laid in 2010 at Calmeyersgate 15 in Oslo, where the museum is established in a former synagogue. In 1942, a total of 28 Jews lived in the tenement house in front of the synagogue building, several of whom were refugees from Europe. 19 of the 28, including several children, were deported and killed in Auschwitz. All 19 have each received their own stumbling block on the sidewalk outside. Calmeyersgate 15 is the address in the country where the most Jews were arrested in one place.

Local anchoring
The Jewish Museum Trondheim is responsible for planning and implementing the closures in the Nordenfjellet region, and has contributed to laying stones in, among others, Trondheim, Brønnøysund, Ålesund, Tromsø and Kristiansund, Berlevåg and Hammerfest.

How does the project work?

Descendants, enthusiasts and municipalities have been involved in having stones placed for the Jews who were deported. The stones have had ripple effects in the local communities. The project has aroused great commitment, which provides the entire local community, and schoolchildren in particular, with new knowledge. In several places, the stones are actively used in teaching, and schoolchildren are given responsibility for maintaining the brass plates on the stones.

As we somehow “stumble” upon these memorials where we live, where we walk, where we work, we will hopefully understand that the names we read represent living people. The stones demand that we not forget and are a reminder that the Holocaust happened here too and not just somewhere else, far away.

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