Germany: Unidentified perpetrator spray-paints "Gas them" on Romani Holocaust memorial in Berlin

Yesterday in Berlin an unidentified perpetrator has damaged the memorial to Romani people murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War. Police and security services are investigating the case.

At the entrance to the memorial, which is located just a few meters away from the historical building of the Reichstag in the center of the German capital, the perpetrators spray-painted a swastika and the words "Gas them". Authorities immediately removed the defamatory graffiti.

The foundation that takes care of the memorial immediately increased its security measures. The site commemorates the deaths of as many as 500 000 Romani and Sinti people and was created in 2012 in a park that is near the German Parliament and near the large memorial dedicated to commemorating the Jewish Holocaust.

The central part of the Romani memorial is a pond around which stones inscribed with the names of concentration camps are planted in the earth. The names of two Czech "Gypsy camps", Hodonín by Kunštát (Blanensko district) and Lety by Písek, are among them.