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Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day
In Poland, 2nd of August is celebrated as the Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day. 71 years ago, in the night from 2 to 3 August 1944 the Germans liquidated in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the so-called family camp for Gypsies (Zigeunerfamilienlager). Nearly 3000 children, women and men, the last of the Roma prisoners were murdered in gas chambers. Several hundred people attended the ceremony, which took place at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau. At the monument commemorating the extermination of the Roma and Sinti on the site of the former Zigeunerfamilienlager, wreaths were laid and tribute paid to the victims.
Among the participants of the anniversary celebration were former prisoners and survivors of the extermination, representatives of Roma organizations, the Polish government and parliament, the European Parliament, the diplomatic corps, the Jewish community, the management and employees of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum as well as representatives regional and local authorities.
The German Roma Siegfried Heilig, who lost eleven members of his family in Auschwitz, and who survived the war in hiding, in his speech appealed primarily to the young generation never to forget the untold sufferings and persecutions that have become part of his community. 'The youth of today is faced with the challenge to ensure that the events from the past will never be repeated,' he stressed.
'We commemorate today untold suffering of our fellow brothers who 71 years ago were herded into the gas chambers by SS men. They were the last members of our minority, who managed, until that moment, to survive the inferno of Auschwitz: 2900 women, children, the elderly and the sick,' said Romani Rose, head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. He stressed that Auschwitz symbolizes not only the extermination of the Roma and Sinti, but also the total collapse of all values, upon which human civilization has been founded on.
The chairman of the Roma People Association n Poland Roman Kwiatkowski, in his speech said that he construes the presence at the ceremony not only as a need to pay homage to the victims of the crimes committed by the Nazis. 'I perceive this presence also as a need to oppose the resurgent fascist, racist, nationalist attitudes, against xenophobia, but also as a support for us, the Roma and Sinti people, in the consolidation of knowledge about the gruesome crimes of over 70 years,' he said. He also appealed for the observance of civil rights towards the representatives of the Roma community in Europe. 'We want to in an integral and rightfully way participate in social, economic and cultural life while preserving our culture and traditions,' Kwiatkowski said
'I feel grief. Presence in this place is painful. The memory hurts, it hurts when we try to understand, when we discover the facts,' said Soraya Post, Member of the European parliament, whose mother was of Roma origin. 'To ensure that history is not repeated, our communities must tackle the phenomenon of racism at all levels. We must understand what causes hatred, what sustains it and what causes it to spread. We must equip ourselves with tools to help us stop hatred,' she said.
"Today, in the former German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, a symbolic place for the extermination of the Roma, evoking immeasurable sufferings, which was experienced by its prisoners, we commit ourselves to preserving the memory of their sacrifice and to work together for a Poland, Europe and a world free from racism and discrimination” - wrote prof. Małgorzata Fuszara, the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment in a letter to the participants of the celebrations.
Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski, head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression said that memory is our common duty: 'May the memory of the Roma and Sinti who died here not perish. Let us not forget the lessons that comes from this place.'
'The memory of the Roma victims compels us unfortunately, to date, to ask questions about the image of the "Other", “Stranger" in our European societies. Rejection of the "Stranger" and attempts at its exclusion today does not require an ideological bond in the form of racism. Rejection is sometimes motivated even by freedom' said the director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński.
It is estimated that the Germans imprisoned a total of about 23 thousand Roma people - men, women and children in the Auschwitz camp. Approximately 20 thousand died or were murdered in the camp. On the site of the Auschwitz-BirkenauState Museum, in Block 13, an exhibition has been organised commemorating the extermination of the Roma and showing in particular the dimension of the Nazi genocide against the Roma in the Nazi-occupied Europe. Since 2011, August 2 in Poland is the official Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day.
The story of the Roma victims of the camp is introduced by the online lesson, the Roma people in Auschwitz, as well as the 7th Volume of the educational series the Voices of Memory.
