Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe
Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism, filmed in 2013 in the Tiergarten (close to other Holocaust memorials) in Berlin – between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, in Germany.
The monument is dedicated to the memory of the estimated 500,000 European Roma and Sinti that were murdered during the Holocaust – called Porajmos or Pharrajimos in the Romani language (“the Devouring” or “Destruction”) – the genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples by the German Nazis and their fascist allies ( http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home ).
August 2 is European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemorating this genocide of Roma people during World War II. Declared by the European Parliament in 2015 (Resolution 2015/2615), the day marks the anniversary of the extermination of around 3,000 Roma at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the night of 2 August 1944. The so-called Gypsy Camp in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was dissolved – or “liquidated,” as the SS called it.
Settela Steinbach (9) was one of those murdered early August 1944, now 75 years ago.
The memorial (by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan) consists of a circular pool of water with a triangular stone in the center (not shown in this film) upon which a fresh flower is placed daily.
Film: Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe | 20190804 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0
Poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli
In a ring around the pond in English and German – and in two Romani dialects on a stone – are the words of the poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli (artist name Alexian), a Rom from the Abruzzi region of Italy – a musician, poet, teacher, composer and essayist.
Auschwitz (Original)
Muj šukkó, kjá kalé vušt šurde; kwit. Jilo čindó bi dox, bi lav, nikt ruvbé.
Auschwitz (Sinti-Romanes)
Drenperdo Mui, phagede Jakha, schiel Wuschtia; Pokunipen. Phagedo Dschi, kek Ducho, kek Labensa, kek Asvia.
Auschwitz (Deutsch)
Eingefallenes Gesicht, erloschene Augen, kalte Lippen. Stille. Ein zerrissenes Herz, ohne Atem, ohne Worte, keine Tränen.
Auschwitz (English)
Pallid face, dead eyes, cold lips. Silence. A broken heart without breath, without words, no tears.
Music “Mare Manuschenge” by Romeo Franz
At the site you faintly hear the sound, a note of a lonely violin from a composition/sound installation titled “Mare Manuschenge” / “Our People” by Romeo Franz, a Sinto musician, composer and politician in Germany.
The sound in this film I posted is mixed from several video recordings there, with the emphasis on the sound from one video of one of the loudspeakers in the surrounding trees.
Bibliography
Online Teaching Resource for Genocide of Sinti and Roma , Site – Roma Sinti Genocide – http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home
Reference from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/educational-materials/online-teaching-resource-genocide-sinti-and-roma )
Genocide of the Roma – International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/genocide-of-the-roma
European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – European Parliament Resolution 2015/2615(RSP) – Text P8_TA(2015)0095 available as PDF via http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2015-0095_EN.pdf )
Deutsche Welle or DW – Germany’s public international broadcaster – https://www.dw.com/en/75-years-ago-nazis-carry-out-mass-murder-of-sinti-and-roma-people-in-auschwitz/a-49874353
European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: Statement by First Vice-President Timmermans and Commissioner Jourová
Brussels, 1 August 2019 – STATEMENT-19-4869_EN
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-19-4869_en.htm
The Roma Holocaust Memorial That Wasn’t Built in a Day
Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan has left no stone unturned in his efforts to build his gypsy Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
by Ofer Aderet / HAARETZ Sep 14, 2012
https://www.haaretz.com/the-roma-memorial-that-wasn-t-built-in-a-day-1.5162513
Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under the National Socialist Regime
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial.html#c952
Dani Karavan
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/dani-karavan.html
Poem by Italian Rom Santino Spinelli
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/poem-by-santino-spinelli.html
Newess 1|13
Click to access Newess_1_2013_web_DS.pdf
Santino Spinelli – RomArchive
https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/p/santino-spinelli/
Music by Romeo Franz
The Greens/EFA – Welcome Tilly Metz and Romeo Franz
https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/press/welcome-tilly-metz-and-romeo-franz/
The Handreader’s Tale
https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/magazine/magazine_26-1/the_handreaders_tale.html
Updates
20190805 – Major update August 5, 2019 with corrections, more details including poem languages and now a bibliography
20220604 – Format changes credit line
20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN
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