To:
Joe Chialo, Berlin Senator for Culture and Community
Manja Schreiner, Berlin Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment
12th October 2023
Foto: ©Marko Priske
SAVE THE MEMORIAL!
>>> View the list of signatories here <<<
The memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism in Berlin is in imminent danger. Deutsche Bahn is putting pressure on the Berlin Senate to approve a new S-Bahn line directly under the memorial.
For the so-called S21, old trees on a large scale would have to give way, which are central to Dani Karavan’s artistic vision. Without these trees, the unique atmosphere and tranquility of the memorial site between the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg Gate would be permanently destroyed.
For the Sinti and Roma minority, the memorial is a sensitive place of remembrance of the victims‘ suffering and their own loss – a symbolic grave.
„My father, my mother, my sisters and my little brother were murdered in Nazi extermination camps and have no grave where I could go and lay flowers. A place where I can stand still and be with them in my thoughts. That is a great loss. I considered this memorial to be my family’s grave. […] I call on those who are planning the route of the new S-Bahn to take into account the wishes of the Sinti and Roma community in Germany and beyond. The only good solution is an alternative route so that our monument is not damaged and peace is guaranteed. […] Leave our monument untouched so that our dead may find their eternal rest.“
Zoni Weisz
Thus Zoni Weisz 2021, who as a child survived the genocide of the Sinti and Roma in the Netherlands and lost his entire family.
With the memorial, the Federal Republic of Germany symbolically acknowledges its responsibility for the crimes committed against the Sinti and Roma. Its erection in the heart of Berlin is a centerpiece of historical and political responsibility in the present, in Germany as well as in Europe, a memorial against forgetting. The genocide was only recognized in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1982, and it took thirty more years of political struggle before the memorial could be inaugurated in 2012 – 67 years after the end of the Second World War and 20 years after the first declaration of intent by the federal government to erect such a memorial.
In the summer of 2020, the public and the members of the Sinti and Roma minority learned through the press about the planned construction of the S 21 suburban railway line and the associated encroachment on the memorial.
After numerous protests and negotiations, the „variant 12h“ was finally presented as a „compromise proposal“. But this too entails the felling of a large part of the surrounding trees and thus the destruction of the overall work of art. Israeli architect Dani Karavan, creator of the memorial, said before his death in May 2021:
„The trees are an integral part of the memorial and a crucial element of the atmosphere I wanted to create. If the trees are altered in any way, the clearing will lose its features and the unique atmosphere of the memorial will be damaged. Any change to the trees would destroy the memorial’s seclusion from the city and drastically affect its function as a place for contemplation and meditation.“
Dani Karavan, creator of the memorial
The Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which is also responsible for the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under National Socialism, states that with »variant 12h« it would no longer be able to ensure its legal mandate, the remembrance of the murdered Sinti and Roma of Europe and their appreciation, in a suitable manner.
The Berlin government now wants to press ahead with the construction plans. With only a week’s notice, representatives of Sinti and Roma NGOs, Noa Karavan, daughter of Dani Karavan, and the Monument Foundation were invited to a meeting on 28 September. By 13 October, »concrete proposals for improvements to the present proposal (construction variant 12h)« are to be submitted. The Berlin Senate’s goal is a »rapid commitment to variant 12h in order to avoid ongoing costs and estimated construction cost increases in the millions«. Alternative routes that would leave the memorial to the Sinti and Roma untouched are no longer being considered for cost reasons.
Are we allowing the interests of Deutsche Bahn, legal successor to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, which transported the victims to the concentration and extermination camps, to destroy the memory of the dead?
We the undersigned and the majority of the Sinti and Roma reject the proposal!
It irrevocably destroys the memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma of Europe.
It dishonors the victims, the survivors and their descendants.
It fundamentally attacks the commitment of German society to the memory of past crimes.
It is not the task of the affected minority to look for alternative solutions for variant 12h, but the moral and political obligation of all Germans to stand up for the integrity of the monument.
We call on the Berlin Senate not to take any further steps until a route is found that leaves the monument untouched in its entirety.
First signatory:
- Hava Karavan, Wife of Dani Karavan
- Noa Karavan-Cohen, Daughter of Dani Karavan
- Tamar Karavan, Daughter of Dani Karavan
- Yael Karavan, Daughter of Dani Karavan
- Hamze Bytyçi, Chairman of RomaTrial e.V.
