 of LGTBI plus community in Europe the European Observatory of Memories of the UB Solidarity Foundation has organized International this international conference This activity has the support of the Department of Equality and Feminism of the Generalitat of Catalonia and with of the co-financing and the city ship Equality rights and values program of the European Union many actions Will be taken today such as the inaugural conference monuments to gays and lesbians in Europe Forms of memory in the public space by Stephanie Enlidge Honorary professor of public art at the University of the arts Berlin the table one Chantai at Kedas Who do we remember and whom? Do we let go? Queer histories and memories in Italy Spain and Poland and the screening of the film read freedom 2021 and will talk with his director Thomas Ray there in the table to Barcelona comes out of the closet local experience of the struggles LGVTI plus by three activists and Why are acts like this important? Well mainly because this is the first day of the subaltern memories cycle which will annually give boys to memories relate to certain social groups That have been ceiling silent of marginalized On this occasion, we will address the memory the memories of the struggles of LGV By plus communities which have historically been severely repressed Due to conservative behavior and policies against sexual diversity Which are still in force in many countries Above all the day aims to commemorate the struggles and achievement of the LGVT I plus communities in defending their rights to truly achieve equality in society in Europe thought I historical basis the experience of LGVT I plus activities and activities national perspective the plane Activities aim to provide you with the knowledge to reflect on the ropes of recurring discrimination and those contribute off to the construction of more tolerant uncle's inclusive society Now in catalan la universitat de Barcelona we at the University of Barcelona support Sexual freedom no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation And this is translated into our regulations and also in our equality plan on which we work on the seventh Pillar in this third plan for equality called diversity and Intersectionality on gender and therefore we are really happy at the University of Barcelona We're participating on this very much needed struggle and to conclude everyone Who has made today possible? especially Of eurom at eurom and the solidarity foundation We hope you enjoy today today this day. Sorry the day We hope that you can enjoy this event this much needed event again with several speakers and several activities That I'm sure that will make it a meaningful day to you And now let's introduce natch the frayer The head of the team for non-discrimination at the DG of justice the European Commission And we will listen to her through this zoom connection No So I was saying this project provides European citizens with tools for critical knowledge Of the present based on the memory of the past, but it also strengthen a common European conscience Based on the respect for human rights Today we remember the struggles of the aljabitei q plus communities and by doing so we put the hours of the past A past when homosexuality and trans identities were considered a disease behind us In the European Union, we are working hard to support all gbtiq communities Two years ago. We adopted the first ever strategy at the European level with actions to mainstream lgbtiq equality into all policy areas The goal is for no lgbtiq person in the eu to discriminate it against at any point of their life And to be able to be who they are and to love who they want As we work to improve life in the European Union I want us to spare a thought for those who are even less fortunate position We are living in worrying times right now violence and violation of human rights have returned to europe On alleged scales that anytime since the the world war two Manifestation of hate and anger Reminding most brutal way or important or task of defending the common european values human dignity freedom democracy equality rule of law human rights really is It's a privilege to live in a society in the EU in which pluralism not discrimination tolerant justice solidarity and equality prevail We must never forget it It is extremely important that we continue working together for those values in the most determined way Equality of human rights do not remain and come through on their own. They must be actively cherished In this very challenging situation the commission continues his effort to protect fundamental rights and fight discrimination by all its means We follow closely the treatment of vulnerable groups including lgbtiq people who flee the war from Ukraine to the EU Let me now end with three complete examples My own conclusion on what we can learn from history as a policymaker My first Example is the success of the exhibition on gays and lesbians during world war two with the Shoah Memorial in Paris When extreme power comes into force all minority groups are at risk Nowadays we see that those minority groups are sometimes played against each other. This is not the solution My first conclusion is that solidarity and intersectionality should prevail So gone during your team building. We were lucky enough at the European Commission in my team To take part in the lesbian tour and Brussels organized by an historian who also is an activist In the times when homosexuality was decriminalized in 1985 in belgium She says that she receives group of lgbtiq activists from all over europe And as they always astonished to hear that in 20 years time belgium made it possible for gbtiq people to marry and have a family as well as securing rights for trans people Learning from history we can clearly see that in the looks for fundamental rights There are sometimes setbacks and rights should never be taken for granted But that they can also go very fast, which is very optimistic for countries. No, that's your situation that is not favorable for gbtiq people And last but not least I want to share with you that during a meeting last week with member states and Norway informed commissions that the big part of this new lgbtq action plan will be based on clear history of the country So last april they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of criminalization of homosexuality in norway And at this occasion the prime minister made an official apology to lgbtiq communities We do not make policies in a vehicular history make or shall make policies I therefore encourage all governments to work closely with university and research institutes To develop the work on the history of the most vulnerable groups and therefore also on the lgbtiq community I wish you a very fruitful talk and