Mannheim (memorial)
Description of commemoration
In the E6 quarter in Mannheim, in a square near the Jesuit church, a statue of the Angel of Freedom was erected in 1983. The statue is dedicated to the victims who died in the period1933-1945. On the square under the pedestal there is an inscription made of dark, granite paving stones, distinguished by their colour from the grey-red cobblestone (Es mahnen die Toten 1933-45). 14 years later in the same place (in the left corner of the square) a cuboid-shaped memorial (closely resembling a cube) was unveiled. The memorial was dedicated to a special group of victims of World War II – Sinti and Roma, the inhabitants of Mannheim.
This is a pretty ugly example of a stele – a cube made of steel, about 1 m high, laying with a wider wall to the ground. The memorial is painted black and features an inscription in German on the front. The inscription is placed on a separate plaque, welded to the block. Maybe it is a cast. The letters, slightly raised in relation to the background – in a simple sans serif font – have a brass colour. The plaque has a small, square, solid frame which is the same colour as the stele.
Apart from the inscription on the monument itself, there is no information about the stele or the history of the Roma in Mannheim.
Inscriptions
In German:
Zum Gedenken an die / Mannheimer Sinti, / die dem Völkermord / im Nationalsozialismus / zum Opfer fielen.
Translation:
In memory of the Sinti and the Roma of Mannheim, victims of the National Socialist genocide.
Date of the unveiling
May 15, 1997
Author
Workmanship: teachers and students from Mercedes-Benz school workshops
Initiator
Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma – Landesverband Baden-Württemberg
Address
E6, Platz des Friedensengels, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
Location
49°29’23.5″N 8°27’43.7″E
49.489858, 8.462139
In the square to the right of the Hospital Church (Spitalkirche), the stele resembles a painted electric transformer box.
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Gallery
