A monument dedicated to the thousands of gay people persecuted and tortured by the Nazis has been vandalised in Berlin less than two months after it was unveiled, police said on Saturday.
The monument — a grey concrete slab that stands about 5m igh — contains a window through which viewers can watch a video of a ”never-ending” kiss between two men.
The window had been smashed by unknown assailants, police said, adding the incident was being investigated.
The monument is located in the heart of the capital close to the main Holocaust monument.
Hitler outlawed homosexuality in 1936 and convicted about 50 000 people for ”unnatural” behaviour deemed unbecoming of the Aryan ”master race”.
It is estimated that the Nazis sent between 5 000 and 15 000 gay people to concentration camps together with Jews, political opponents, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others considered undesirable.
Once there, few were killed right away. Most were forced to wear a pink triangle, putting them at the bottom of the camp hierarchy, and died of hunger, disease, abuse or exhaustion. Very few returned.
The memorial cost €600 000 and was funded entirely by the government. — Sapa-AFP