discussions also during this day Thank you very much for for your attention Thank you very much Now I speak And now the floor goes to chavir fluenza The general director of public policies lgbtq and the catalan minister of equality and feminisms at the catalan government Good morning everyone. First of all on behalf of the catalan ministry of equality and feminism Let me say how happy we are to be part of this opening event on these international Meeting support and memories But also we would like to thank You for inviting us in Being part of this process from this very inception when orio lopes got in touch with us in order to Tell us about this project and to Bring in people from the lgbtq movement in the catalan arena and so Let me extend this gratitude to user Jimenez as well at the head of the lgbtq Division also all the units in the national council Some of which will also participate in a panel discussion later on And there's been a work done in recent months I would also like to congratulate the university of basalona on such an initiative Which is helpful to make visible the struggles of the lgbtq community Through researchers and through activists around europe that will be here today During this meeting and also to do so in these very symbolic days Week before the 28th of june Therefore in reaching these whole agenda in basalona but also in catalonia on that Very special day on the 28th of june And considering all the different events taking place throughout these days sexual orientation the gender expression of people And the fact that they do not fit into what's usually seen or been seen as The standard as the norm has made that historically and still is seen in many countries People in the lgbtq community have been repressed or have been socially excluded Worth remembering that the who kept homosexuality As a condition until 90 90 so that wasn't How many years ago and in the case of trans people Gender dysphoria has been kept until 2018 and even so to these days. We are seeing legislation that aim trans As a condition so this is not something that has been overcome for many years, but rather some achievements that are recent in time Looking back in catalonia one can think about the silencing and the persecution that the lgbtq community Felt under franker's regime. You remember the social rehabilitation Of the during the franker regime the law against slackers And crooks that was used against the lgbtq community To force therapies on them and that was not just on Community but also on any On any behavior that was deemed antisocial by franker's regime and it was not until 1995 that it was absolutely repealed Or the demonstration in basalona the first demonstration in 1977 by the lgbtq community The first one that took place in southern europe and that was Strongly repressed by the law enforcement agencies or How some organizations were not made legal until the early 80s This all goes to show the need to claim these lgbtq memories Basically on two reasons first of all because we as a society need to be fully aware on the challenges in Having these rights Rights should not be taken for granted is not something That we get out of the blue. It's been Some result in outcome of a long hard struggle the fact that we now have this catalan ministry of equality and feminism 40 years after the Comeback of the catalan government. I think that it's a symbol and it's also an outcome of these struggles by many communities and Also, we should be aware on how we need to support these rights Considering some people that want these to be rolled back because at the end of the day the lgbtq memory is helping us to prevent things from happening again and To revisit some of our darker episodes in our more recent history As we are seeing in the within the framework of the european union such as hungary or poland Which are violating the fundamental rights of the lgbtq community without any further Implicate impact other than political sanctions, but still Some steps are being undertaken Even in these european countries that are against the lgbtq community So there is much to be done and we need to value the Historical memory the democratic memory in the lgbtq community. I'm sure that there are still many memorials lacking many memorial spaces in the public Environment and I'm sure that we will be talking about these later on Also in the street names of our towns and cities that we are missing references on individuals that are Significant part of the lgbtq struggle. So I think that this is worth considering worth being aware of And hopefully from here on some additional proposals and additional steps can be put on Once more let me thank you for your initiative and I do hope that you can enjoy these Conference and this is just the first conference of many more to come In order to recover this memory and to claim the Struggle for the right of the lgbtq community, which is a fight for equality and freedom and human rights. Thank you thank you very much the director general and This is With this we will bring this opening part to a close and we will now listen to the keynote speech The monuments to gays and lesbians in europe forms of memory in the public space delivered and first chaired by jordy guichet the director of urum and The keynote speech will be delivered by stefanie endlich Honorary professor of public art at the university of art in berlin. Thank you very much Good morning everyone. Thank you for my twice rector director general Dear friends and colleagues. I'd like also to greet uriel and The technical team that have made these conference possible and We are the european observatory of memories. We've wanted to Create to design this event Even though we've been working on These memories for the lgbtq's community and but we wanted to make it more systemic and I think that it's Really worth to have this sort of partnership with the catalan government and with the university on public policies related to this matter and As chevier florenzo was saying this is an important thing. It's important to talk about the memories the struggles and from Societies that unfortunately Are not as free as democratic as they should sometimes and this is why we resort to this support and Notion the memory is a process is a democratic construction from the president looking on to the past, but it is also Conflict is a struggles for this conflict and it's this transgression and this transgressiveness Has brought these struggles In the past but also in the recent past for this community so these Cycle of conferences will incorporate some other communities Next year we've discussed this with colleagues at the european commission to look at subaltern memories on the Roma people and the gypsies And we will be approaching these from a cross-national