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The 55th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Gypsy Camp

Ceremonies marking the 55th anniversary of the liquidation of the so called Gypsy camp were attended by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Polish Senate Speaker Alicja Grzeskowiak, Polish Roma Association president Roman Kwiatkowski, German Central Roma Council chairman Romani Rose, Israeli ambassador to Poland Ygal Anebi, and other representativces of Roma organizations and the diplomatic community.

They recalled that the Roma, like the Jews, were murdered during the Second World War for no other reason than their ethnic background. Our task, it was stated, is to prevent humanity from ever again committing such acts. This lends importance to ceremonies like the one held to mark the anniversary: It is our responsibility, and our right, never to forget. Participants in the assembly stressed the fact that humanity has triumphed in this place dedicated to trampling human dignity, as shown by the presence of Roma on the grounds of the former "Gypsy family camp.": Romani Rose pointed out that the German government has not extended its protection to the Roma victims of Nazism, as it has done in the case of the Jews. He appealed to German industrialists to find a way, as soon as possible, to pay reparations to the forced laborers of the Third Reich.

The violin virtuoso Josef Czoczi of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra played while wreaths were being placed at the foot of the monument. He had given a concert in Cracow the previous day in commemoration of the anniversary.