Photo Gallery Fighting over Memory

A planned monument in Berlin to Sinti and Roma murdered in the Holocaust has been in the works for years. But it has been accompanied by disagreement, debate and bitterness for just as long. Now that construction has started, the spats have grown more intense.
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A new monument to the Sinti and Roma murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust is going near the parliament building, the Reichstag, in Berlin. This image is from 2008 -- but ongoing disputes between the government in Berlin and the monument's artist Dani Karavan have meant that construction is well behind schedule.

Foto: dpa Picture-Alliance / Gero Brel/ picture-alliance/ dpa
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Dani Karavan (right) insists on perfection and he has threatened to take his name off of the project. Some in Berlin, however, feel that his demands are unreasonable. Leading the project for the German government is Bernd Neumann (center), the commissioner for cultural and media affairs in the Chancellery. Head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose (left), commissioned Karavan with the project years ago.

Foto: dpa Picture-Alliance / Gero Brel/ picture-alliance/ dpa
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Karavan's design envisions a round pool with a stele rising out of the middle. A single rose is to be placed on the stele. Once a day, the stele will sink into the pool and will be replaced.

Foto: Sabine Sauer / DER SPIEGEL
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The Nazis murdered some 500,000 Sinti and Roma during the Holocaust. They, like the Jews, had been slated for extermination. One of those murdered was Hans Bonarewitz (left). This image shows him being led to his execution in the Mauthausen concentration camp in July 1942 after he was recaptured following an escape.

Foto: ASSOCIATED PRESS