Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The 1936 Berlin Olympics gave the Nazis the “excuse” they needed. The authorities in the German capital decided that they wanted a “Gypsy free” city during the event. They set up a detention camp for Berlin's Roma population in Marzahn, an eastern Berlin suburb.
Hundreds were herded into the camp for the duration of the games. But that was just the beginning. By the end of 1944, trains full of Europe's Roma families were being dispatched to Auschwitz. An estimated 500,000 were murdered in the "second Holocaust".
It was not until 1982 that the then West German government acknowledged that genocide had been committed against the Sinti and Roma. It took another 10 years to agree that a memorial to their fate was needed. Yesterday, some 20 years on, the memorial was finally unveiled in Berlin's Tiergarten park just a few yards away from the city's Reichstag parliament building. It is a circular pool of water. A triangular plinth graces its centre and a fresh flower is now placed on it every day. "Auschwitz" by the Italian poet Santino Spinelli is engraved on the pond's black stone rim.
The new reunified Germany grants Jews an automatic right of abode in a belated effort to make amends for the crimes of the Nazis. However the Roma are not afforded such privileges. Berlin still turns down Roma asylum seekers from places like Kosovo. Romani Rose, the leader of Germany's Sinti and Roma hopes nevertheless, that the long overdue memorial will remind both politicians and the public that: "anti-Roma sentiment is as unacceptable as anti-Semitism".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments