Seeking out Absence: Stolpersteine Part II
February was full of weekends out and about, and I've relished the recent weekends here in Ostrava. Last night, I visited with one of my dearest Czech friends, and enjoyed a delicious evening walk home in the solace of my quiet Czech neighborhood, finding myself strangely romanced by the gilding of fluorescent all around as well as the spidery lines of the pavement. I returned home eager to have a nice hometown adventure.
Opening up one of my cabinets, I pulled out brochures, pamphlets, and books which were given to me my first week in Ostrava. After considering visiting scattered boulders from a former glacier, the zither museum, or the planetarium, I settled on two courses of action. The first was wandering through my particular neighborhood and documenting the Socialist Realist architecture which abounds. The second was to find the remainder of the Stolpersteine spread throughout this city. (You'll recall that stolpersteine are memorials placed at the former residences of Jews who were deported during WWII.) Though a bit brisk, the low 40s weather and sunny skies were suitable to my endeavors. The volume of photos of Stalinist architecture causes me to delay publishing anything about that, but I will show the documentation of the stolpersteine. So far there are 24 in this city, and I still have not found and/or documented them all, but here are the ones I have.
Opening up one of my cabinets, I pulled out brochures, pamphlets, and books which were given to me my first week in Ostrava. After considering visiting scattered boulders from a former glacier, the zither museum, or the planetarium, I settled on two courses of action. The first was wandering through my particular neighborhood and documenting the Socialist Realist architecture which abounds. The second was to find the remainder of the Stolpersteine spread throughout this city. (You'll recall that stolpersteine are memorials placed at the former residences of Jews who were deported during WWII.) Though a bit brisk, the low 40s weather and sunny skies were suitable to my endeavors. The volume of photos of Stalinist architecture causes me to delay publishing anything about that, but I will show the documentation of the stolpersteine. So far there are 24 in this city, and I still have not found and/or documented them all, but here are the ones I have.
zde bydlel(a) "here lived" [the "a" is added for females]
nar. "born"
deportován(a) "deported/exiled"
do . . . "to . . . "
zavražděna "murdered"
v . . . "in [location] "
v osvětimi "in Auschwitz"
na pochodu smrti "in death march"
v osvětimi "in Auschwitz"
na pochodu smrti "in death march"
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