Elderly man sets out to clean each of the 388 Holocaust memorial plaques in his city

Starting a decade ago, over a dozen European nations installed bronze 'stumbling blocks' on city streets. Each block holds a small plaque inscribed with the name, birth year, and other information of victims of the Nazis. In most cases, the blocks were installed in front of the individual's last known residence.

Dirt and grime have built up on the plaques of course. Salzburg, Austria resident Gerhard Geier thought the people memorialized on his city's streets deserved better. The 79-year-old Geier made it his year's goal to personally clean each plaque on Salzburg's 388 stumbling blocks. Why this year? To mark the darkness of the 80th anniversary of Germany's annexation of Austria with a note of humanity.

So Geier sets out armed with a footstool and cleaning supplies. He cleans each five-inch square plaque by hand, rinses it with saline, then polishes and seals the bronze to slow further damage. It may take him a half hour, but he says it feels as if he is "caressing the victims of the Nazis one last time."  He has noticed an increase in nationalism around the world, and feels it is important to remember what happened then to prevent its recurrence in the future.