- Romeo Franz, Member of the European Parliament
- Uwe Neumärker, Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
- Alexandra Senfft, Writer
- Daniel Strauß, Director of RomnoKher
As well as:
- Robert Abzug, Holocaust scholar, emeritus professor of history at the University of Texas USA
- Dragoljub Ackovic, Member of Parliament of Serbia and Researcher of the Genocide on Roma and Sinti
- Ulf Aminde, Professor, Weissensee Academy of Art Berlin
- Carla de Andrade Hurst, Management Board oft he Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD)
- Joviza Arvanitelli, Association of German Sinti and Roma, Baden-Württemberg State Association (Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma, Landesverband Baden-Württemberg)
- Delal Atmaca, Executive Director of the Dachverband der Migrantinnenorganisationen e.V. (Umbrella Organisation of Migrant Women’s Organisations)
- Besnik Avdosoji, Director Iniciativa 6, Kosovo
- Tayo Awosusi-Onutor, Chairwoman of the Board RomaniPhen e.V.
- Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock, Co-managing director SAVVY Contemporary
- Osman Balić, Chairman of the Board, Liga Roma / SKRUG, Serbia
- Daniel Barenboim
- Simone Barrientos, Former Member of the German Bundestag, President of the Louise Aston Society
- Sebastian Barry, Writer, Ireland
- Stéphane Bauer, Director of Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
- Natalie Bayer, Director of the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum
- Iris Berben
- Una Berisa, Editor, journalist, Romani program of Radio Belgrade
- Wolfgang Benz, historian, former director of the Centre for Research on Antisemitism, Berlin
- William Bila, President of La Voix des Rroms, France
- Eroll Bilibani, Film producer/photographer, DokuFest Kosovo
- Marianne Birthler, former Commissioner for the Stasi Files
- Nizaqete Bislimi-Hošo, Chairwoman of the Federal Roma Association (Bundes Roma Verband e.V.)
- Jonny Böhmer, 2nd Chairman of the Counselling Centre for Sinti and Roma Lower Saxony (Beratungsstelle für Sinti und Roma Niedersachsen)
- Lena Brasch, director and author
- Candice Breitz, Artist and Professor (HBK Braunschweig)
- Christoph Brockhaus, art historian, former director of Wilhelm Lembruch Museum, Duisburg
- Ethel Brooks, Historian, Chair, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University, USA
- Felix Büchner, Managing Director Freies Musikzentrum München
- Daniel Buren, artist, France
- Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter, Opera tenor and survivor of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma of Europe
- Kasm Cesmedi, 1st Chairman of the Regional Council of Roma North Rhine-Westphalia
- Pablo Charlemoine, musician
- Martin Collins, Co-Director, Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- Ioana Constantinescu, independent filmmaker
- Leah Carola Czollek, Director of the Institute Social Justice und Radical Diversity
- Max Czollek, author and curator
- Hysni Çylangji, Rromani Baxt, Albania
- Darija Davidović, CPPD member, theatre and cultural scientist, research associate at the Bern University of the Arts
- Tahir Della, spokesperson of the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD) and board member of Decolonize Berlin
- Alexander Diepold, Managing Director Madhouse, Munich
- Murat Dikenci, Artistic Director Studio Я – Maxim Gorki Theatre
- Marko Dinic, writer and publicist, Vienna
- Sharon Dodua Otoo, writer
- Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Curator, Writer and Professor for Art in Discourse HBK Braunschweig, Berlin
- Debórah Dwork, Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity. City University of New York
- Karim El-Helaifi, Chairman of the Board of “neue deutsche organisationen – das postmigrantische Netzwerk e.V.” and Chairman of the Board of “Schülerpaten Dachverband e.V.”
