Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under the National Socialist Regime
This Memorial, designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan, was officially opened on October 24, 2012 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel[1]. Though the designer is Israeli and not Roma, he was chosen by Germany's central council for Roma and Sinti on the suggestion from its Sinti leader Romani Rose [2]. It is significant that this national monument is located near the German Reichstag (the German parliament building) in Berlin. According to Romani Rose who spoke about recent attacks on anti-Roma violence in Eastern Europe the opening of the monument,
“It is important to raise awareness, not just in Germany but in Europe as a whole, Roma and Sinti are the victims of exclusion once again. Eastern European countries must know that this is part of their history too, and that they need to address it.” [3]
Viewed in this way, the monument is not just an important site of German memory, but also as an invocation of Holocaust memory that implicates Europe society as a whole in both the past and its present treatment of Roma communities. The monument itself consists of a circular pool with a triangular stone in the middle, upon which a single fresh flower is placed every day [4]. The original monument was proposed in 1992 under public pressure to acknowledge the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust, however took a decade to unveil due to heated tensions over the cost and design of the memorial [5].
Controversy:
The construction of the monument has not been without considerable public debate that, at times, almost completely halted its construction. Much of the debate circled around what to call the monument, how were the victims and survivors of the Holocaust to be referred to? Fearing that many of those persecuted do not identify themselves as Roma or Sinti a group called the “Sinti Alliance” argued that the term "Ziguneur" (the word that the Nazis used to designate all "Gypsies") should be used instead. Other groups claimed that this only served to legitimate the Nazi vocabulary, and the committee overseeing the monument ultimately decided against it [6]. Disputes between the Karavan and the contractors building the monument over what Karavan thought was shoddy workmanship and the lack of funds diverted to the project also served to delay construction. Some Roma groups viewed the delay as a lack of political will from the German government [7].
These debates illustrate what is potentially at stake in memorializing memories that are contested from both within and without. It is likely that all the Roma communities concerned felt that a monument to the Roma and Sinti in Berlin was an important part of remembering the Roma experience of the Holocaust. Yet the debates, and the fact that it took so long to gain enough of a sense of consensus to complete construction, highlight the connections of contested memories and identities to histories embedded in places. Rather than "forgetting" the Holocaust it is possible that the relative public silence of the Roma is in part testament to an ongoing and contradictory process of remembering that refuses to be relegated to a static notion of "past" or "history."
[1] http://www.war-memorial.net/Memorial-to-the-Sinti-and-Roma-victims-of-National-Socialism-1.177
[2] http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-pig-farm-on-holocaust-site-allegorized-in-parade [3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-23/holocaust-memorial-for-roma-sinti-opens-after-delays.html
[4] http://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial.html
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/world/europe/memorial-to-romany-victims-of-holocaust-opens-in-berlin.html?_r=0
[6] http://www.dw.de/sinti-and-roma-memorial-suffers-repeated-delays/a-15907775
[7] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-project-in-jeopardy-the-unending-battle-over-berlin-s-sinti-and-roma-memorial-a-736716.html
“It is important to raise awareness, not just in Germany but in Europe as a whole, Roma and Sinti are the victims of exclusion once again. Eastern European countries must know that this is part of their history too, and that they need to address it.” [3]
Viewed in this way, the monument is not just an important site of German memory, but also as an invocation of Holocaust memory that implicates Europe society as a whole in both the past and its present treatment of Roma communities. The monument itself consists of a circular pool with a triangular stone in the middle, upon which a single fresh flower is placed every day [4]. The original monument was proposed in 1992 under public pressure to acknowledge the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust, however took a decade to unveil due to heated tensions over the cost and design of the memorial [5].