viewpoint in a compared approach Incorporating all partners in our network throughout europe After this prepos pandemic We are so happy to have her here because we haven't seen her for long And i'm really Pleased to introduce an expert on memorial transmission in the public space and then the creation of spaces in these Subaltern memories on this conquest of the public space from different viewpoints from different perspectives And there's a honorary professor of public art at the university of arts in berlin. I'm sure she can shed much light on these And very interesting information on this topic under a european perspective, but Also well aware of the situation elsewhere in the world Stephanie has participated on several occasions on memorials mostly in germany, but she has also published a pioneering book on researching and analyzing holocaust memorials at the city of berlin And without further ado, let me Thank the participation of the catalan government and the university of basalona through the solidarity foundation. Let me stress by the way that these New programs that from the european commission are being promoted I think that are right on track because i think it's right to call it citizens right equality and values It is also very appropriate to look at memory from the citizenship perspective to look at memories considering the present day struggles, but also the The recent past struggles and also to interact this with cooperation and partnership programs Which is at the very heart of our foundation and this is why we have so many Pealers and we have the director chevier here with us, but it these will help us build A More democratic more just society even though we may be facing some shortcomings some deficits because We are in it's not just a healthcare crisis, but we also have this political crisis and we should Be well aware of that. We have seen how the andalusian regional elections or the french elections well You see how there's been rise of the far right and this populism approach with that completely disregard this Sensitivity and we really need to be well aware of these safeguards. So once more I think that we should celebrate this type of programs at the level incorporating gender justice democratic memory And then discrimination genophobia racism and so on so forth. So without further ado Because i'm sure that we will listen to stephanie and now Thank you jordi for The introduction i'm sorry that i don't speak katalan very sorry Good morning i'm very pleased to be here and to speak at the beginning of the conference Many thanks for the invitation to eurom To the university of baselona solidarity foundation And to oriole jordi fernanda and rica and everybody else in the team My presentation gives a short overview of some remarkable monuments and memorial installations in public space in various european countries some of them are Dedicated mainly to homosexual victims of persecution by dictatorial and fascist regimes Especially to victims of persecution under the nazi regime Other monuments focus on the recent past and the present And have emerged in the context of the gay lesbian bisexual and transgender movements commitment to equal rights and societal recognition In my lecture i will first present some concrete examples from european cities afterwards As the organized organizer of the conference have requested i will focus on the national homosexual memorial in berlin The impression is obvious that the essential questions and discussions around this berlin monument Are similar to debates in other cities Some of these questions are asked and negotiated anew again and again Is this okay with a loud speaker? I think sometimes it makes boom no Can you understand me? lower, okay Okay, let me begin with a few reflections Remembering and commemoration are always in a field of tension between the past and the present Many monuments and memorial installations to gays and lesbians Referred to the oppression of these groups by dictatorial regimes Especially to exclusion persecution and multiple murders by the nazi regime in germany and in the occupied countries of europe If we compare the genesis of these monuments with the genesis of other monuments However, we see that here the remembrance of historical persecution Is particularly strongly linked to the concern of the initiative groups To set a visible sign for their own current self assertion in the present time Remembering and commemorating is much more than just to mourn the dead It's about asserting oneself in an environment that is still full of resentment from subtle rejection to outright violence A physical permanent monument in public space is always at the same time a self affirmation of one's role in society The activists who campaign for such a memorial are usually members of the younger Generation and stand up for their rights with a self confidence and imagination This also has an impact on the aesthetic concepts Members of these initiative groups are usually particularly open to unconventional artistic ideas However, a lot of time passes from the first demands for a permanent monument in public space Through the debates to the realization Setting up monuments requires a lot of patience 10 or 20 years are not unusual Battles must be waged against political and social rejection Money must be found for realization And efforts to find an appropriate artistic form often lead to serious conflicts among the initiative groups Themselves Allies are sought networks are formed However, right rivalries often arise when it comes to the dedication of the monument Strategies for forming alliances often leave injuries Politics and administrative bureaucracies require compromises Science and research bring new insights to the topic In the best case a monument dedication Can help promote public recognition of the moment's purpose monuments purpose in the worst case Memorialization remains merely a symbolic political act to cover up political failures and draw a line under them In many countries and cities monuments for gays and lesbians have been built in the last decades I will present some of them to you now Some in more detail others in short keywords Here I will focus on western europe In eastern european countries Politics and the church have largely rejected and forbidden gay and lesbian monuments in public spaces Due to their homophobic and transgender hostile attitudes In some countries for example in Belarus The repressive repressions has even The repressions have even become worse Due to the political crisis and to the war against Ukraine Individual projects such as the Warsaw rainbow 10 years ago are a major exception They remained temporary The monument by artist Julia Wojcik Was in the form of a large steel arch covered by more than 20 000 artificial