- Kenan Emini, Chairman of the Board of the Roma Center Göttingen
- Henny Engels, Federal Board of the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD)
- Jeremy Esser, Schwetzingen, former member of the state parliament
- Cayetano Fernández, Co-founder Kale Amenge, Portugal
- Peter Forrest, Director, ROTA – Roma Organization Training Advocacy, UK
- Jo Frank, Director of the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse
- Mario Franz, Managing Director of the Lower Saxony Counselling Centre for Sinti and Roma (Niedersächsische Beratungsstelle für Sinti und Roma), Speaker of Lower Saxony Association of German Sinti (Sächsischer Verband deutscher Sinti)
- Stefan Fulst-Blei, Member of the Baden-Württemberg Parliament
- Edis Galushi, Executive Director of NGO Cultiply, Kosovo
- Andrea Genest, Director of the Ravensbrück Memorial (Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück) / Deputy Director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation (Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten)
- Daniel Arkadij Gerzenberg, poet and pianist
- Adrienne Goehler, former Senator for Science, Research, Culture
- Jan Grabowski, Professor of History, University of Ottawa
- Katharina Graf-Janoska, Author and editor, Austria
- Elke Gryglewski, Executive Director, Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation, Director Bergen-Belsen Memorial Site
- Jordi Guixé, Scientific director of the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM) of the University of Barcelona Solidarity Foundation
- Noa K. Ha, urban and racism researcher
- Thomas Hacker, Spokesman for the Stolpersteine Initiative for Augsburg and the surrounding area
- Murat Haliti, Chachipe a.s.b.l, Denmark
- Avdo Hamit, Lokhar e Dukh e.V.
- Gabriele Hammermann, Director of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau)
- Ian Hancock, Chair of Porrajmos Remembrance Committee, American Romani Alliance Inc.
- Dislo Benjamin Harter, Integration Advisory Board for Sinti and Roma in Offenburg
- Jörg Heiser, Executive Director of the Institute Art in Context at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin
- Jens Hellmann, Chairman of the State Association of Sinti and Roma Thuringia
- Derviş Hızarcı, Board Chairman of the Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus – KIgA e.V.
- Carol Höllenreiner für Mano Höllenreiner, Survivor of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma of Europe
- Thomas Hoppe, Folkwang University of Arts
- Kei Horikoshi, director, Spatial Design & Art Co., Japan
- Aladár Horváth, President, Roma Parliament – Civil Rights Movement of Hungary
- Lena Inowlocki, Senior Professor Institute of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
- Veronique Jaeger, owner and director of Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris & Lisbon
- Amdrïta Jakupi, Psychotherapist, Chairwoman of the Board save space e.V., Cologne
- Michel Jaouën, architect, urban planner, président of „Association Axe Majeur de Cergy-Pontoise”, France
- Azir Jašari, Journalist, Serbia
- Frank Jong, journalist, podcaster „Halbe Katoffl“
- Elizabeta Jonuz, Professor of Sociology, Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, member of the former Independent Commission on Antiziganism
- Gianni Jovanovic, Activist, Moderator
- Željko Jovanović, Director of the Open Society Roma Initiatives Office
- Anna Kaminsky, Director of the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship
- Anish Kapoor, Artist, London, UK
- Manfred Kern, Schwetzingen, former member of the state parliament
- Basil Kerski, Direktor Europejski Centrum Solidarności, Danzig
- Axel Klausmeier, Director and Board Member of the Berlin Wall Memorial Foundation (Stiftung Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer)
- Brian Klug, Honorary Fellow in Social Philosophy, Campion Hall, University of Oxford
- Kazuko Koike, Professor Emeritus, Musashino Art University Tokyo, Japan
- Marion Kollbach, filmmaker and salonière of the Jewish Salon Berlin
- Werner Konitzer, philosopher
- Andreas Kossert, historian, Berlin
- Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, historian
- Peter Kraus, Youth Representative of the Sinti Alliance Germany e.V.
- Ursula Krechel, writer, holder of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Agnes Krumwiede, former member of parliament, diploma musician
- Andrea Kuhn, Director of the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival
- Stephanie Kuhnen, author and journalist
- Jasmina Kuhnke, author and writer
- Şeyda Kurt, author
- Hristo Kyuchukov, Vorstand Roma Zentrum für interkulturellen Dialog e. V.
