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International Conference “Roma and Sinti. Historical Memory and the Present” | 24-25.11 | Call for participants
“Roma and Sinti. Historical Memory and the Present” is the title of an international conference that will take place at the Auschwitz Museum on 24–25 November 2026.
The organizers are the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz Museum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Council of Europe, the “Towards Dialogue” Foundation, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR.
The aim of the conference is to reflect on historical memory, in particular the genocide of the Roma and Sinti during the Second World War. The meeting will also be an opportunity to consider how memory shapes identity and how it influences the collective image of the past among Roma minorities in Europe. It will also serve as a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience among experts dealing with, among other issues, counteracting prejudice and discrimination against the Roma minority, as well as education in this field.
The conference programme includes lectures on the persecution of Roma and Sinti in Nazi Germany, the memory of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma, and post-war narratives about this tragedy. Several panel discussions are also planned, including on the image of the genocide of the Roma and Sinti in memory and culture, and on how the experience of genocide influences the contemporary collective and individual identity of Roma and Sinti.
Conference participants will also take part in a meeting with the authors of the monograph Roma and Sinti in KL Auschwitz, while a workshop session will be devoted to how to teach without reproducing stereotypes.
We invite everyone interested in the subject to take part in the conference: educators, museum professionals, staff members of Memorial Sites, and all those for whom reflection on the history of the Roma and Sinti is important.
The conference languages will be English and Polish. The organizers will provide simultaneous interpretation for the entire conference.
Those wishing to take part in the conference are asked to complete the online registration form.
Applications are open until 27 September 2026. The number of places is limited, and participation in the conference will be decided by the order in which applications are received. Information on the results of the recruitment process will be announced by 2 October 2026.
Participation in the conference is free of charge. The organizers will provide meals during the conference and accommodation for participants living outside Oświęcim County.
Participants cover the costs of insurance and travel to the conference venue.
For questions, please contact:
The family camp for Roma was established in sector BIIe of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau in February 1943. Under Heinrich Himmler’s order, Roma and Sinti from occupied Europe were deported there. In total, around 23,000 Roma were deported to Auschwitz. Around 21,000 registered prisoners died as a result of hunger, disease, exhaustion, pseudo-medical experiments, or were murdered in gas chambers. Around 2,000 people were killed without being registered in the camp records.
The Museum has published an academic monograph devoted to the fate of Roma and Sinti in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. Its authors are Piotr Setkiewicz, Sławomir Kapralski and Jerzy Dębski.
The history of the Roma victims of the camp is also presented in the online lesson “Roma in Auschwitz”, one episode of the podcast “On Auschwitz”, and volume 7 of the educational series Voices of Memory. The exhibition “Roma in Auschwitz”, prepared by the Museum, is also available on Google Cultural Institute.
