Birkenau (memorial)
Auschwitz II E, pole 28 – The Roma and Sinti Memorial
See also: Auschwitz-Birkenau (camp)
See also: Auschwitz (exhibition)
See also: Birkenau (plaque)
See also: Birkenau (Czech stele)
See also: Birkenau (stele at Crematorium V)
Historical background
See: Auschwitz-Birkenau (camp)
Description of commemoration
The Roma and Sinti Memorial in the Zigeunerlager was founded in 1973 by Romani Rose, the leader of German Sinti. The monument stood on the site 28 of the former Roma camp in the Auschwitz II E sub-camp.
Its form refers to the surviving remains of brick fragments of the camp barracks. Against the background of the monument-brick wall stands a granite obelisk with an inscription in Sinti and on its sides there are two plaques in German and Polish. All three texts have more or less the same meaning.
It is in front of this very memorial that on August 2, 1994 the Association of the Roma in Poland with headquarters in Oświęcim organised an international demonstration commemorating the victims of Nazism. After this demonstration the date of August 2 was proclaimed the International Day of Remembrance on the Extermination of the Roma. Every year, delegations of Roma from many countries gather on the site of the former Zigeunerlager in Birkenau to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. In recent years, meetings of the ternYpe Roma youth network, which aims to educate about the tragic history of the Roma during World War II, have also played a significant role in commemorating the Roma Holocaust.
Inscriptions
Text in the Sinti language (obelisk):
GEDENKSTATTA / VOR I MULE / CINTENGIAN / KEIA KZ LAGER / AUSCHWITZ / BIRKENAU / VENN / BUD TAVSENDE CINTI / MORSCHA // TSCHUBIA / U TSCHABE / GRAVENLAFT / QUALEDU MER / GASEDU U MULO / DINO ANTI / HITLERESKRI / ZIERU VON / 1940-1945 / NEVIGES GEDEN / KEN VOR NA DASKI / KARISCHEN UND / MIRI DAKRI SETTA / UND MA PENIAKI / WIRZA UND MA / TSCHAI NATALIA / VINZENZ ROSE
Text in German:
GEDENKSTATTE / DER SINTI DES KONZ.- LAGER / AUSCHWITZ BIRKENAU. / VIELEKINDER, DIEGEFANGE-NEN / UNDGEQUALTEN / OPFERDESDEUTSCHEN / FASCHIZMUS-SINDHIER / IN DIESEN KONZ.-LAGER / BIRKENAU GRAUEN / HAFT GEQUALT, VER / GASTUND ERMORDET WORDEN. / GESTIFTETVOM VERBANDDE / SINTIDEUTSCHLANDS 1973 / ROSE O. BAMBERGER
Translation:
MEMORIAL SITE DEDICATED TO THE ROMA FROM THE OŚWIĘCIM-BRZEZINKA [AUSCHWITZ/BIRKENAU] CAMP / THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN / IMPRISONED AND TORTURED / VICTIMS OF GERMAN / FASCISM – DIED / IN THE BRZEZINKA [BIRKENAU] CAMP. THEY WERE TORTURED, MURDERED AND GASSED. // FOUNDED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE ROMA IN GERMANY 1973 / ROSE O. BAMBERGER
Under the plaque in the middle the following inscription was added in subsequent years:
THIS MONUMENT WAS RESTORED ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIQUIDATION OF THE CAMP FOR THE GYPSIES AT KL AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU / BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE ROMA IN POLAND / AUGUST 3, 1994.
Date of the unveiling
1973, 1994
Initiator
Vinzenz Rose, Romani Rose
Address
Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau [State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau]
ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20
32-603 Oświęcim, Polska [Poland]
http://auschwitz.org
Location
50°02’16.3″N 19°10’31.5″E
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Materials
http://auschwitz.org/muzeum/aktualnosci/odnowiony-pomnik-w-dawnym-obozie-cyganskim,551.html
http://auschwitz.org/muzeum/aktualnosci/dzien-pamieci-o-zagladzie-romow-i-sinti,1744.html
Gallery
