Roma People
Extermination of Sinti and Roma
Opened in 2001, it is divided into four thematic areas. The first part documents the persecution of the Roma in the Third Reich up to the outbreak of the Second World War and the earliest deportations to occupied Poland. There are explanations of the racist ideology and the elimination of this minority from almost all spheres of community life, and the deportation and persecution of 1933-1940.
The main subject of the second part is the Nazi genocide against the Roma in occupied Europe.
The third area presents the bureaucratic structure and the organization of the extermination apparatus.
Another subject is the medical experiments conducted in various camps and the murderous labor there. Special chapters are dedicated to the fate of women and children and the various forms of resistance.
The final part depicts the Familienzigeunerlager in Auschwitz II. For the Roma, this was the epicenter of the Nazi genocide against their people. As a result of a decree issued by Himmler on December 16, 1942, almost 23 thousand Roma from various countries were deported to this camp. For almost all the deportees, Auschwitz was the final stage in their persecution, which ended in death as a result of the dreadful living conditions, or killing by the SS in the gas chambers.