Stolperstein dedicated to Karel Tomeš

The Karel Tomeš Stolperstein is a brass "stumbling stone" set into a Brno pavement, one of dozens of such memorials scattered across the city as part of the pan-European Stolpersteine project. The stone lies in front of the building where the commemorated person once lived, and bears his name, birth date, and a brief note on his fate under German occupation.

Who was Karel Tomeš?

Karel Tomeš (born 11 July 1877, died 28 January 1945 at the Dachau concentration camp) was a Czechoslovak politician and municipal official who served as mayor of Brno from 1925 to 1935. During his tenure the city went through a period of intense interwar development. He died in the final months of the Second World War, held by German occupation authorities at Dachau — one of the oldest and longest-operating concentration camps of the Third Reich.

Why is the stone placed exactly here?

The Stolperstein stands on Tomešova street, in the Staré Brno district — a street named after Karel Tomeš in 1946, a year after his death. It was here, between 1927 and 1928, that Tomeš had a three-storey villa built for himself, designed by architect Oskar Poříska in the functionalist style. The house served as his private residence until his arrest. Placing the stone directly in front of this address follows the core principle of the Stolpersteine project: the memorial marks the victim's last freely chosen home, not the place where they died.

Who arranged for this Stolperstein?

The stone dedicated to Karel Tomeš was laid in 2015 on the initiative of Sokol Brno I, the local branch of the Sokol gymnastics and civic movement, an organization to which Tomeš himself had historically belonged. Sokol was singled out for persecution by the German occupation authorities precisely because of its patriotic character and its ties to the pre-war civic and municipal elites of Czechoslovakia — which makes this act of remembrance, carried out by the same movement decades later, a particularly meaningful gesture.

What are Stolpersteine, exactly?

Stolpersteine — literally "stumbling stones" — are an international art project initiated by German artist Gunter Demnig in the 1990s. Small brass-topped concrete blocks are set into the pavement in front of the last known freely chosen residence of victims of Nazism. More than one hundred thousand have been laid across dozens of European countries to date, including the Czech Republic, where they commemorate Holocaust victims, concentration camp prisoners, resistance members, and others persecuted by the Nazi regime. In Brno, stones have been laid over more than a decade, an effort driven largely by local organizations, schools, and residents.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is this Stolperstein located? It is set into the pavement on Tomešova street in the Staré Brno district, in front of the villa where Karel Tomeš once lived (coordinates: 49.19564, 16.592392).

Do I need a ticket or need to look for an entrance? No — a Stolperstein is simply part of the pavement, freely accessible at any time, like the other memorials of this kind found around the city.

Are there other Stolpersteine nearby? Yes, Brno has dozens of these stones spread across several districts, including a number in the surrounding Staré Brno area.

How should visitors behave at this site? Stolpersteine are memorial sites — it is customary to treat them with quiet respect, avoid deliberately stepping on the plaque, and pause for a moment if possible.