Location Confirmed for Central Memorial to Roma and Sinti

A significant milestone has been reached in the planning for the memorial to the Roma and Sinti victims of National Socialism: the location has been decided. The memorial will be erected in Weghuberpark, in front of the Ministry of Justice in Vienna’s 7^th District.

Last Friday, a meeting took place in Parliament at which the Roma Ethnic Group Advisory Board and representatives of Roma associations unanimously endorsed Weghuberpark as the site for the memorial.

“The memorial to the victims of National Socialism from the Roma community is far more than a construction project. It is an expression of our historical responsibility and a clear commitment by the Republic to give these victims of National Socialism – a victim group that for decades has been far too peripheral in the public awareness – the place they deserve in Austria’s remembrance landscape,” said Peter Haubner, Second President of the National Council and Chairman of the National Fund.

“Reaching a decision on the site of the centrally located memorial is an important step. Remembrance must be clearly visible in in the public realm and not anonymous. It must clearly call out the persecution and murder of the Roma people and also openly address Austria’s responsibility for it. The memorial is aimed at society as a whole. It is intended to encourage reflection, foster historical understanding and make it clear that antiziganism persists to this day and must be met with resolute opposition,” said Emmerich Gärtner-Horvath, Chair of the Roma Ethnic Group Advisory Board.

Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Municipal Councillor for Culture and Science: “The choice of Weghuberpark as the site for the memorial to the Roma and Sinti murdered under National Socialism creates a much-needed place of remembrance in an inner-city location. The Advisory Board’s unanimous decision marks an important milestone in a process that we, as the City of Vienna, have accompanied and supported through active dialogue with the Advisory Board and representatives of the community – for Roma and Sinti have been part of Vienna’s history for centuries, even though they and their contributions were long overlooked or pushed to the margins of society. I am committed to ensuring that a vibrant culture of remembrance and commemoration continues to occupy a central place in our city’s identity.”

Markus Reiter, District Head of Vienna’s 7^th District: “The planned memorial to the Roma and Sinti victims of National Socialism is a central and long-overdue part of our culture of remembrance. As District Head of Neubau, I was very happy to provide the site in Weghuberpark – I consider it crucial that this project is finally realised. We will make every effort to support its realisation as best we can. We are already making a significant contribution to remembrance policy today through the naming of Ceija-Stojka-Platz, our support for the annual commemoration on 2 August, and our ‘Neubau Remembers’ initiative. With this widely supported decision on the location, the Republic is sending a strong signal of visibility, recognition and responsibility. This is a good thing and a historically significant step.”

The location was determined as part of a broad-based consultation process coordinated by the National Fund, involving representatives of the ethnic group. The expert assessments of the relevant departments of the City of Vienna were also taken into account. Different perspectives and requirements were brought together and now form the basis for the next steps in the implementation process.

The installation of the memorial will create a central place of remembrance in the public domain, bringing to light the persecution and murder of Romani and Sinti people under National Socialism and ensuring that their memory is has a permanent place. It is also about raising public awareness of a group of victims of National Socialism who have long been overlooked.

Of the approximately 11,000 members of this ethnic group in Austria, around 90 per cent fell victim to Nazi tyranny. This figure represents an unprecedented scale of loss: the murdered families, the lives destroyed, and the people whose names have been erased and whose stories have been silenced. At the same time, given the persistence of antiziganism, the project also has particular socio-political relevance.

The Roma ethnic group was recognised as an indigenous ethnic group in 1993.

The memory of the ethnic group’s victims is now firmly anchored in commemorative days such as International Roma Day on 8 April and the International Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of the Roma and Sinti on 2 August, which has been a national day of remembrance in Austria since 2023. There are already memorial sites in the federal provinces and in Vienna – but a central memorial to the Roma and Sinti victims of National Socialism has been missing until now.

Following the decision on the location, preparations for the artistic competition to design the memorial will continue. This is planned as a two-stage, Europe-wide process. The call for entries will be launched in autumn 2026. The development of the conceptual and artistic fundament for this will continue with the involvement of the Roma and Sinti communities and in accordance with legal and technical requirements.

The process is designed to ensure that memorial will be implemented sustainably and to a high standard, in a way that does justice both to the historical dimension and to the requirements of contemporary remembrance culture.

Further information is available at https://www.nationalfonds.org/memorial-for-ns-victims-roma-sinti.

Enquiries & Contact

National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism
Tel. +43 1 408 12 63
Email: presse@nationalfonds.org