Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism

The memorial by artist Dani Karavan consists of a fountain with a retractable stele on which a fresh flower is placed every day. Panels inform about the exclusion and mass murder of this minority during the National Socialist reign of terror.

On the edge of Berlin's largest city park, the Großer Tiergarten - is the memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism. It is located in the center of Berlin between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building. The design for the memorial was created by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan.
The memorial site is modeled on a forest clearing. In the middle of trees stands a circular water basin, with black - seemingly endless deep - bottom. In the middle of the basin there is a triangular movable stele, on which a fresh flower rises daily - this flower stands for life and mourning and is supposed to keep the memory of the murdered alive. There is also the sound of a lone violin, meant to commemorate the slowing down of a deportation train to the concentration camps. On the edge of the fountain is a quote from the poem "Auschwitz" by Italian Santino Spinelli: "Sunken face/ extinguished eyes/ cold lips/ silence/ a torn heart/ without breath/ without words/ no tears." On the large glass panel, located on Simsonweg, one can read the "Chronology of the Genocide of the Sinti and Roma", which was developed under the auspices of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich and the Nazi Documentation Center in Cologne.

The memorial is intended to commemorate the genocide of the Sinti and Roma - the Porajmos. Up to 500,000 people were systematically persecuted, deported and murdered as "Gypsies" during the National Socialist era.
Currently, the memorial is still under construction. It is to be handed over to the public at the end of October 2012.

This memorial, like the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted under National Socialism and the Holocaust Memorial, is being looked after by the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.