News

Roma Memory

Another volume of “Voices of Memory” is to be published, this time dealing with the mass murder of the Roma in Auschwitz-Birkenau. This will be a joint project of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust and the Association of Roma in Poland.

— There is a high demand by teachers for educational materials devoted to the Roma who were murdered at Auschwitz and that’s why we took part in this joint venture publication - said ICEAH director Krystyna Oleksy. — The Roma, after the Jews and Poles, were the third largest group of victims of Auschwitz, and this is often forgotten. I hope that the new publication will help to broaden awareness about the tragic fate of the Sinti and Roma during the Second World War, especially since the material will appear both in Polish and English - added Krystyna Oleksy.

The author of a research article for the publication, about the murder of the Roma and their time in Auschwitz, will be Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, PhD candidate the Jagiellonian University. The author, along with the staff of the Museum’s Research Department will jointly select accounts and documents, which will appear in the publication. The volume will be released in 2010.

— “Voices of Memory” will be an excellent history lesson for both, the heirs of the “Auschwitz generation”, and above all for young people — said Roman Kwiatkowski, president of the Association of Roma in Poland – Voices of people who are no longer among us will speak from the pages of this book; people who have been deprived of their humanity and, eventually, their lives by Nazi perpetrators just because they were born Roma. This publication will bring us closer to understanding the criminal Nazi system, as well as become for us today, thanks to the individual’s voices, a sort of memento. It must be remembered that people, despite their differences, think and feel the same way in the face of pain, suffering and death. It is this the universal dimension, in addition to the educational and research value, that makes this publication so unique - added Roman Kwiatkowski.

Each volume in the “Voices of Memory” series is dedicated to one of many historical issues of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. These publications contain detailed introductory research articles dealing with each topic and include source material. Each volume contains copies of documents from different Nazi German institutions, concentration camp departments, as well as the postwar testimony of former prisoners, making these books important and valuable resources.

Titles that are currently available: “The Evacuation, Liquidation, and Liberation of Auschwitz” , “The Experiments in Auschwitz” , and “The hospitals in Auschwitz.” An English language version of each volume is available through the Museum’s internet book store.