flowers in rainbow colors The arch was first erected in front of the european parliament in Strasbourg in 2011 To mark Poland's presidency of the european council And then moved to Warsaw in 2012 There it led to heated debate It was opposed by the church and by right-wing extremists And had to be guarded day and night by police officers It was set on fire six times Once it was even completely destroyed and restored again People threw rotten eggs against it and finally it was removed in 2015 Many people had campaigned for the rainbow to remain However the artist explained that her work had no ideological meaning whatsoever She said that she had created the rainbow as a temporary project from the very beginning With my next example I'm going back more than two decades And although I'm focusing on Europe today I want you to take a look to the United States For a good reason The most significant early example of a game monument and probably the first ever Is Scypter George Siegel's Gale Liberation Monument in New York City It shows a white painted bronze ensemble of a homosexual couple and a lesbian couple In a relaxed pose The artist created it back in 1980 on behalf of a private foundation That wanted to commemorate the 1969 so-called Stonewall Rebellion in New York City At that time a raid, a police campaign, took place against the Stonewall Inn On Christopher Street in Greenwich Village A bar which was frequented by homosexuals and drag queens This police action was followed by protests and Solidarizations by the first demonstrations and in the period that followed by the formation of the so-called Gale Liberation Movement Initially, however, the Gale Liberation Movement could not be The Gale Liberation Monument could not be erected as planned in the neighboring Sheridan Park Violent protests by local residents have prevented the installation there So the sculptures were moved to the grounds of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California There it was damaged several times by vandalism A second version erected in a park in Madison in the state of Wisconsin was also attacked It was not until 1992 After long controversial discussions that the monument was inaugurated in Greenwich Village At the place that had been the historical turning point in the struggle for equal rights in 1969 The memorial is one of the few that addresses gay and lesbian love in an equally figurative way This is due to the explicit wish of the sponsor and donor Peter Putman The memorial does not serve to honor the dead and does not refer to the persecution under dictatorship It shows no stylistic references to traditional memorials But with its figurative alienating realism It is anchored in the artistic development of the time With its extraordinary formal language, it has set standards for contemporary memorial art So it makes sense to look at it a little bit closer George Siegel, one of the world's protagonists of environmental art Took real people as modelers He wrapped them with plaster soaked bandages Then roughened the exteriors by hands Then cast the hardened plaster forms in bronze And painted them with white paint The essential result of this technique is not naturalism Despite the similarity of detail And despite the human scale But on the contrary the result is extreme alienation especially in public space The monochrome white gray skin of the figures create a fictional impression As if a moment of everyday life had been permanently frozen As if the figures were released for contemplation While people walk around them and touch them Yet they are clearly kept at a distance George Siegel has similarly created other environments that are outstanding examples of contemporary memorial art Such as the sculpture group The Holocaust in Lincoln Park in San Francisco The game monument in Greenwich Village is neither dramatic nor symbolic in design It expresses no mourning no protest and no assurance of victory It shows the loving devotion the physical touch as everyday moments of the relationship of couples In 1984 the Mauthausen Memorial Museum The first memorial sign was erected to explicitly commemorate the homosexual victims of the concentration camp The memorial sign has the shape of the triangle which was used at that time to mark the different prisoners groups The memorial plaque is made of old pink marble So it has the color assigned to male homosexuals at that time They were marked with a rosa winkel the pink triangle The words Beaten to death hushed dead silent These words indicate that discrimination against homosexuals continued after 1944 45 and that a real discourse on repression had not yet been established until now The Mauthausen Memorial plaque served as a model for other plaques of the same Or different design in the memorial museums of Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Dachau and here in Neuengame As well as at the memorial sites in other countries The rosa winkel the pink triangle emblem was also used outside of memorials in numerous monuments and commemorative signs of the game movement For example in San Francisco There as an entire pink triangle park was created Or in Tel Aviv, Sydney, Anchorage, Montevideo, San Juan in Puerto Rico, Cologne and many other times in Warsaw Two gay activists had planned in 2007 to erect a monument in the form of the pink triangle To the gay victims of Nazi terror However, despite some support from Warsaw, Warsaw city parliamentarians, the realization did not succeed The memorial plaque in Mauthausen was the result of an initiative of austrian homosexual associations Its design follows the reinterpretation of the pink triangle Originally the mark was soon onto the prisoner's clothing in the concentration camps and served the SS guards to identify the groups In the 1970s and 1980s, however, this control and marker signs of the SS Was transformed into a positive and self-conscious collective identifier of the homosexual movement The equilateral triangle is particularly significant in proportion theory and as a symbol in art history In the memorial context it is used primarily as a graphic sign and information carrier For the survivors of the camps and their organizations In concentration camp memorials and cemeteries The triangle is used as a design element for honoring the dead victims of nazi persecution Especially in the context of the lgbti movement Many contemporary artists use the triangle in their designs for monuments in memorial signs to gays and lesbians Varying it in different ways This ignores, however, the fact that the historical pink concentration camp triangle was only applied to male prisoners There was no special identifying sign for lesbian women in the nazi concentration camps Lesbian women also did not form a separate prisoner category in