MEMORIAL TO SINTI AND ROMA, BERLIIN

Romani Elders Lead Civil Initiative for Berlin Memorial

FROM DECADE OF ROMA INCLUSION
http://www.romadecade.org/romani_elders_civil_initiative

PHOTO Construction site of the unfinished Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime
Photo by ERCF, Berlin, 2012

An initiative led by the Romani Elders is advocating for the completion of the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime in Berlin.


The construction of the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Murdered under the National Socialist Regime began in 2008 and was soon stopped because of conflicts between Dani Karavan, the memorial’s designer, and the Berlin authorities. Now a ghostly spot, an unfinished construction site in the Tiergarten next to the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor, closed off by a fence, seems to mirror the position of the Roma population in our society: discrimination, social deprivation, and anti-gypsyism affect the lives of Roma in many European countries.

A Civil Initiative led by the Romani Elders created within the framework of the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art and coordinated by the European Roma Cultural Foundation (ERCF), advocates for the completion of the Memorial. ERCF is committed to generate 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.

On June 2, 2012 at 3:00 pm the Romani Elders and representatives of the younger generation of Roma activism assemble to make their public statements in front of the Memorial. The Initiative aims to carve the memory of the Sinti and Roma victims into European collective memory.

Visit www.theromanielders.org, where a Call for Unity is on the home page, and join the initiative of the Romani Elders and ERCF by adding your signature.