Stumbling Stone Hallplatz 21

Stolperstein / Stumbling Stone commemorates:

* Karl Kloss, born 1895, since 1936 arrested and convicted under §175. 1944 Nuremberg Special Court, before judgement killed himself 8 June 1944.

After the Nazis sharpened the "gay paragraph" §175 in 1935, the number of preliminary criminal investigations against homosexuals skyrocketed. Karl Friedrich Kloss was convicted several times. When he stood trial in 1944 as a "dangerous habitual criminal" and was threatened with "eradication", he hanged himself with a shirt strip while still in custody. Because he last worked as a porter in a hotel on Hallplatz 21, a Stolperstein for him was installed there in October 2017.

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the pavement in front of the last voluntary residence of (mostly Jewish) victims who were murdered by the Nazis. Each plaque is engraved with the victim’s name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: "A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten."

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!