Abstract

The Umwelt is full of affordances normatively embedded in the socio-cultural context. The Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones) project is the worlds’ largest decentralized project of commemoration, specifically to bring victims of the Nazi regime to mind. The standardized “stone” is a squared inscribed brass plaque (96 mm x 96 mm) inserted into the sidewalk, creating high salience due to distinctive texture and material. The memorial plaques deliberately disrupt any pedestrian’s efficient walking effort—people literally stumble upon history and engage with the victims. We observed the engagement of ~700 pedestrians with Stolpersteine across three different locations in Bamberg (Germany). We manipulated salience by placing grave candles beside the stones. The majority of N = 355 spotted people who showed trajectories directly crossing the Stolpersteine did not tread on the stones (~94%) and showed little observable remembrance behavior (28% inspected the plaque visually while walking by; 6% stopped due to the plaque). Presence of a grave candle (intermittently put aside, n = 194 pedestrians) increased the occurrence of visual inspection (46% vs. 6%), dodging movements (12% vs. 2%), and stopping and reading of inscriptions (9% vs. 2%). At the same time, people trod less on the stones (2% vs. 11%). Visual perception of the stones from afar seems to alter the affordance of pedestrians normatively. The candle clearly emphasized the affordance to commemorate. Stumbling – regardless if literally or only visually - even if rare, affords retraction from automatic action and opens the opportunity to reflect and elaborate.