Stolperstein dedicated to Mariano Pérez Rodríguez

The Stolperstein dedicated to Mariano Pérez Rodríguez is a small brass plaque set into a Madrid pavement, one of the city's scattered "stumbling stones" marking the last known addresses of victims of Nazism.

What exactly is this stone?

A Stolperstein (German for "stumbling stone") is a small brass plate embedded in the cobblestones right outside the building where a person deported or murdered by the Third Reich once lived. Every plaque follows the same format: full name, place of exile if applicable, year of deportation, the camp the person was sent to, and, where known, whether they survived. In Madrid the project is run by the local initiative Stolpersteine Madrid, which coordinates with victims' families and with the German foundation behind artist Gunter Demnig's original concept. This particular stone sits in the central part of the city, near the coordinates 40.400977, -3.695003.

Who was Mariano Pérez Rodríguez?

Mariano Pérez Rodríguez was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in the same transport as Eugenio Charlán Rey — the two men had lived on the same street in Madrid. The stone places him within a wider circle of madrileños who, after Spain's civil war, went into exile in France and were later arrested and deported to Nazi camps once Germany occupied French territory. Available sources do not give further biographical detail or confirm his ultimate fate — restoring some trace of memory for people whose stories often survive only in fragments is exactly what these stones are meant to do.

How do you get there?

The stone sits on an open, public pavement along an ordinary walking route through central Madrid. The easiest approach is on foot or by metro to the nearest central station, then locating the exact spot using the coordinates above. It's worth knowing the plaque is small and easy to walk past without noticing unless you're specifically looking for it.

What will you actually see?

There's no visitor infrastructure around it — no large information boards, no ticket booth, no guide on site. It's a single small plate in the pavement. That's deliberate: Stolpersteine are designed to sit inside the everyday fabric of the city rather than be set apart in a museum. Residents and passers-by step past it on their way to work or to run errands, which is precisely the point of the project — memory folded into routine, not fenced off from it.

When is a good time to visit?

There's no real season for this kind of memorial — it can be visited any month of the year. Madrid does hold occasional anniversary events tied to the unveiling of new stones in a given district, usually organised by local district authorities together with historical memory associations.

Frequently asked questions

What does the word "Stolperstein" mean? It's German for "stumbling stone" — a small symbolic invitation to pause and remember the person named on the plaque.

Is there an entrance fee? No. The stone is in a public street, freely accessible at any time of day.

Are there other stones like this in Madrid? Yes. Mariano Pérez Rodríguez is one of several madrileños commemorated this way — the stones form a scattered network across the city marking victims deported to Nazi concentration camps.

Is there anything else to see nearby? The stone itself is tiny, but the surrounding area is an ordinary, lived-in central Madrid neighbourhood — worth pairing the visit with a regular walk around the block.