Würzburg (memorial)
Description of commemoration
Near the cathedral church in Würzburg, close to the presbytery, there is a small tree-lined square (near the building that houses the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Bayerns (KVB) – Bezirksstelle Unterfranken – ‘Lower Franconia District Office’).
The memorial was designed and made by vocational school students as a reaction to the “forgotten Holocaust” of Roma and Sinti, an important part from modern history.
Separated from the surrounding space by a low semi-circular angular barrier, it is shaped into a structure supporting the globe. Instead of a globe – a movable, rotating cube with engraved inscriptions is mounted in its place. Although designing the monument as a model of the Earth may be associated with the universal citizenship of the Gypsies, who inhabit every scrap of the Earth, the creators of the memorial used the angular finish of individual elements (the cube of the “globe”, the angular structure of the globe, the post and the bottom railing), which indicates that Gypsies / Roma create their cultural world and do not fit anywhere, they are “angular” to the general public. The monument is made of Corten steel sheet.
The memorial commemorates about 300 Sinti from Würzburg who were deported and murdered during World War II
Inscriptions
1.
Engraving in German:
Zum Gedenken an die Würzburger Sinti, die dem nationalsozialistischen Völkermord in Auschwitz und anderen Vernichtungslagern zum Opfer fielen.
Engraving in Romani:
Dhe pisteras Lenn ghar. / Mara Würzburgertikhi- / Sinti ho annu Tschildo / Ziro bengho / Tschiephen ami / Auschwitz, und an gall / wawari Lageri unti / mugham. John wann mardi, weiskhi John / Sinti hins.
Translation:
‘In memory of the Sinti from Würzburg, who were killed during the National Socialist genocide in Auschwitz and other death camps.’
2.
The the cut-out text in German:
ZUR ERINNERUNG UND MAHNUNG // ENTWURF UND AUSFÜHRUNG: / 12. KLASSE METALLBAUER / FACHRICHTUNG: KONSTRUKTIONSTECHNIK / FRANZ-OBERTHÜR-SCHULE, BBZ I // BETON- UND NATURSTEINARBEITEN: / JOSEF-GREISING-SCHULE, BBZ II // 11.5.2005
Translation:
‘To remember and to remind: / design and rendering: / metal workers class 12th, field: construction technology, Franz Oberthür School / Concrete and garden architecture: Josef Greising School. / May 11, 2005’
Date of the unveiling
May 11, 2005
Author
Students and teachers of Oberthür-Schule and Greising-Schule
Initiator
The city of Würzburg and the Bavarian Insurance Office
Address
Paradeplatz 4, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
Location
49°47’36.7″N 9°56’00.4″E
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Materials
http://www.mein-wuerzburg.com/sintiundroma.htm
Gallery