- Lagergemeinschaft DACHAU, Presidium
- Peter Langer, European Danube Academy
- Shermin Langhoff, theatre maker
- Lindy Larsson, actor
- Kelly Laubinger, Co-Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Sinti and Roma (Bundesvereinigung Sinti und Roma)
- Janko Lauenberger, author and guitarist „Sinti Swing Berlin
- Stephan Lauster, Indus Kunst und Kultur der Sinti und Roma e. V., Stuttgart
- Damian James Le Bas, Author, former editor of Travellers‘ Times, UK
- Delaine Le Bas, artist
- Klaus Lederer, Member of the Berlin Parliament, former mayor and senator
- Jakob Lehmann, Board of Directors of the Association of German Sinti and Roma Landesverband Baden-Württemberg
- Verena Lehmann, Board Member of the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation
- Christoph Leucht, Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation
- Gila Lustiger, Author
- Lech Majewski, filmmaker, Poland
- Wolfgang Mayer-Ernst, Chairman of the Working Group Sinti/Roma and Churches in Baden-Württemberg
- Colum McCann, writer, Ireland
- Jana Mechelhoff-Herezi, Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, historian, member of the former Independent Commission on Antiziganism
- Sead Memeti, Member of the Board, Rom e.V., Cologne
- Wilhelm Mettbach, Chairman of the Sinti Union Düsseldorf e.V.
- Helmut Metzner, Executive Director of the Magnus Hirschfeld Federal Foundation
- Barbara Meyer, Managing Director of S27 – Art and Education
- Franz and Petra Michalski, survivors of the Holocaust against European Jews
- Migrationsrat Berlin e.V., Board of Directors
- Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, artist
- Martina Mittenhuber, Head of Human Rights Office & Equal Opportunities Office, Mayor’s Office, City of Nuremberg
- Claude Mollard, Special Adviser to the Chairman of the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute), Paris
- Márcia Moser, Contact Person for Antidiscrimination, Darmstadt
- Samson Munn, Fulbright Specialist in Peace and Reconciliation Studies USA, Founder of The Austrian Encounter, Son of Holocaust survivors
- Jean-Jacques Neuer, Counsel of the Picasso Administration, Brancusi Estate, Yves Klein Estate, Arman Estate, the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, France
- Jeffrey Newman, Emeritus Rabbi, Finchley Reform Synagogue, London
- Jud Nirenberg, Vice President of National Roma Centrum, North Macedonia and Director of Justice for Our Neighbors-New England, USA
- Maria Nooke, Commissioner of the Land of Brandenburg for the Study of the Repercussions of the Communist Dictatorship
- Stefan Oberdorfer, founder and manager of Hemperium GmbH, Ulm
- Burhan Osmani, Union Des Rroms De L’ex Yougoslave En Diaspora, France
- Necati Öziri, Autor
- Pilar Parcerisas, President „Angelus Novus“ Foundation, Portbou, Spain
- Judah Passow, Photographer, London, UK
- Veronika Patočková, Treasurer RomaTrial and cultural producer
- Gudrun Perko, Professor, Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
- Patricia Pientka, historian
- René Pollesch, Artistic Director Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
- Grattan Puxon, co-initiator and General Secretary of the First World Roma Congress
- Daut Qulangji, Romtegra, Kosovo
- Django Heinrich Reinhardt, Chairman of the Regional Council of German Sinti and Roma, Rhineland-Palatinate (Landesrates Deutscher Sinti und Roma, Rheinland-Pfalz)
- Peter Richter, Chairman of the Sinti Alliance Germany North Rhine-Westphalia e.V. (Sinti Allianz Deutschland NRW e.V.)
- Emilia Roig, Founder and Executive Director of Center for Intersectional Justice
- Christian Rosenberg, First Chairman, Sinti Association for the Promotion of Children Youth (Sinti-Verein zur Förderung von Kindern Jugendlichen e.V.)
- Eve Rosenhaft, Professor Emerita of German Historical Studies, University of Liverpool
- Michael Rothberg, The 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies at UCLA, USA
- Sara Roy, Harvard University, daughter of Holocaust survivors
- Monika Rydiger, Art historian & curator, International Cultural Centre Kraków, Poland
- Jürgen Sand, Chartered Accountant, Tax Adviser
- Ernst Schilling, Chairman of Sozialverband VdK, South Baden District
- Lisa Marei Schmidt, Director of the Brücke Museum, Berlin
- Manja Schuecker-Weiss, Member of the Board Federal Association of Sinti and Roma (Bundesvereinigung der Sinti und Roma e.V.), Member of the Board Advisory Board Lower Saxony Counselling Centre for Sinti and Roma (Niedersächsische Beratungsstelle für Sinti und Roma e.V.)
