Trier (memorial)
Historical background
Gypsies from Trier were deported to concentration camps in three waves: in 1938, 1940 and 1943. It is known that 12 of them were murdered in KL Auschwitz.
Description of commemoration
On the square at the Trier Cathedral, at Bischof-Stein-Platz, there is a memorial dedicated to the memory of the deported and murdered Sinti and Roma, residents of Trier.
The memorial was created in 2012 and consists of six three-meter pillars, made of sheet metal (bronze, copper?) – green with patina. Looking at them from a distance, they resemble dominoes next to each other. Perhaps this interpretation of the memorial is correct, because the fate of the Gypsies, prepared for them by the German national socialists and their collaborators just resembled falling blocks. They were killed massively, systematically, in a planned and politically designed way, and the effect of this genocide on the size of the population of the Roma people was similar to the destruction of the domino structure – they were decimated, and in some countries almost the entire population was annihilated.
Below the half of the height of each pillar there is an informative or memorial element. The first stele has a plaque with a commemorative inscription, the second – an inscription in Braille. The third, fourth and fifth pillars feature QR codes linking to websites with information concerning, respectively: the history of war persecution in Trier, the culture of the city, and the history of the Roma and Sinti in Germany. Symmetrically to the first pillar, the last one features an inscription mentioning the initiators and founders of the memorial and the name of the artist.
Inscriptions
In German:
Die Würde aller Menschen / ist unantastbar // zum Gedenken / an die während der Zeit / des Nationalsozialismus / deportierten Sinti und Roma. // Männer, Frauen und Kinder unserer Stadt / wurden aus ihrer Heimat / in die Konzentrationslager / deportiert und ermordet.
(…) [inscription in Braiile – note by NG]
(…) [3 links (QR codes) to websites with information about history of the Roma and Sinti in Germany, the history of Trier, and the culture in Trier]
Förderer dieses Denkmals: Trierer Bürgerinnen und Bürger / Die Stadt Trier / Das Bistum Trier / Kulturstiftung Sparkasse Trier / Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz für Kultur // Initiator: Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma // Künstler: Clas Steinmann, Trier // 2012
Translation:
The dignity of all people is inviolable. In memory of the Sinti and Roma, deported in the era of National Socialism. Men, women and children from our city were deported from their own homes to a concentration camp and murdered there.
The founders of this monument: residents of the city of Trier, the City of Trier, the Diocese of Trier, the Culture Foundation Sparkasse Trier, the Culture Foundation Rhineland-Palatinate. Initiator: German Sinti and Roma Association. Creator: Clas Steinmann, Trier 2012.
Date of the unveiling
September 10, 2012
Author
Clas Steinmann
Initiator
Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma
Address
Mahnmal für deportierte Sinti und Roma
Bischof-Stein-Platz, 54290 Trier, Germany
Location
49°45’23.2″N 6°38’38.6″E
49.756449, 6.644063
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Materials
Zuche, Thomas (Hrsg.): Stattführer. Trier im Nationalsozialismus, 3. Aufl., Trier 2005.
Gallery
