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"Sinti and Roma. Exclusion - Extermination - Memory”. Summary of the MCEAH and WCIES methodology conference.

Around 100 teachers from various parts of Poland participated in a three-day methodology conference. The conference was jointly organised by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust (ICEAH) and the Warsaw Centre for Educational and Social Innovation (WCIES) and Training. In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the camp for Roma and Sinti in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the events this year predominantly focused on the tragedy of the Roma in Auschwitz and other German Nazi camps.

During the inauguration, Museum Deputy Director Anna Skrzypińska emphasised the notable interest in the conference: 'This serves as proof that there is a recognition of the necessity to educate about recent and painful history, the present and future, and the responsibility and causality that result from remembering the Victims of Auschwitz. Auschwitz is acknowledged and recognised in the education system, including the curriculum, and this recognition is evident as you, dear teachers, invest your free time, even during holidays, to provide in-depth education on the subject.'

'Teachers, as guides on this educational journey, have a special task: to make these Memorials living sources of knowledge and reflection that will hopefully inspire the building of a world free from discrimination and intolerance. The organisation of the conference is an integral aspect of this task. I hope our discussions will bring a deeper understanding and inspire further action for equality and justice,' stressed WCIES Director Karolina Malczyk.

On the first day of the conference, Alicja Wójcik from the ICEAH Educational Projects presented the Centre's educational initiatives. She also introduced the recently developed Educational Pack for Teachers, which comprises resources for both pre-visit preparation and post-visit reflection on the Memorial. These materials are available for download on the Museum's official website.

The participants were also briefed on two projects designed for schoolchildren visiting the Memorial: "The Fate of the Sinti and Roma in Auschwitz" and "From Insurgent Warsaw to Auschwitz", which are being carried out in connection with this year's anniversaries. After the theoretical part, the conference participants visited the exhibitions "The Fate of the Roma in KL Auschwitz" and "A World Surrounded by Wires - the Fate of Polish Citizens in KL Auschwitz", where classes are held as part of the earlier mentioned projects.

'We encourage teachers and their students to participate in these educational programmes, which offer free tours of the Memorial, workshops on the fate of Roma or Poles deported to the German Nazi camp of Auschwitz, and a meeting with a Survivor. Information regarding schools' eligibility to participate in the projects and registration forms will be soon available on the Museum's website,' said Alicja Wójcik.

On the second day of the conference, participants learned about various aspects of the persecution of Sinti and Roma. Professor Slawomir Kapralski of the Commission for National Education University in Cracow delivered the first lecture, "Persecution and Extermination of the Roma during the Second World War II". Next, Andrzej Grzegorczyk, a representative of the Radegast Station Branch of the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódz, gave a presentation on "The Gypsy Camp in the Łódz Ghetto (1941-1942)". The fate of the Sinti and Roma in KL Auschwitz was outlined by Dr. Teresa Wontor-Cichy of the Auschwitz Museum Research Centre. The second day of the conference ended with a lecture by Bartłomiej Grzanka from the Museum of the Former German Extermination Camp Kulmhof in Chełmno nad Nerem. The lecture focused on the testimonies of witnesses, presenting the tragic fate of the Sinti and Roma victims of the Kulmhof extermination camp.

On the last day of the conference, the participants discussed the memory of Sinti and Roma. Lea Fink from the Ravensbrück Memorial spoke about the history of Roma prisoners at Ravensbrück and the educational activities dedicated to them, and Katarzyna Szczudlinska from the Warsaw Centre for Educational and Social Innovation and Training touched on the issue of Roma in Polish literature and art.

As part of the conference, teachers could also familiarise themselves with the exhibition "They Were Neighbours: Human Choices and Behaviour in the Face of the Holocaust", which was presented, along with educational tools for working with it, by Alina Skibińska, a representative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Poland.

'This year's conference theme is a great way to address the expectations of teachers, not only in relation to the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Roma camp at KL Auschwitz. It has certainly broadened our knowledge of the persecution and extermination of the Roma in many ways. The visit to Block 13 became an imperative for many of us to implement the ICEAH educational project "The fate of the Sinti and Roma in KL Auschwitz”,' said Iwona Urbanek, a teacher from the Mikołaj Kopernik School Complex No. 3 in Wieluń.

The 17th edition of the conference was organised by the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim in cooperation with the Warsaw Centre for Educational and Social Innovation and Training.

The history of the Roma victims of the camp is explored in the online lesson “The Roma in Auschwitz", one of the episodes of the podcast "On Auschwitz", and the 7th volume of the educational series Voices of Remembrance. Also available on the Google Cultural Institute website is the Museum's “The Roma in Auschwitz" exhibition.

In Block 13 on the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, an exhibition is open to the public in remembrance of the Roma Genocide. It shows the dimension of the genocide committed against the Roma in German-occupied Europe. The Roma victims are commemorated in a memorial located in section BIIe of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp.

The history of the Roma and Sinti in Auschwitz

The Nazis regarded them as a “hostile element” with a 'hereditary' propensity to commit crime and antisocial behaviour. From 1933, they and the Jews were persecuted on racist grounds, starting with registration, followed by a ban on specific occupations and mixed marriages, then compulsory labour, and finally, confinement in concentration camps.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, a decision was taken to resettle German Roma in occupied Poland. The German police authorities initiated the arrest and execution of Roma in the occupied territories, including the rear of the Eastern Front, where they were brutally killed alongside Jews by the Einsatzkommandos.

From 1943, following Heinrich Himmler's order, the Sinti and Roma mainly from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland were deported to Auschwitz. In total, the Germans deported some 23,000 Roma to Auschwitz, two thousand of whom were murdered without registration in the camp. 21,000 were registered in the camp, of which 19,000 died of starvation and sickness, or were murdered in the gas chambers upon liquidation of the “Gypsy camp”.