- Uwe Schwabe, Chairman of the Board Archiv Bürgerbewegung Leipzig e.V.
- Gesine Schwan, Berlin Gouvernance Platform
- Fritz Schwarzbäcker, Chairman of the Augsburg Remembrance Workshop (ErinnerungsWerkstatt Augsburg)
- Oliver Sears, Holocaust Awareness Ireland
- Tatja Seibt, actress, Berlin
- Dzoni Sichelschmidt, 1st Chairman ROMED-Deutschland e.V. Hamburg
- Simonida Selimovic, Artist, Executive Board Romano Svato, Vienna
- Jeanette Shiferaw, Executive Director Ausblick e.V., Berlin
- Mekonnen Shiferaw, Executive Director Babel e.V., Berlin
- Gereon Sievernich, former director of Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
- Sonia Simmenauer, artist agent and salonière of the Jewish Salon Berlin
- Herman Simon, Founding Director Foundation New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum
- Jörg Skriebeleit, Director of the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial Site
- Wilhelm Solms, German Studies
- Frank Dabba Smith, Rabbi, Leo Baeck College and Brent Multifaith Forum (London, UK)
- Genoveva Dlimcheva Sotirova, Activist and Freelancer, Bulgaria
- Wolfram Stender, Professor of Sociology, Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, member of the former Independent Commission on Antiziganism
- Yale Strom, filmmaker, musician, composer, writer and photographer, USA
- Bartłomiej Struzik, Vice-rector for cooperation, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland
- Silke Stürmer, Pastor and representative for cooperation with Sinti and Roma of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg
- Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Parliament
- Sabin Tambrea, actor
- Gün Tank, author
- Kemal Vural Tarlan, General Coordinator of Kırkayak Kültür – Dom Research Center, Turkey
- Mark Terkessidis, Freelance author and migration researcher
- Marlo Thormann, Chairman of the Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein
- Sarah Tsehaye, Singer and anti-racism coach, Cologne
- Melinda Trueblood-Stimpson, Khalo Vardo Anarchist Collective, USA
- Johannes Tuchel, Professor of Political Science
- Anja Tuckermann, writer, Berlin
- Mikhaylo Tyaglyy, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Kyiv Ukraine
- Martin Ulmer, Managing Director of the Gäu-Neckar-Alb e.V. Memorial Association
- Juice Vamosi, Founder KaskoSan Roma Charity, UK
- Friedrich Veitl, Publisher, Metropol Verlag
- Esma Veselovski, Roma activist, Serbia
- Agnes Vince, State architect & urban planner, director of Coastal Conservatory, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, France
- Annette Dorothea Weber, freelance director and board member of Community art e.V.
- Oskar Weiss, Chairman of the Sinti Alliance Germany (Sinti Allianz Deutschland e.V.)
- Giovanni Weiß, Second Chairman, Sinti Association for the Promotion of Children Youth (Sinti-Verein zur Förderung von Kindern Jugendlichen e.V.)
- Jane Weiß, Private lecturer, Iniromnja, member of the former Independent Commission on Antiziganism
- Melanie Joschla Weiß, Kelipe e.V.
- Michael Weiß, Deputy Chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Council of German Sinti and Roma (Landesrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma Rheinland-Pfalz)
- Gerd Weisskirchen, Former Member of Parliament (SPD)
- Zoni Weisz, Florist, survivor of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma of Europe
- Donata Wenders
- Wim Wenders
- Lukas Welz, Chairman of the Board of AMCHA Deutschland e.V.
- Manuel Werner, Counselling Centre for Equal Participation Nürtingen of the VDSR-BW
- Michael Wildt, Historian, Berlin
- Working Group for Intergenerational Consequences of the Holocaust, former PAKH, Board of Directors
- Oliver von Wrochem, Director Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme), Chairman Hamburg Memorials and Learning Places Foundation (Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte)
- Mirjam Zadoff, Director NS Documentation Centre Munich
(As of 11.10.2023, 23:00)