UK unveils memorial to Nazis’ disabled victims
June 11th, 2008
The UK has unveiled its first memorial to the one million people with disabilities who were persecuted, sterilized or killed by Nazi Germany.
At the Holocaust Center in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, a plaque was dedicated and plans were unveiled for a permanent sculpture.
“It is so important that these people have finally been put on the map,” said artist Alison Lapper, who was the model for a Marc Quinn statue that occupied a spot of honor in Trafalgar Square. Lapper (above) was born without arms and with shortened legs.
Survivors, celebrities, and disability groups attended the event.
Actress Kim Tserkezie, an actress in CBBC’s Balamory, said she had been “compelled” to attend because disabled people’s experiences of the Holocaust “have gone largely untold”.
She said: “We must not forget their experiences, which are not only part of our past, but are important in helping us understand the prejudices and discrimination we as disabled people experience today.”
Tserkezie uses a wheelchair.
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