German town votes to ban Holocaust memorial plaques after AfD and Merz conservatives unite on council

From the Newshound archive · first published 28 September 2026.

The city council of Heidenau, south-east of Dresden, voted last week to halt the laying of Stolpersteine — engraved brass plaques bearing the names of Holocaust victims set into pavements near their former homes. The vote passed with the support of both AfD councillors and members of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union. Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said he was "ashamed", revealing that some of the plaques in Berlin commemorated his own relatives. The move has drawn condemnation across Germany, with the state commissioner for political education in Schleswig-Holstein among those to blast the decision.

The Stolpersteine, created by artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, now number more than 126,000 across 30 countries and are the closest thing many Holocaust victims have to a grave.

Councillors backing the ban argued that relatives of victims find the stones disrespectful because members of the public walk over them.

Ron Prosor wrote on X: 'And in Germany in the year 2026, a city council decides to no longer install new Stolpersteine.'