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Sinti and Roma Memorial Opened in Berlin

24.10.2012

The Sinti and Roma Memorial was inaugurated in Berlin on 24 October 2012 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Merkel was joined at the ceremony by German President Joachim Gauck, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, Chair of the Central Committee of Sinti and Roma Romani Rose, and around 100 survivors.

The memorial, designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan, consists of a round pool with a retractable stele on which a fresh flower is placed daily.  The poem "Auschwitz" by Italian Santino Spinelli is engraved around the rim of the pool in English and German.  Panels surrounding the pool present information on the persecution of the Roma and Sinti communities.

The memorial is located in the Tiergarten park between the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg Gate.  The opening has been accompanied by a series of concerts, art exhibitions, public debates and readings.

"A culture of remembering is very important to me," said Chancellor Merkel.  "That is why we must have appropriate places where that is possible - where people can also go in the future when the survivors are no longer alive."