the camps They were intimidated in other ways Lesbian women were sent to camps not nearly so often as gay men To put it more precisely only in individual cases And then usually categorized as political prisoners or or as so-called asocials The special circumstances of the persecution of lesbian women by the nazi regime Were not researched by historians until in the recent past In the current debates about the dedication and about the design of monuments the parliament The power I'm sorry the parallels and differences in the nature in the extent and in the severity of the persecution of gays and lesbians Under this dictatorship play a major role I come back to this at the end of my lecture The homo monument in amsterdam Was realized in 1987 You find a beautiful picture In the middle of your program. I just saw this this morning The monument is located at the western mark right in the center of amsterdam a large square which is surrounded by canals The dedication of the monument does not only refer to homosexual victims of national socialism But includes all homosexual people in the past and present Who were and who still are oppressed or murdered because of their sexual orientation The initiative came from dutch gay and lesbian groups It dates back to individual actions by activists in the 1970s And received a major impetus in 1979 from a parliamentary submission Supported by a coalition of various organizations Including international ones This was followed by the establishment of the homo monument foundation And by the formation of a committee that determined the central location and held an art competition The artist karin dan had developed her design from the concentration camp triangle Which I had been mentioned before She designed an expensive floor sculpture composed of pink pink granite triangles As an expensive overall concept the installation Though framed by linear floor markings is not easily to discover The three angles of the triangle are aligned with historically and currently Significant points in the urban space of amsterdam city As triangles within a triangle the three angles perform different functions and are each specially designed One triangle reaches beyond the the k wall into the kaisers kracht kennel With its steps it's meant to symbolize the present The triangular element in the water serves as a place of remembrance and celebration It is oriented to the national monument on the dump Amsterdam's central liberation and peace memorial Dedicated to the victims of the german occupation during world war two The second triangle is intended to symbolize the future It has the form of a platform for resting And serves them as a meeting point Its outer point is directed towards the headquarters of the COC the main dutch organization for the rights of the gel LGBT lesbians gay bisexual and trans The COC the center for cultural and leisure was founded in 1946 and is the oldest still existing LGBT organization in the world The third triangle embodies the past it refers to the neighboring anne frank house It also contains a line of poetry from the context of the dutch gay movement I I make a quotation such a boundless longing for friendship by jack jack up israel der han The Amsterdam homo monument has not provoked aggressive protests This is probably due to the legendary dutch tolerance, but it's also due to its design The large form created a kind of communicative city square The triangular emblem also serves as an architectural design principle for various inviting special areas Thus it is up to pass us by to interpret it either as a symbol as your associated with nazi terror and gay self-confidence Or as a pure geometric element for a city square a monument of Particular in artistic interest is the bronze angel in frankfurt mine It was created in 1994 by rosemary trocke whose work is close to conceptual art The dedication to the homosexual victims of the nazi regime is expressed in the inscription of the plinth The text also warns of ongoing persecution For her work the artist used the damaged plaster model of an angel with ribbon A lost angel from a sculpture group at the cologne cathedral Rosemary trocke made a black bronze cast of it But beforehand she added a violation a wound To this culture in the wax cast by separating the head from the torso And put in putting it back on twisted with a visible fracture In this positioning the head of the angel seems to turn towards the courthouse behind it Which can also be interpreted as a symbol for bending or twisting the law Rosemary trocke herself referred to Walter Benjamin's angel of history The backward-looking prophet who embodies mercy and compassion but also androgyny In addition other references can be found including religious ones For example in the small square whose design is part of the overall concept Two circles enclose the monument one formed by four benches the other by four box hedges This resembles the famous art historical motif of the Madonna in the rose growth Madonna del Rosetto Madonna and La Roseleda The monument is located in the center of frankfords homosexual culture and subculture It came about through the efforts of the initiative memorial gay persecution The red green city council of frankford agreed but did not give any money The initiators had to finance the art competition and the realization themselves With the help of donations The stolper steiner the stumbling stones by the artist gunter demnich Can now be found not only in germany but all over the world The artist lays stones in the street pavement which are made of concrete In the dimension of old paving stones The surfaces consist of shiny gold press plucks Into which the names and life dates of people are stamped who once lived here and who were murdered by the national socialists gunter demnich Stolper steiner stumbling stones Settings are always accompanied by grass root activities Initiated and supported for example by school groups or residents or surviving descendants of the victims Like no other project in the field of commemoration It has developed from the idea of a small marker in the mid 1980s Into a popular success story the largest Decentralized memorial in the world as it likes to be called With more than 80,000 stones in germany and other countries In 2015 the first stumbling stone was also led in spain in navas catalonia In 2013 the first stumbling stone was led in berlin for a homosexual victim The dancer and choreographer sorry choreographer fritz heilsche He died in a sub-camp of the saxon housing concentration camp Where a particularly large number of homosexuals were murdered Salzburg Was the first city in austria where stolper steiner were led a few laters in 2012 There were for the first time five stones for homosexual victims In munich after years of