German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken of her "sorrow and shame" as she opened a memorial to the estimated half-million ethnic Roma and Sinti who were murdered by the Nazi regime during the World War Two era.
The memorial -- a round pool of water with a stone triangle at the center -- was built with a 2.8-million-euro ($3.5 million) grant from the German federal government.
It sits near the Reichstag parliament building in central Berlin and is close to memorials honoring Jewish and homosexual victims of the Nazis.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on October 24, a Romany survivor recalled the horrors of the Nazi extermination campaign and also denounced contemporary discrimination against Sinti and Roma.
Some 11 million Roma live in Europe but many still suffer from poverty and discrimination.
The memorial -- a round pool of water with a stone triangle at the center -- was built with a 2.8-million-euro ($3.5 million) grant from the German federal government.
It sits near the Reichstag parliament building in central Berlin and is close to memorials honoring Jewish and homosexual victims of the Nazis.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on October 24, a Romany survivor recalled the horrors of the Nazi extermination campaign and also denounced contemporary discrimination against Sinti and Roma.
Some 11 million Roma live in Europe but many still suffer from poverty and discrimination.
