Artist:
Dani Karavan
Title:
Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered Under the National Socialist Regime
Year:
2012
Adress:
Tiergarten park, near the Reichstag
Respect
The monument Dani Karavan for Roma and Sinti gives respect and invites you to commemorate together and ponder.
Compared with other artworks
Meditation gegen das Schweigen by Sylvia Fohrer (Berlin, picture 1, more information) is difficult to understand, puzzling.
Ansgar Nierhoff’s Die Bastion (Berlin, pictures 2,more information) has a similar shape. The difference is the massiveniss of the work. The question is whether the work gives the visitor a similar consolation.
The artwork Never Again Auschwitz by Jan Wolkers (Nooit Meer Auschwitz, Amsterdam, picture 3, more information) the sunlight is reflected by broken glass. The glass plates are reminiscent of gravestones. The artwork reflects on one of the most difficult issues in European history. Jan Wolkers says: 'After Auschwitz, the view on the sky is violated'.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.wikipedia.org:
Das Denkmal für die im Nationalsozialismus ermordeten Sinti und Roma Europas ist eine Gedenkstätte am Simsonweg im Großen Tiergarten in Berlin südlich des Reichstags. Sie soll an den Porajmos erinnern, den nationalsozialistischen Völkermord an den als „Zigeuner' verfolgten europäischen Roma mit bis zu 500.000 Opfern an Männern, Frauen und Kindern. Der Entwurf stammt von Dani Karavan.
Translation:
The Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism is a memorial in Berlin, Germany. The monument is dedicated to the memory of the 220,000 – 500,000 people murdered in the Porajmos – the Nazi genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples. It was designed by Dani Karavan and was officially opened on 24 October 2012 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the presence of President Joachim Gauck.
www.wikipedia.org:
The memorial was designed by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan [3][4] and consists of a dark, circular pool of water at the centre of which there is a triangular stone. The triangular shape of the stone is in reference to the badges that had to be worn by concentration camp prisoners. The stone is retractable and a fresh flower is placed upon it daily.[5] In bronze letters around the edge of the pool is the poem 'Auschwitz' by Roma poet Santino Spinelli, although the monument commemorates all Roma and Sinti murdered during the Porajmos:
Gaunt face
dead eyes
cold lips
quiet
a broken heart
out of breath
without words
no tears
www.exberliner.com:
The Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan was commissioned to design the memorial in 1992, on the personal suggestion of the head of Germany’s central council for Roma and Sinti, Romani Rose. The world-renowned artist is responsible for many site-specific monuments and memorials across the globe – from Israel to Japan to France. Most of them are concerned with human rights and blend into their surrounding elements in a unique reflection of the cross-section between nature, history and space. At 82, the busy jet-setting artist hasn’t lost any of his bite.
I’m used to this. You have political problems, elections... But, yes, this time it took a long time because first there was an eight-year discussion between the administration and the central council of Sinti and Roma. One issue was that they wanted to use the word Zigeuner (gypsy), but the council thought it was insulting.
This was the concept of the ministry of culture. They said that all the Nazis’ historical documents about killing these people never mention the Sinti and Roma, only the Zigeuner. So that was one discussion. The other discussion was about how many Sinti and Roma were killed. The government wanted to put 100,000 while the Sinti and Roma said at least 500,000.
www.wikipedia.org:
Um den Text einer zunächst geplanten Widmung des Denkmals gab es zwischen den beiden von der Bundesregierung in die Vorbereitungen einbezogenen Opferverbänden Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma und Sinti Allianz Deutschland sowie der Bundesregierung jahrelange Meinungsverschiedenheiten. Ein wesentlicher Streitpunkt war, wie die Opfergruppe zu bezeichnen sei. Die Bundesregierung hatte „Zigeuner' für den Denkmaltext vorgesehen, was der Zentralrat als unwürdig und unzumutbar ablehnte. Unterstützung erhielt die Regierung ab 2005 von der Sinti Allianz. Ein weiterer Streitpunkt war die Frage des Vergleichs des Genozids an der Roma-Minderheit mit dem an der jüdischen Minderheit. Der Zentralrat kritisierte, dass der Textvorschlag der Bundesregierung diesem opferpolitischen Problem aus dem Weg gehe.