discussion A memorial dedicated equally to lesbians and gays persecuted under national socialism Was inaugurated in 2017 For this they chose the site of the former in schwarzfische the first gay bar in munich Where also the first major raid in 1934 took place The monument by ulla von brandenburg shows a colorful floor mosaik Which is supposed to stand for the tolerant urban society today Here in the competition design The mosaik looks like a carpet In the realization made of colored concrete it looks a little different The colors refer to the rainbow colors The floor in lay also includes you can see it a pink triangle and a black triangle A black in memory of lesbians women Who were often Imprisoned as a social as i said before So-called as socials were marked with a black triangle in the nazi concentration camps The memorial project was initiated by the rosa lister mönchen pink list munich A political group that represents represents the interests of gays lesbians bisexuals transsexuals and Intersexuals in local elections Discussions in düsseldorf also lasted for two decades In 2021 the monument by sculpture claus richter was inaugurated A group of bronze figures holding one hand loft and holding each other together with the other hand It's dedicated to lesbian gay by queer by queer inter and trans people Who were victims of nazi persecutions, but is also intended to remind discriminated and Discriminated people today In vienna To the initiatives had been calling more than 20 years for the erection of a monument to homosexual victims of the nazi regime They were supported by the anti-discrimination office For lgbt iq affairs which the city of vienna had already established in 1996 There were several competitions two big conferences and a whole series of temporary installations I show only a few of them here the location for the plant monument was also changed several times Sorry, it's so small. I hope you can see it Der rosa platz the pink place of hans kuppelwiese the result Of the first competition in 2006 A water surface surface colored pink reminiscent of the pink triangle in the pink surface the lettering queer This was not realized because it turned out that no coloring dye is permanently harmless The man wache solemn vigil by inna's du yak an artistic intervention at the site of vienna gestapo headquarters in 2010 Every week on fridays people with picture boards stood there for one hour The boards showed photos of crying people's bleeding from the ear The pain of remembering Too sped too late was a temporary installation by carola dartening and julia rode in 2011 The letter were made of resistant plants and they say non-recognition was too long shwulesaw which means gay pic By jacob linak navel a temporary installation in 2013 The artist used Defirmatory terms with intention and presented them on his own naked body Thus homophobia is exposed and dissent and discussions are provoked The result of a second art competition in 2020 Oversight Hands on a mirrored surface designed by mark quinn From great britain two men's hands and two woman's hands are touching each other tenderly However, the hands are brutally chopped off Perhaps a reference to the times of corona The competition result was not realized the artist himself Withdrew it. He said that the realization would be to elaborate and wasteful in difficult times of existential reorientation and of global wasting of resources finally The result of a new competition in may 2020 some weeks ago Arcus shadow of a rainbow by sarah odd mayer and karl colbyts The colorful rainbow colors Symbol lgbt iq movement are translated into various shades of gray perhaps an Arcus an arc of triumph morning and commemoration stand in the foreground this Piece of art shall be realized still this year in 2022 I have reported about the Vienna project a bit more detailed because here it becomes clear how interesting especially Temporary projects can be now very briefly some more examples from european city In Bologna the memorial stone for homosexual victims of racist nazi fascism Has the shape of a triangle set into a square surface It was inaugurated in 1990 on the anniversary of the liberation from fascism And it was initiated by Archie gay the largest italian association for civil rights of homosexual and bisexual people Also in 1990 a monument in Rome stands in a square where the german occupiers had gathered arrested people for deportation into the camps Silverts with shackled hands emerged from arises conflict and this transition from blue to pink In the upper part symbolizes liberation About 5 000 people were murdered in the nazi ss concentration camp risiera di sanzaba in trieste It's unknown how many of them were homosexual until 2005 homosexual groups erected a black granite plaque with a pink angle On the memorial site the inscription protests against all discrimination you know The following two monuments from your city and region better than i do In sages south of barcelona A monument was erected in 2006 on a beach that as a popular meeting place for the gay community Has been subject to repeated police checks The pink triangle bears the inscription Sitches against homophobia And in barcelona itself The monument honors the victims of sexual discrimination Lesbians gays and transsexual people After a long controversy about its possible location in the surroundings of the sagrada familia basilica The monument has been finally located in 2011 in the tutadella park a triangle made from pink pink marble I end this short overview With a look at london There the tribute to homosexual victims is included in the general holocaust memorial The very controversial new holocaust memorial planned for 2025 Is also to include homosexual victims. It's not yet clear in which way But there is something cheerful surprising around trafalgar square Homo and trans traffic lights They were initially meant to be temporary in 2016 during christopher's street day But now they shall remain permanently The idea came from vienna And has since Been implemented in several other european cities including madrid Now i come to the berlin memorial One second The monument to homosexuals persecuted under national socialism was erected in berlin in 2008 It's a national monument which means Its basis is a resolution of the german parliament It is part of the ensemble of national memorials to victims of national socialism in the very center of berlin Consisting of the holocaust memorial the memorial to the murdered cindy and roma The memorial to the victims of the euthanasia murders And precisely the homosexual monument This memorial has a particularly difficult and long history of origin It began with the first berlin memorial for the homosexual victims of the nazi regime the triangle in a downtown district Which