Controversy:
The construction of the monument has not been without considerable public debate that, at times, almost completely halted its construction. Much of the debate circled around what to call the monument, how were the victims and survivors of the Holocaust to be referred to? Fearing that many of those persecuted do not identify themselves as Roma or Sinti a group called the “Sinti Alliance” argued that the term "Ziguneur" (the word that the Nazis used to designate all "Gypsies") should be used instead. Other groups claimed that this only served to legitimate the Nazi vocabulary, and the committee overseeing the monument ultimately decided against it [6]. Disputes between the Karavan and the contractors building the monument over what Karavan thought was shoddy workmanship and the lack of funds diverted to the project also served to delay construction. Some Roma groups viewed the delay as a lack of political will from the German government [7].
These debates illustrate what is potentially at stake in memorializing memories that are contested from both within and without. It is likely that all the Roma communities concerned felt that a monument to the Roma and Sinti in Berlin was an important part of remembering the Roma experience of the Holocaust. Yet the debates, and the fact that it took so long to gain enough of a sense of consensus to complete construction, highlight the connections of contested memories and identities to histories embedded in places. Rather than "forgetting" the Holocaust it is possible that the relative public silence of the Roma is in part testament to an ongoing and contradictory process of remembering that refuses to be relegated to a static notion of "past" or "history."
[1] http://www.war-memorial.net/Memorial-to-the-Sinti-and-Roma-victims-of-National-Socialism-1.177
[2] http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-pig-farm-on-holocaust-site-allegorized-in-parade [3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-23/holocaust-memorial-for-roma-sinti-opens-after-delays.html
[4] http://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial.html
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/world/europe/memorial-to-romany-victims-of-holocaust-opens-in-berlin.html?_r=0
[6] http://www.dw.de/sinti-and-roma-memorial-suffers-repeated-delays/a-15907775
[7] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-project-in-jeopardy-the-unending-battle-over-berlin-s-sinti-and-roma-memorial-a-736716.html
Lety memorial
The Lety Memorial in Lety, Czech Republic was opened in 2009, however is still under construction. The Lety concentration camp historically housed over 1,300 Roma prisoners. While, officially, 300 Roma individuals were murdered here, many more were transported to other concentration camps during the War. The Monument is currently composed of a number of granite stones designed by Zdenek Hůla. The site also houses an Orthodox Christian crucifix and an informational plaque that highlights the historical timeline of the camp from 1942-43 [1]. Many Roma families gather here every year to commemorate the murders of their kinsmen.
Controversy:
An industrial pig farm was built on the site in the 1970s and still remains there today. Roma communities have repeatedly voiced their outrage at the presence of the pig farm and the Czech government claiming that it is an offense to the memory of those that perished there. In 1998 the Czech government announced its intentions to remove the pig farm from the site but has yet to act. In 2005 and 2010 the European Parliament also mentioned the importance of removing the pig farm from the site [2].
Roma communities in the Czech Republic continue to put pressure on their government to honour its commitment to remove the farm. For example, in 2013 a protest against the presence of the pig farm was held in Prague during the Velvet Fair—which commemorates the end of communist rule in the country. The protest took the form of a procession of masked figures dressed in black carrying a large effigy of a pig with a clothespin over its snout, followed by other masked figures who represented the deceased Roma who died in the Lety camp. The procession also included a mobile sound system playing a political speech with the squealing of pigs overlaying it. The procession culminated in the burning of the pig effigy.
According to Ivanka Mariposa Čonková, the Roma activist who organized the event:
“Today, when the fascisization of society is gaining strength and becoming a real danger to us once more, we must stop
trampling on Romani people and instead uphold their dignity. The relationship of the governmental and non-governmental
actors to the pig farm at Lety is a direct reflection of the everyday relationship of the broader society to its Romani members."[3]
Thus for many Roma in the Czech Republic the lasting stench of the pig farm seems to continue to evoke painful memories of the Holocaust in the present and links the persecution of these communities in the past to their political marginalization in the present.
[1] http://www.lety-memorial.cz/reconstruction_en.aspx
[2] Council of Europe, 2012. Human Rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications, Pp. 60.
