Stolperstein dedicated to Rubén Tabares Hernándes

The Stolperstein dedicated to Rubén Tabares Hernández is a small brass memorial stone set into the pavement on Calle Carlos Arniches, in Madrid's central Embajadores (Lavapiés) district. It marks the fate of a young madrileño deported by German forces to a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War.

Who was Rubén Tabares Hernández?

Rubén Tabares Hernández was born on 23 March 1919 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. He was the son of Tomás Tabares Montes de Oca, a typographer, and Aniceta Luisa Hernández Plasencia, and had a younger sister, Yolanda. Around 1934–1935 the family moved to Madrid and settled on Calle Carlos Arniches. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, Rubén was 17 and still a student.

After Franco's forces won the war, he had to leave Spain and fled to France. By August 1940 he was among the Spanish refugees held at the Les Alliers camp near Angoulême, in an area then under German occupation and Vichy authority. On 20 August 1940, German forces deported 927 Spanish refugees from that camp by train. Tabares arrived at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria on 24 August 1940 and was given prisoner number 3829. On 24 January 1941 he was transferred to the Gusen sub-camp, where he was registered as prisoner 9726. He died there on 1 May 1942, at the age of 23; the camp records list an intestinal infection as the official cause of death, though such Nazi documentation is known to have frequently obscured or falsified the real circumstances of prisoners' deaths.

What does a Stolperstein mark?

A Stolperstein — literally a "stumbling stone" — is a small brass plaque set flush into the pavement outside the last known home of a victim of Nazism. In Madrid, these stones commemorate Spanish Republicans who, after losing the civil war, ended up in German concentration camps — a chapter of history that remained little known in Spain for decades. The stone for Rubén Tabares Hernández belongs to a small network of such memorials scattered across the Centro district.

How do you get there?

The stone lies on the pavement of Calle Carlos Arniches, in the dense old streets of Lavapiés, a short walk from the Puerta de Toledo or Embajadores metro stations (lines 3 and 5). It's a densely built, lived-in residential neighborhood, and it's worth exploring on foot — several other stolpersteine honoring neighbors deported in the same period lie nearby.

What will you see on site?

The stone itself is modest: a brass plate flush with the pavement, engraved with the victim's name, date of birth, the date and destination of deportation, and the date of death. There's no monument in the traditional sense — the format is deliberately understated, designed so passers-by stumble upon it in the ordinary rhythm of the street and pause, however briefly, to reflect.

When should you visit?

The stone sits in open public space and can be seen at any time, year-round. Daylight hours work best, since the light on the brass surface makes the engraved text easier to read. 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a particularly meaningful time to come, as Madrid often holds memorial walks that follow the city's stolpersteine trail on that date.

Frequently asked questions

Is this Rubén Tabares Hernández's grave? No. He died at the Gusen camp in Austria; the stone in Madrid marks where he lived before the war, not a burial site — it's a symbolic marker of memory.

Why is the stone in Madrid rather than in Austria? Stolpersteine are placed at a victim's last known home address, not at the place of death. For Tabares, that address was Calle Carlos Arniches in Madrid.

Are there other similar stones in Madrid? Yes — the Centro district holds a number of stolpersteine honoring residents deported to German camps, together forming a memorial route that can be walked in a single afternoon.

Is there an entry fee? No. The stone sits in public space and can be visited freely, at any hour.