has been the center of homosexual entertainment culture since about 1900 And was particularly affected by nazi raids and bans In 1989 on the initiative of two homosexual associations This commemorative plaque was erected There based in form and description on the mauthausen plaque Mentioned at the beginning Ten years later the artist salome Erected the rainbow steely a few steps away from it Financed by a private initiative Complimenting the memorial triangle that looks back at those persecuted by the nazi regime This art object was designed as a cheerful sign of the present A metal pen In the bright colors of the gay and lesbian rainbow flag Was a pink tip reaching towards the sky During the competitions for the holocaust memorial that was around 1995 The gay memorial initiative was formed which later became the initiative named commemorate the homosexual victims Gradually it succeeded in gaining the support of numerous politicians and civic groups For the idea of a national memorial Together with the lesbian and gay association The initiative recalled the promise made by the Bundestag the german parliament in 1999 The promise said that the memorial foundation which was established for the future holocaust memorial Should also make sure the commemoration of the non-jewish victims of national socialism This parliamentary promise was the result of the decision at that time to dedicate the holocaust memorial exclusively to the Jewish victims and not also To the other groups of victims who had been persecuted for racist motives Thus it was consequent that the other groups demanded their own national memorial too In 2003 the Bundestag the german parliament decided to take up the initiative's concern and create a national memorial for persecuted homosexuals An area was chosen on the southeastern edge of the tear garden The large park in the very center of Berlin between the Brandenburg gate and the Potsdamer platz Directly opposite the field of steely of the holocaust memorial Which you can see to the right of the pink circle, which is the site of the homosexual Monument This area of the park had also been a popular meeting place for gay men for 250 years the initiatives really Sorry the initiatives recalled I quote that the persecution and oppression of gay people continues to the present day The memorial should therefore also be a place of self assurance This reference to the present was explicitly included in the parliamentary Resolution I quote With this memorial, we want to honor the persecuted and murdered victims Keep the memory of injustice alive and set a constant sign against intolerance hostility and exclusion against gays and lesbians end of quotation A two-stage art competition followed was participation from the lesbian and gay association and the grass root new society for visual arts Among the participant artists were international known Protagonists most of them took up the initiative's concern to create a communicative place Where the focus should not be on individual mournful remembrance, but on encounter and dialogue The design by the danish- norwegian artist duo Michael Elmgrim and Inga Drexelt was awarded as first prize The monument was erected three years later in 2008 It has the shape of a monolithic cube almost like a small Pavilion However, it's hermetically closed except for a small glass window through which oops, sorry through which one can look into The inaccessible interior The cube refers in form material and proportions to the steely form of the neighboring holocaust memorial Which you'll see here However, the cube stands on its own and is much larger in scale than one of those pillars in the large field Looking through the stained glass window into a perspective narrowed interior One sees a video projection developed by director thomas winterberg based on the conceptual idea of the artists Elm green and rexelt two young men are immersed in an apparently endless kiss The artists describe two essentials for their designs The first essential they said is the knowledge that the visual picture of homosexual affection Still generates great reservations and rejections in society Despite all the progress made in the area of legislation and despite increasingly tolerant social manners Therefore, such caresses should be might made directly visible in the midst of heterosexually occupied public space In this way the project could contribute to the formation of identity and to the appropriation of urban space For this purpose the artists choose the representation of a kiss A tender and innocent act they said At the same time a positive image that everyone could identify was a permanent video The second essential motive Of their design Is the single standing cube which as mentioned quotes the steely of the holocaust memorial But is larger and is a little bit slanted in an almost ironical way One could have the impression that the cube is looking over or waving over to the holocaust seely field In this way You see the field in the background in this way similarities of the homosexual victims with other victims groups are visualized But also their special role as outsiders then and now In addition the hermetic looking concrete cube Represents a protective space for the tender act of kissing with its small viewing windows Window it refers to the difficult tension between public and private In the controversial debate that began after the inauguration two points of criticism dominated On the one hand, especially historians and representatives of memorial museums Objected that the monument left no space and no point of contact for mourning Commemoration of the homosexuals taught it and murdered in the concentration camps Instead they said it serves to establish the identity of today's community And neglects in a self-centered way the honoring of the dead to which this project should actually be dedicated And they criticized that the adoption of the holocaust memorials Steeler motive Steely motive might give the incorrect impression that homosexuals like jews were systematically persecuted with the intention of extermination In fact, however, the jury had selected elm green and red that still sign Precisely because it contains this consistent relation to the present day Much sharper, however, was the gender critical protest against the video Lesbian women, so it was said Had been forgotten and excluded from this monument because the video shows the kiss of two men Especially for a national monument the suppression of the female aspects should not be tolerated The result of this controversy was the decision of the minister of culture himself The temporary installation of new videos by other filmmakers Which was intended to take into account the demanded same-sex perspective The new video by gerald buckhouse