Stolperstein commemoration Milena Jesenská installed

A commemorative cobblestone, called Stolperstein, has been placed in front of a house on Kouřimská street in Prague’s Vinohrady neighborhood in memory of the writer and journalist Milena Jesenská, who was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 and died in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944. Jesenská was a close friend of Franz Kafka and had joined an underground resistance movement after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, for which she was arrested. The Stolperstein cobblestones have been installed in various European cities in front of houses where victims of the Nazi regime resided before their deportation or arrest. In the upcoming days, 89 such stones will be placed around Prague and in a number of other Czech cities. This Sunday, a Stolperstein will be installed in Prague in memory of Přemysl Šámal, who was the first mayor of the city after Czechoslovakia gained independence in 1918.

Author: Masha Volynsky