Stolperstein dedicated to Mariano Expósito Garrido

Stolperstein dedicated to Mariano Expósito Garrido is a small memorial stone set into the pavement at Calle de Viriato 3, in Madrid's Chamberí district. It belongs to a series of "stumbling stones" installed across the city, part of the wider European project started by artist Gunter Demnig, commemorating local residents killed as a result of Nazi persecution.

Who was Mariano Expósito Garrido?

Mariano Expósito Garrido was born in 1911. Following the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile in France — a path shared by thousands of Republican refugees who crossed the Pyrenees after 1939. In 1940 he was deported on a transport recorded as "Convoy 927" to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. He died on 25 September 1941 at Hartheim Castle, a facility the Nazi regime used for its so-called "euthanasia programme," also employed to murder concentration camp prisoners deemed unfit for forced labour.

What does this stone mark?

A Stolperstein (German for "stumbling stone") is a small brass-topped cobblestone set into the sidewalk outside a victim's last known home or workplace. In Madrid, these stones commemorate people from the wider region who were killed, deported, expelled, or driven to suicide by the policies of the Third Reich — most of them Spanish Republicans who ended up in Nazi-occupied France after the civil war.

How do you get there?

The stone sits on the pavement at Calle de Viriato 3, in a quiet residential stretch of Chamberí, one of Madrid's central districts. The area is well served by metro (stations around Iglesia and Gregorio Marañón) and city buses. It's worth allowing time for a short walk through the surrounding streets, since several other Stolpersteine were laid in the same part of Chamberí as part of the same memorial initiative.

What will you see on site?

The stone itself is easy to miss unless you know what to look for — that's the point of the project: an ordinary walk down the street is interrupted by a specific name, birth year, and details of deportation, prompting passers-by to pause. The plaque carries the victim's name, year of birth, and information about the deportation and place of death.

When should you visit?

The stone can be visited at any time of day or year, as it sits in a public street with no set opening hours. Given the nature of the site, a quiet moment — early morning or mid-afternoon, when foot traffic is lighter — allows for a more reflective visit.

Why does it matter?

Madrid's Stolpersteine are part of a broader European memory project that today includes tens of thousands of stones across many countries. In Madrid, they mark the fate of Spanish Republicans who, after losing the civil war, ended up in Nazi concentration camps — a chapter of Second World War history that is often left out of narratives centred on Central European victims.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Stolperstein? A brass-topped cobblestone set into the pavement, marking with a name and dates a victim of Nazi persecution at their last known address.

Where exactly is this stone located? At Calle de Viriato 3, in Madrid's Chamberí district.

What happened to Mariano Expósito Garrido? Born in 1911, he went into exile in France after the Spanish Civil War, was deported to Mauthausen in 1940, and died on 25 September 1941 at Hartheim Castle.

Is it worth planning a longer stop? This is a single point of memory that takes only a few minutes to visit during a walk through Chamberí — it pairs well with a visit to the other Stolpersteine laid in the same neighbourhood.