[3] http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-pig-farm-on-holocaust-site-allegorized-in-parade
An industrial pig farm was built on the site in the 1970s and still remains there today. Roma communities have repeatedly voiced their outrage at the presence of the pig farm and the Czech government claiming that it is an offense to the memory of those that perished there. In 1998 the Czech government announced its intentions to remove the pig farm from the site but has yet to act. In 2005 and 2010 the European Parliament also mentioned the importance of removing the pig farm from the site [2].
Roma communities in the Czech Republic continue to put pressure on their government to honour its commitment to remove the farm. For example, in 2013 a protest against the presence of the pig farm was held in Prague during the Velvet Fair—which commemorates the end of communist rule in the country. The protest took the form of a procession of masked figures dressed in black carrying a large effigy of a pig with a clothespin over its snout, followed by other masked figures who represented the deceased Roma who died in the Lety camp. The procession also included a mobile sound system playing a political speech with the squealing of pigs overlaying it. The procession culminated in the burning of the pig effigy.
According to Ivanka Mariposa Čonková, the Roma activist who organized the event:
“Today, when the fascisization of society is gaining strength and becoming a real danger to us once more, we must stop
trampling on Romani people and instead uphold their dignity. The relationship of the governmental and non-governmental
actors to the pig farm at Lety is a direct reflection of the everyday relationship of the broader society to its Romani members."[3]
Thus for many Roma in the Czech Republic the lasting stench of the pig farm seems to continue to evoke painful memories of the Holocaust in the present and links the persecution of these communities in the past to their political marginalization in the present.
[1] http://www.lety-memorial.cz/reconstruction_en.aspx
[2] Council of Europe, 2012. Human Rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications, Pp. 60.
[3] http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-pig-farm-on-holocaust-site-allegorized-in-parade
budapest roma holocaust memorial
Located in Budapest, Hungary this memorial was constructed in 2006 and stands in a park on the banks of the Danube River. Of the approximately 200,000 Roma people living in pre-War Hungary it is estimated that around 60,000 faced persecution in concentration camps of the Third Reich[1]. Of those it is estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 individuals were murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators in the occupied territories [2]. The memorial was designed by Ákos Maurer Klimes and Tamás Szabó. The structure is a large block of granite with holes made in its surface, exposing gold paint underneath. The gold paint is meant to symbolize the fire in the crematoriums of the Nazi death camps[3] and there is a crippled human figure that is visible in the interior of the sculpture. The monument is also lit by a 500 watt bulb at night [4].
While there is little information (in English) available to communicate how Roma communities in Hungary view the monument, it is clear from numerous reports of vandalism of the monument that it has evoked an anti-Roma response from some Hungarians [5]. Alongside the many cases of anti-Semitic vandalism of monuments to the Jewish Holocaust in Hungary, these acts suggest that the memory of the Holocaust is still actively informing experiences of violence in the present. To be sure, the racist nature of the vandalism is not representative of Hungarian society as a whole. The point is that these acts of vandalism are, in a way, part of the monument's testament to collective memory. The attacks signal the presence of tension in the ways that Holocaust memory continues to texture relations between Roma and non-Roma in Hungary.
[1] Bársony, János and Agnes Daróczi. (2008) Pharrajimos: The Fate of the Roma During the Holocaust. New York: IDEBATE Press, Pp. 11.
[2] Ibid, 12.
[3] http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1420/Roma-Holocaust-Memorial
[4]http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://www.kozterkep.hu/~/11289/roma_holokauszt_emlekmu_budapest_szabo_tamas_2006.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25C3%2581kos%2BMaurer%2BKlimes%2Bbudapest%2BRoma%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den
[5] http://romediafoundation.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/painting-a-poisonous-picture/
While there is little information (in English) available to communicate how Roma communities in Hungary view the monument, it is clear from numerous reports of vandalism of the monument that it has evoked an anti-Roma response from some Hungarians [5]. Alongside the many cases of anti-Semitic vandalism of monuments to the Jewish Holocaust in Hungary, these acts suggest that the memory of the Holocaust is still actively informing experiences of violence in the present. To be sure, the racist nature of the vandalism is not representative of Hungarian society as a whole. The point is that these acts of vandalism are, in a way, part of the monument's testament to collective memory. The attacks signal the presence of tension in the ways that Holocaust memory continues to texture relations between Roma and non-Roma in Hungary.