Mit dem Eintritt des im Zuge der Mahnmaldiskussion 2006 gegründeten Jenischen Bunds in Deutschland und Europa e. V. entstand zusätzlicher Konfliktstoff durch dessen Forderung nach Anerkennung eines „Holocaust am jenischen Volk'. Man sei ebenfalls als „Zigeuner' verfolgt worden. Das Einigungsproblem verschärfte sich auch deshalb, weil die kleine Sinti Allianz nun über einen Bündnispartner gegen den gewichtigeren Zentralrat verfügte.
Da ein Kompromiss unmöglich war, wurde unter Federführung des Kulturstaatsminister-Büros vom Institut für Zeitgeschichte in München und dem NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln statt einer Widmung eine „Chronologie des Völkermordes an den Sinti und Roma' erarbeitet, die der Bundesrat am 20. Dezember 2007 einstimmig beschloss. Der Text der Historiker grenzt gegen die opfer- und minderheitspolitischen Positionen der Selbstvertretungen ab und gibt den Forschungsstand wieder. Damit werde, so der Kulturstaatsminister, „den Anliegen der Opferverbände in größtmöglicher Weise Rechnung getragen.
Translation:
The Text of an initially planned dedication of the monument there was between the two of the Federal government in the preparations included the Victims ' Association, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and Sinti Alliance of Germany, as well as the Federal government's year-long disagreement. A major point of contention was how the group of victims is described. The Federal government had provided a "Gypsy" for the monument to the text, what is the Central Council rejected as unworthy and unacceptable. Support was given to the government as of 2005, the Sinti Alliance. Another point of contention was the question of the comparison of the genocide of the Roma minority with the Jewish minority. The Central Council criticised the fact that the text proposed by the government and this victim of a political issue out of the way.
With the entrance of the memorial discussion, founded in 2006, yenish Bunds in Germany and Europe e. V. additional conflict arose due to the demand for recognition of a "Holocaust on the yenish people". You had also been to as "Gypsies" followed. The unification problem was exacerbated because the small Sinti Alliance now had an ally against the weightier Central Council.
There's a compromise was impossible, it was developed under the auspices of the state Minister for cultural Affairs-office of the Institute for contemporary history in Munich, and the NS-documentation center of the city of Cologne held a dedication "a chronology of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma", by the Federal Council on the 20. December 2007, decided unanimously. The Text of the historian borders against the victims, and minority political positions of the self-representations, and the state of research again. This may be borne, the Minister of state for culture, "the concerns of victims' associations in the greatest possible way.
The monument Dani Karavan for Roma and Sinti gives respect and invites you to commemorate together and ponder.
Compared with other artworks
Meditation gegen das Schweigen by Sylvia Fohrer (Berlin, picture 1, more information) is difficult to understand, puzzling.
Ansgar Nierhoff’s Die Bastion (Berlin, pictures 2,more information) has a similar shape. The difference is the massiveniss of the work. The question is whether the work gives the visitor a similar consolation.
The artwork Never Again Auschwitz by Jan Wolkers (Nooit Meer Auschwitz, Amsterdam, picture 3, more information) the sunlight is reflected by broken glass. The glass plates are reminiscent of gravestones. The artwork reflects on one of the most difficult issues in European history. Jan Wolkers says: 'After Auschwitz, the view on the sky is violated'.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.wikipedia.org:
Das Denkmal für die im Nationalsozialismus ermordeten Sinti und Roma Europas ist eine Gedenkstätte am Simsonweg im Großen Tiergarten in Berlin südlich des Reichstags. Sie soll an den Porajmos erinnern, den nationalsozialistischen Völkermord an den als „Zigeuner' verfolgten europäischen Roma mit bis zu 500.000 Opfern an Männern, Frauen und Kindern. Der Entwurf stammt von Dani Karavan.
Translation:
The Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism is a memorial in Berlin, Germany. The monument is dedicated to the memory of the 220,000 – 500,000 people murdered in the Porajmos – the Nazi genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples. It was designed by Dani Karavan and was officially opened on 24 October 2012 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the presence of President Joachim Gauck.
www.wikipedia.org:
The memorial was designed by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan [3][4] and consists of a dark, circular pool of water at the centre of which there is a triangular stone. The triangular shape of the stone is in reference to the badges that had to be worn by concentration camp prisoners. The stone is retractable and a fresh flower is placed upon it daily.[5] In bronze letters around the edge of the pool is the poem 'Auschwitz' by Roma poet Santino Spinelli, although the monument commemorates all Roma and Sinti murdered during the Porajmos:
Gaunt face
dead eyes
cold lips
quiet
a broken heart
out of breath
without words
no tears
www.exberliner.com:
The Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan was commissioned to design the memorial in 1992, on the personal suggestion of the head of Germany’s central council for Roma and Sinti, Romani Rose. The world-renowned artist is responsible for many site-specific monuments and memorials across the globe – from Israel to Japan to France. Most of them are concerned with human rights and blend into their surrounding elements in a unique reflection of the cross-section between nature, history and space. At 82, the busy jet-setting artist hasn’t lost any of his bite.
