Stumbling across history

Today there is a wintry-chill in the air with a strong wind blowing. Not a bad day to discuss a chilling subject.

On the streets of many German cities (I am not really certain how widespread the practice is) are something called "stumble stones." They record that certain people once lived at this address and that they were deported by the Nazis in World War II. They usually then note where they were killed. Above, you can see the bare outlines of the fate of the Badens and Weinbergers. "Hier Wohnte" means "Here lived." The Badens once owned a shoe store in Lueneburg. As the stones say they were deported to Riga in 1941 and 1942 and "ermordet" or murdered in Minsk, an out-of-Germany killing site for many German Jews. The Weinbergers, apparently a mother and her children, were deported in 1943 and murdered in Auschwitz.