The German town of Heidenau, near Dresden, has voted to ban "stumbling stone" memorials to Nazi victims following a motion by councillors from the AfD and CDU parties. The decision has prompted sharp criticism from Germany's Education Minister and Jewish leaders, who argue that removing public memorials to Holocaust victims undermines efforts to maintain a living culture of remembrance in public spaces.

Stumbling stones, or Stolpersteine, are small brass plaques embedded in streets across European towns since the 1990s, typically placed outside the homes or workplaces of Jewish and other Nazi victims and often funded by public donations. Heidenau's council has proposed relocating these memorials to a cemetery instead; Education Minister Karin Prien called the ban a "scandal", whilst Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch said it prioritised "death over life" and rendered Jewish people "invisible once again". The AfD, classified as extreme-right by German intelligence, has seen recent electoral gains in eastern German states, which the Stolperstein project's creator said made such moves increasingly likely.