Stumbling Stone Via Taranto 178

This memorial stone (Stolperstein or stumbling block) commemorates:
* Col. Eugenio Paladini, born 1896, deported 8 September 1943, died at Meppen, 25 October 1943.

Col. Paladini and his regiment were captured in Albania by the Germans and taken to Meppen where they became part of the forced labor for the Reich.

His son Arrigo Paladini also went into military service and the resistance. In May 1944, he was denounced, then arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Germans. One approach was to tell him that they would have his father executed if he didn’t betray his resistance comrades. He remained silent and was freed by the Allies in June 1944. Upon finally learning of his father’s death, he assumed for years that he was responsible for it. Later, Arrigo was given a last letter from his father, explaining that one day, a German soldier humiliated him so profoundly that he felt he could not longer live. Eugenio killed himself with poison, leaving behind his wife and children. Then the family hid the truth about Eugenio’s death because of deep cultural and religious stigmas against suicide. It was Arrigo’s wife, Elvira Sabbatini Paladini who finally revealed the story in her 1995 book, "Arrigo Paladini: Lungo il sentiero della libertà" (Arrigo Paladini: Along freedom’s path).

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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