History Beneath Her Feet: Olivia’s Journey with Freiburg’s Stolpersteine
When Olivia first arrived at UWC Robert Bosch College (RBC), she already knew Freiburg’s Stolpersteine well.
As a child, she often visited the city with her mother, who grew up in Freiburg. Walking through the streets, her mother would point out the small brass plaques embedded in the pavement—each one bearing the name of a person who once lived there before being persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime.
“Once you see them,” Olivia says, “you can never unsee them.”
So when she discovered that RBC partners with Freiburg’s Stolpersteine initiative through the service learning project Yesterday? Today! Remembering Nazi Persecution in Freiburg, she immediately wanted to join. She applied in her first year but didn’t get a place. This year, she finally did.
Now, as she prepares to graduate, Olivia describes the project as one of the most meaningful experiences of her time at UWC.
A Student-Led Contribution to Freiburg’s Culture of Remembrance
The service learning project is part of a collaboration between the College, the local Stolpersteine initiative founded by Marlis Meckel, and the NS-Dokumentationszentrum Freiburg. Together, students help ensure that the stories behind Freiburg’s more than 500 Stolpersteine remain accessible to the public.
Their work is both practical and deeply personal: students clean the stones throughout the city, research the biographies of those commemorated, translate texts, and maintain the Stolpersteine website, where visitors can learn more about the individuals behind each brass plaque.
What initially seemed like administrative work quickly became deeply moving for Olivia.
“You start by researching a name, trying to piece together what is known about this person,” she explains. “Then, a week later, you might be standing in front of their former house, cleaning their stone. Suddenly, you feel like you know them.”
History You Can Touch
For Olivia, the physical act of polishing the stones became a powerful form of remembrance.
“It felt symbolic,” she says. “Even if it seems like a small act, hunching over and scrubbing the stone felt like a personal service for each person.”
That tangible connection between historical research and the streets of Freiburg made the past feel immediate and real.
Growing up in the United States, Olivia says she rarely encountered this kind of public remembrance.
“There aren’t many physical reminders that force people to confront difficult parts of history,” she says. “The Stolpersteine make history tangible.”
Exploring a Complex Heritage
The project resonated with Olivia in a particularly personal way.
Her mother is German and Christian; her father is American and Jewish. Her paternal family fled Eastern Europe because they were Jewish, while her maternal family lived in Germany during the Nazi era.
“I’ve grown up with these two histories,” she says. “This project helped me connect with both sides of my heritage.”
Before coming to Freiburg, Olivia says she often felt somewhat disconnected from her Jewish identity. Through the Stolpersteine project, she found a new sense of connection—not only to Jewish history, but also to her own place within it.
“It helped me understand my own identity as a German-American Jew,” she reflects. “I felt much more connected to both my German heritage and my Jewish heritage.”
Encounters Beyond the UWC Bubble
One of the most memorable aspects of the project was the interaction with Freiburg residents.
Passersby would frequently stop to ask questions, share family stories, or simply thank the students for their work.
“One man even tried to pay us,” Olivia recalls with a laugh. “It felt like a genuine exchange. We were doing something for the community, and the community was giving something back.”
That sense of reciprocity made the service especially meaningful: “It was one of the few times I felt like what we were doing had a direct impact outside the UWC bubble.”
Carrying the Stories Forward
Over the course of the year, Olivia also helped bring the project into the school community, co-leading a workshop during a Special Focus Day and introducing fellow students to archival documents and the process of historical transcription.
As she gets ready to leave Freiburg, Olivia knows the project will stay with her: “I’m sure this is an experience I’ll remember many years from now,” she says. “I would love to continue learning about the project even after I leave UWC.”
For Olivia, the Stolpersteine are more than memorials. They are invitations to pause, remember, and ask who once lived here.
And through the simple act of polishing a brass stone, she found a way to connect history, community, and her own identity.
