Stolpersteine memory stones

This morning, the first of 25 Stolpersteine stones to remember victims of Nazi persecution, was laid in front of the Town Hall in memory of Peter Bruce Johnson.

The Stolpersteine, which translates from German as “stumble stones”, will be installed at an address with a connection to the person being remembered. The story of the individual will be read out at each location.

This follows on from the first phase of the project last year where 20 stones were installed in Jersey to remember, in all but two instances, survivors of Nazi persecution.

Peter Bruce Johnson, an Australian whose stone now lies outside the Town Hall, was deaf and mute and was arrested by the German Secret Field Police for acts of sabotage. He is expected to have died in 1944 at Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in the Harz Mountains after he was deported to the prison at Saint-Lô, France. He is absent from all archives but existed in the memory of former political prisoner Joe Miere.

Thank you to the following individuals for their words at this morning’s ceremony:

Chris Addy, Jersey Heritage

Lord Pickles, co-chair of the UK’s Holocaust Memorial Foundation

Professor Gilly Carr, Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Holocaust Heritage

Pat Fisher, the daughter of Joseph Tierney, who is being memorialised

Simon Crowcroft, Constable of St Helier

David Crawford, representative of Australians in Jersey