[1] Bársony, János and Agnes Daróczi. (2008) Pharrajimos: The Fate of the Roma During the Holocaust. New York: IDEBATE Press, Pp. 11.
[2] Ibid, 12.
[3] http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1420/Roma-Holocaust-Memorial
[4]http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://www.kozterkep.hu/~/11289/roma_holokauszt_emlekmu_budapest_szabo_tamas_2006.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25C3%2581kos%2BMaurer%2BKlimes%2Bbudapest%2BRoma%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den
[5] http://romediafoundation.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/painting-a-poisonous-picture/
gypsy monument-memorial of war
In the 1970s a Roma leader in the Netherlands named Koos Petalo created the ROM Foundation and lobbied for the inclusion of the Roma in Dutch Holocaust commemoration [1]. In response the Gypsy Monument was commissioned in 1978 and created by Heleen Levano. It now stands near the Rijskmuseum in Amsterdam, Holland. The memorial is an 11 foot tall statue of a Roma family--a man, woman, and two children--fleeing from the War (represented by flames). During the War Roma were rounded up and deported to concentration camps across the Third Reich. Very few of those deported lived to return to the Netherlands [2].
Recently plans were announced for the construction of a new monument which will display the 102,000 names of Roma, Sinti, Jews and others who were deported from the Netherlands during the War [3]. It is to be constructed by 2015 by the Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind.
[1] Dewulf, Jeroen (2010) Spirit of Resistance: Dutch Clandestine Literature During the Nazi Occupation. Rochester: Camden House, Pp. 234.
[2] http://www.errc.org/popup-article-view.php?article_id=2540
[3] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-26/features/sns-rt-us-netherlands-holocaust-monument-20140326_1_monument-holocaust-sinti
Recently plans were announced for the construction of a new monument which will display the 102,000 names of Roma, Sinti, Jews and others who were deported from the Netherlands during the War [3]. It is to be constructed by 2015 by the Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind.
[1] Dewulf, Jeroen (2010) Spirit of Resistance: Dutch Clandestine Literature During the Nazi Occupation. Rochester: Camden House, Pp. 234.
[2] http://www.errc.org/popup-article-view.php?article_id=2540
[3] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-26/features/sns-rt-us-netherlands-holocaust-monument-20140326_1_monument-holocaust-sinti
buchenwald memorial to roma and sinti
By the end of the War the concentration camp at Buchenwald was the largest in the German Reich, with almost 250,000 people incarcerated throughout the War including many Roma and Sinti [1]. The memorial was built in 1995 over the former barracks that housed Roma at different times during the War. The monument consists of a number of stones with the names of other concentration camps carved on them.
[1] http://www.buchenwald.de/en/72/
[1] http://www.buchenwald.de/en/72/
Munich memorial for the Roma and sinti
This small memorial consists of a plaque located on a small green space in Munich commemorating the deaths of 50,000 Roma and Sinti killed during the War. The size of the memorial belies the importance of Munich as an administrative centre for the persecution of the Roma and Sinti during the War.Even before the onset of the War, the Gypsy Center, headed by Alfred Dillman sought to compile information of thousands of Roma and Sinti so that these populations could be monitored and controlled. After the Nazis came to power this institution was renamed the Reich Center for Combating the Gyspy Nuisance, and kept tabs on 33,524 people--nearly 90% of the Roma and Sinti population of Germany [1].
The inscription on the plaque reads:
"In memory of the murdered Sinti and Roma in Munich from 1933-1945. They were victims of the National Socialist genocide in Auschwitz and the other extermination camps" [2].
Again there is little English media that describes the Roma and Sinti reaction to the memorial. The size of the memorial, and its location in an inconspicuous green space hints that the memory of the Roma and Sinti experiences of the Holocaust in Munich may be potentially eclipsed by other places of memory like the Monument to the Sinti and Roma in Berlin.