I’m used to this. You have political problems, elections... But, yes, this time it took a long time because first there was an eight-year discussion between the administration and the central council of Sinti and Roma. One issue was that they wanted to use the word Zigeuner (gypsy), but the council thought it was insulting.
This was the concept of the ministry of culture. They said that all the Nazis’ historical documents about killing these people never mention the Sinti and Roma, only the Zigeuner. So that was one discussion. The other discussion was about how many Sinti and Roma were killed. The government wanted to put 100,000 while the Sinti and Roma said at least 500,000.
www.wikipedia.org:
Um den Text einer zunächst geplanten Widmung des Denkmals gab es zwischen den beiden von der Bundesregierung in die Vorbereitungen einbezogenen Opferverbänden Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma und Sinti Allianz Deutschland sowie der Bundesregierung jahrelange Meinungsverschiedenheiten. Ein wesentlicher Streitpunkt war, wie die Opfergruppe zu bezeichnen sei. Die Bundesregierung hatte „Zigeuner' für den Denkmaltext vorgesehen, was der Zentralrat als unwürdig und unzumutbar ablehnte. Unterstützung erhielt die Regierung ab 2005 von der Sinti Allianz. Ein weiterer Streitpunkt war die Frage des Vergleichs des Genozids an der Roma-Minderheit mit dem an der jüdischen Minderheit. Der Zentralrat kritisierte, dass der Textvorschlag der Bundesregierung diesem opferpolitischen Problem aus dem Weg gehe.
Mit dem Eintritt des im Zuge der Mahnmaldiskussion 2006 gegründeten Jenischen Bunds in Deutschland und Europa e. V. entstand zusätzlicher Konfliktstoff durch dessen Forderung nach Anerkennung eines „Holocaust am jenischen Volk'. Man sei ebenfalls als „Zigeuner' verfolgt worden. Das Einigungsproblem verschärfte sich auch deshalb, weil die kleine Sinti Allianz nun über einen Bündnispartner gegen den gewichtigeren Zentralrat verfügte.
Da ein Kompromiss unmöglich war, wurde unter Federführung des Kulturstaatsminister-Büros vom Institut für Zeitgeschichte in München und dem NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln statt einer Widmung eine „Chronologie des Völkermordes an den Sinti und Roma' erarbeitet, die der Bundesrat am 20. Dezember 2007 einstimmig beschloss. Der Text der Historiker grenzt gegen die opfer- und minderheitspolitischen Positionen der Selbstvertretungen ab und gibt den Forschungsstand wieder. Damit werde, so der Kulturstaatsminister, „den Anliegen der Opferverbände in größtmöglicher Weise Rechnung getragen.
Translation:
The Text of an initially planned dedication of the monument there was between the two of the Federal government in the preparations included the Victims ' Association, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and Sinti Alliance of Germany, as well as the Federal government's year-long disagreement. A major point of contention was how the group of victims is described. The Federal government had provided a "Gypsy" for the monument to the text, what is the Central Council rejected as unworthy and unacceptable. Support was given to the government as of 2005, the Sinti Alliance. Another point of contention was the question of the comparison of the genocide of the Roma minority with the Jewish minority. The Central Council criticised the fact that the text proposed by the government and this victim of a political issue out of the way.
With the entrance of the memorial discussion, founded in 2006, yenish Bunds in Germany and Europe e. V. additional conflict arose due to the demand for recognition of a "Holocaust on the yenish people". You had also been to as "Gypsies" followed. The unification problem was exacerbated because the small Sinti Alliance now had an ally against the weightier Central Council.
There's a compromise was impossible, it was developed under the auspices of the state Minister for cultural Affairs-office of the Institute for contemporary history in Munich, and the NS-documentation center of the city of Cologne held a dedication "a chronology of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma", by the Federal Council on the 20. December 2007, decided unanimously. The Text of the historian borders against the victims, and minority political positions of the self-representations, and the state of research again. This may be borne, the Minister of state for culture, "the concerns of victims' associations in the greatest possible way.