Stumbling Stones Via Appia Nuova 451

This memorial stone (Stolperstein or stumbling block) commemorates:
* Francesco Galeotti, born 1889, arrested as a political opponent 30 December 1943, deported to Mauthausen, murdered 28 July 1944, Hartheim Castle.

Francesco Galeotti was a printer, anarchist and anti-fascist. For 20 years he was the Technical Director of a printing plant called "Il Vascello". Even after the Nazis took over the plant, he secretly continued for two more months to print subversive, anti-fascist materials. In December 1943, he was discovered, arrested and then deported from Rome with hundreds of others on 4 January 1944. He was killed at age 55.

Hartheim Castle was near Mauthausen Camp. In 1940, it became one of six early killing centers for Aktion T4, a program to murder all mentally and physically disabled persons living in institutions. Hartheim had gas chambers disguised as shower rooms and crematoria to dispose of the bodies. Aktion T4 was a kind of "dress rehearsal" for the larger-scale mass murders to come.

In 2012, Francesco Galeotti was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and in January 2013, a stolperstein (pietra d’inciampo) was installed for him.

The small brass plaques, in the pavement in front of houses of which the (mostly Jewish) residents were persecuted or murdered by the Nazis, mention the name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death.

In many other cities, mainly in Germany but also in other European countries, the memorials also can be found. There are already many thousands of these plaques and their number is still counting. Almost all Stolpersteine are laid by the German artist himself, Gunter Demnig.

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