Civil Initiative for the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime

Curator: Tímea Junghaus, Program Managers: Angéla Kóczé, Anna Szász
Venue: Tiergarten, Simsonweg/Scheidemannstrasse, between Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag, June 2, 2012, 3 pm


The citizen’s initiative Perspektive Berlin was established in West Berlin in 1988 in order to erect a memorial in Germany to the Jews murdered during the Holocaust. After the fall of the Wall the initiative started to be supported by the German government, and at the same time it changed its name to the Association for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.


In 1999, parallel to the Association, the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was established, with the mission to build memorials to the other victims of the Nazi regime—homosexuals and the Roma and Sinti. Up to now the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime still has not been built; it is an unfinished construction site in the Tiergarten between Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag. Its construction only began in 2008 and was soon stopped because of conflict between Dani Karavan, the memorial’s designer, and the Berlin authority. The unfinished memorial was closed off by a fence and effectively forgotten.


A Civil Initiative led by The Romani Elders and coordinated by the European Roma Cultural Foundation – ERCF advocates for the completion of the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime. ERCF is committed to generating a wide network of Roma and non-Roma organizations and individuals throughout Europe and is collecting their signatures to put pressure on all participants—including the political sphere, the official authorities, the construction team, and the artist—for the continuation of the building process. The Roma community points to the urgent need to finally finish the memorial in order to celebrate in dignity the inauguration together with the handful of survivors and their families.


On June 2, 2012 The Romani Elders and representatives of the younger generation of Roma activism assembled to make their public statements in front of the Memorial. The Initiative aimed to carve the memory of the Sinti and Roma victims into European collective memory.


ERCF also curates a comprehensive archive, which builds on the achievements of The Romani Elders, who spent a lifetime in Romani activism. We feel that the knowledge, experience, and work of the Roma community’s Elders are not explored or collected. ERCF and the new generation of Roma intellectuals wishes to give their role models the attention and respect they deserve—to ensure that their achievements will never be neglected or forgotten, and that their wisdom is re-invested in our societies.


Visit www.theromanielders.org and join the Initiative of The Romani Elders and ERCF with your signature!
Information: info@romacult.org, www.romacult.org