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Stumbling Stone Frauentorgraben 17

Stolperstein / Stumbling Stone for:

* Rudolf Brinkmann, born 1908, arrested Dec. 1934, 1935 convicted under § 175, imprisoned 1941 Flossenbürg, murdered 17 November 1941.

Rudolf Brinkmann moved to Berlin as a student, where he was able to live as a gay despite the repressions of the Nazis who had come to power in 1933. In 1934 he was arrested during a Gestapo raid and was sent to the Lichtenburg concentration camp for 8 months. After that Rudolf Brinkmann was allowed neither to study nor to train as a bookseller. In 1938 he finally found work in Nuremberg and rented a room at Frauentorgraben 17. After a 23-year-old, to whom he had spoken in Nuremberg Central Station, denounced him, Brinkmann was sent to prison and then to the Flossenbürg concentration camp in May 1941, where he was killed 6 months later.

Flossenbürg was started as a camp for criminals, the toughest of whom dominated the camp throughout its existence even as other types of prisoners were added. The Nazis considered these prisoners to be disposable and forced them to work under harsh conditions ("destruction through labor"). Laborers first mined granite for Nazi monuments and then made parts for Messerschmidt ME-109 aircraft.

"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."

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