[1] Bársony, János and Agnes Daróczi (2008). Pharrajimos: The Fate of the Roma During the Holocaust. New York: IDEBATE Press, Pp. 25.
[2] http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/GALL34R/ROMA01.HTM
The inscription on the plaque reads:
"In memory of the murdered Sinti and Roma in Munich from 1933-1945. They were victims of the National Socialist genocide in Auschwitz and the other extermination camps" [2].
Again there is little English media that describes the Roma and Sinti reaction to the memorial. The size of the memorial, and its location in an inconspicuous green space hints that the memory of the Roma and Sinti experiences of the Holocaust in Munich may be potentially eclipsed by other places of memory like the Monument to the Sinti and Roma in Berlin.
[1] Bársony, János and Agnes Daróczi (2008). Pharrajimos: The Fate of the Roma During the Holocaust. New York: IDEBATE Press, Pp. 25.
[2] http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/GALL34R/ROMA01.HTM
ravensbrück memorial to roma and sinti
The Ravensbrück National Memorial opened in 1959 and was one of three national memorials opened by the GDR (The German Democratic Republic/East Germany). The original memorial included portions of the concentration camp, including the prison, the crematorium and a mass grave outside the camps wall [1]. Since this time various rooms have been converted into museum exhibits, with the addition of a Sinti and Roma exhibit being added in 1995 to commemorate the many individuals that perished there. The camp is also notorious for the lethal sterilization experiments conducted on Roma and Sinti prisoners during the War by Nazi eugenicists [2],[3]. The Nazis also constructed a Women's camp in the Ravensbrück concentration camp where many Roma women endured forced labour, sterilization, or extermination [4].
[1] http://www.ravensbrueck.de/mgr/neu/english/index.htm
[2] See Zimmermann, Michael (2001). The Wehrmacht and the National Socialist persecution of the Gypsies. Romani Studies 11(2), Pp. 120.
[3] Rosenhaft, Eve (2011) Blacks and Gypsies in Nazi Germany: the Limits of the 'Racial State'. History Workshop Journal 72, Pp. 164.
[4] http://www.sintiundroma.de/en/sinti-roma/the-national-socialist-genocide-of-the-sinti-and-roma/extermination/women-in-concentration-camps.html
[1] http://www.ravensbrueck.de/mgr/neu/english/index.htm
[2] See Zimmermann, Michael (2001). The Wehrmacht and the National Socialist persecution of the Gypsies. Romani Studies 11(2), Pp. 120.
[3] Rosenhaft, Eve (2011) Blacks and Gypsies in Nazi Germany: the Limits of the 'Racial State'. History Workshop Journal 72, Pp. 164.
[4] http://www.sintiundroma.de/en/sinti-roma/the-national-socialist-genocide-of-the-sinti-and-roma/extermination/women-in-concentration-camps.html
mauthausen roma and sinti memorial
The Mauthausen concentration camp was constructed in 1938 in the Austrian town of the same name. It is estimated that over 200,000 people from all over Occupied Europe passed through its walls until its liberation in May of 1945[1]. Over the course of the War the Mauthausen complex was expanded (through the labour of the inmates) to consist of more than 40 satellite camps, many of which were to supply a "foreign labour" force for construction projects in the Reich [2]. The Mauthausen Memorial thus encompasses many of the former camps and attempts to preserve much of the physical structures and existing documentation from these sites. The main Mauthausen site was originally commemorated in 1949 and a museum and permanent exhibition was installed in 1970 [3]. The Roma and Sinti Memorial is located in one of the former quarries where many Roma and Sinti were forced to work. A single rail commemorates the trains that used to supply the quarry with its workforce.
[1] http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/71/Mauthausen-Memorial
[2] http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/index_open.php
[3]http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/71/Mauthausen-Memorial
[1] http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/71/Mauthausen-Memorial
[2] http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/index_open.php
[3]http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/71/Mauthausen-Memorial