entitled kiss without end Was produced in 2012 It shows five kissing scenes of male couples and female couples in different situations In which they are suspiciously observed by others This is told in the form of small stories Without special artistic quality And it was enforced as a political intervention in the artwork of elm green and traxit The german parliament had explicitly underlined that the berlin monument should be a statement against the exclusion of gays and lesbians The debate about the video, however, continues to this day References to the special conditions of the persecution with arguments about the necessary same respect of homosexuals and lesbians today In the years 2014 to 2017 the original video by elm green and traxit was shown again for a while In 2017, however, it became known that one of the two performance in the video Was conspicuous for racist and sexist remarks Therefore this video will definitely not been shown anymore Sorry, it's so small since 2018. We can see a video by the israeli artist yael batana She also shows the various stories of kissing female and male couples in different times and situations You memorial foundation you can see them Here you can see yael batana on the right side of the group during the inauguration of the video Let me come to end with some concluding remarks Monuments are works of some of art works of art whose aesthetic quality may still impress even after a long time However, they are always documents of the concrete historical period in which the work of art was created There are documents of the stylistic art movements of the time And documents of the priorities set by the initiators and by the sponsors for such a monument at that time Therefore a distant between monument and viewer is always present Like any work of art no matter how old it is and in what style it was created Memorial art always unfolds is its effect in the present of the viewer and in the context of the respective societal situation New individual experiences Critical reflections and social changes always lead to new debates and interpretations Especially in the case of our topic it becomes clear How strongly the entire remembrance cultural context can change in just a few years In germany for example the conflict over whether the persecution of lesbian women during the nazi era Should be equated with the persecution of homosexual men Gradually loses its sharpness. Thanks to more extensive historical research True in nazi germany only homosexual men were criminalized by the so-called paragraph 175 Many lesbian women however were persecuted Intersectually that is in the context of other nazi persecution strategies For example for political resistance for non-conformist living For prostitution or for not being white which means for racist movement Motives for racist motives Concentration camp museum search results This required the long-standing Initiatives and demands of women's groups as well as lesbian and gay association in germany A monument for the lesbian inmates of the women's concentration camp ravens brug Was realized just now a few weeks ago I Quote in memory of all lesbian women and girls in the women's concentration camp ravens brug and oka mark You were persecuted imprisoned also murdered. You are not forgotten end of quotation The ideas for this fair came in 2014 from the initiative Autonomous feminist women's lesbians from germany and austria However, the camera ceramic ball broke apart in the pottery firing kiln Almost a metaphor for the tension that has accompanied this project over years So the inauguration in may had only a symbolic character and will be made up for in the fall And the other groups of lgbti Plus movement are they being included? The commitment of the gay and lesbian movement to equal rights and social recognition has shaped many previous monument settings especially in the 1990s And in the first decade of the 21st century However, this commitment has long since expanded to include other groups such as transgender queer non-binary and others In these processes the existing monuments are also being reinterpreted in the best cases they are open to a changed or expanded reception over time And we see in current and future memorial projects these groups are widely included Thank you very much for your attention Thanks a lot, Stephanie We could see this kind of a universe of memorialization and memorials a kind of Transmission in a public space Also, not only memorial is about the stone and Interventions of architectural and public art also could be performance and demonstrations, of course This has to be Pointed so I'm giving the floor to the To you to all of you for any questions We have some time for Q&A So you can ask your questions, make your remarks I've been talking too long Everybody's tired Hello, good morning I'm Santos I'm here representing a union in Catalonia UGT union and also the lgbtq plus Community your presentation has focused on memorials on monuments That we as activists have been always claiming to give visibility to the lgbtq plus struggle I would like to mention That our enemies despise our struggle and for example, there's a despise by museums Hello testing one two three One two three. It's a canal dos dos Hello testing one two three one two three testing. Can you hear me, Stephanie? One two three One two three. Is it working now? Okay Okay, let me start again. No problem I'm Santos. I'm representing here the lgbtq plus group of UGT a castle and union And I'm an activist myself and I was mentioning that our enemies the enemies of our group have always Wanted to despise our struggle because they think that it's not an actual struggle And they believe that it is connected to fads or trends and it's superficial So monuments and memorials give visibility to our struggle But you haven't mentioned museum Like museum memory and what is included in museum because in the u.s. It's true that they have foundations Mason foundations that claim Human rights and they do have lgbtq plus memorials As of the second world war that started to happen But before that they had attempts to claim and give visibility to the group But in europe we don't have many museums the one in berlin The one in amsterdam, but they are tiny and residual and we are lacking these claiming of human rights of the lgbtq plus community in musia because it's very apparent that It you are if you're in a museum you go through the main gate of history right you go down in history because it's something permanent But many people believe that the lgbtq plus movement It's just a fad a trend something that started in the 60s with psychedelia and they despise Our struggle. What do you think? about Including the lgbtq plus Concept in any museum as a as a claim just like any other struggles like