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European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

On 2 August, we commemorate the last 4,300 Sinti and Roma in the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, who were murdered by the SS on that night in 1944 despite their fierce resistance. In memory of all 500,000 Sinti and Roma murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe, the European Parliament declared this date the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma in 2015.

Commemoration

Virtual commemoration ceremony of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2021

Opening Remarks

Romani Rose

Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma

Roman Kwiatkowski

President of the Association of Roma in Poland

Dr Piotr M. A. Cywiński

Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

Testimonies of Holocaust survivors

Zilli Schmidt

Holocaust survivor

Marian Turski

Holocaust survivor

Krystyna Gil

Holocaust survivor

Ivan Bilashchenko

Holocaust survivor and former soldier of the Red Army

Rita Prigmore

Holocaust survivor

Edward Dębicki

Holocaust survivor

Music for Remembrance

“Unku” composed by Mario Franz

performance by Sandro Roy (Violine) and Jermaine Landsberger (Piano)

“Na Bister” composed by Adrian Gaspar

composition on the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2019

Aušvicate hi kher baro

performed by Dr. Petra Gelbart

Commemoration speeches

Alexander Van der Bellen

President of Austria

Stevo Pendarovski

President of North Macedonia

Zuzana Čaputová

President of the Slovak Republic

Klaus Iohannis

President of Romania

David Sassoli

President of the European Parliament

Marija Pejčinović Burić

Secretary-General of the Council of Europe

Helena Dalli

Commissioner for Equality, European Commission

Michaela Küchler

Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Michael O’Flaherty

Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Wolfgang Schäuble

President of the German Bundestag

Ryszard Terlecki

Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, Poland

Stéphane Dion

Ambassador of Canada in Germany, Special Representative of Canada to the EU and to Europe

Ronald Lauder

President of the World Jewish Congress

Symbols for Remembrance

“Unku” composed by Mario Franz

performance by Sandro Roy (Violine) and Jermaine Landsberger (Piano)

“Na Bister” composed by Adrian Gaspar

composition on the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2019

Aušvicate hi kher baro

performed by Dr. Petra Gelbart

Rev. Jesse Jackson at 2 August 2019

This video does not only document the attendance of civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the most prominent representatives of the US-American civil rights movement, at the 75th anniversary of 2 August – the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma. The video also features a unique interview with Rev. Jackson and Romani Rose, chair of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, about the continued civil rights struggle of African-American and Sinti and Roma communities.

Statements

Statements on the occasion of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

Sara Bloomfield

Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Irmgard Schwaetzer

Chair of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)

Dr. Josef Schuster

President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany

Dr Annette Schavan

Chair of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation

Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm

Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)

Zeljko Jovanovic

Director of the OSF Roma Initiatives Office

Agnes Daroczi

Founder of Romedia Foundation

Dr Bernd Fabritius

Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities

Karen Taylor

Chair of the European Network against Racism

Holger Münch

President of the Bundeskriminalamt of Germany

Jamen Gabriela Hrabanova

Director of the ERGO Network

Irvin Mujcic

Survivor of the Srebrencia Genocide

The Block 13 exhibition on the genocide of Sinti and Roma at Auschwitz-Museum

This video presents the context of the permanent exhibition on the genocide of Sinti and Roma in Nazi occupied Europe, which is based in Block 13 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The video shows how the exhibition highlights – through a unique collection of family photos and documents – a normality of every-day life between neighbours in various European states. The exhibition illustrates how this normality was gradually destroyed by the Nazi regime. On the basis of racial ideology, Sinti and Roma, just like the Jews, were gradually disenfranchised, deprived of their livelihoods and finally deported to the extermination camps. 500,000 Sinti and Roma were murdered in Nazi occupied Europe.

Remembrance

across Europe

Commemoration ceremonies across Europe

Commemoration in Berlin

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism, Berlin (DE), 2 August 2020, 21:00 CET

24 hours commemoration in Budapest

Nehru Part, Budapest (HU), 1 August 2020 17:00 CET – 2 August 2020 17:00 CET

Commemoration at Lety u Písku, Czech Republic

LIVE BROADCAST on Sunday, 2 August 2020, at noon CET

Concerts on the occasion of the opening of the Roma Memorial Center “Uštica”

LIVE BROADCAST on Sunday, 2 August 2020, 10:00 and 21:00 CET

Commemoration in Vienna

Ceija Stojka Platz, Vienna (AT), 2 August 2020, 16:00 – 18:30 CET with LIVE BROADCAST

Remember Us: Commemoration of the Romani Genocide

2 August 2020, 2 August, 17:00 EST (UTC−04:00), Virtual Event

Music for Remembrance

“Unku” composed by Mario Franz

performance by Sandro Roy (Violine) and Jermaine Landsberger (Piano)

“Na Bister” composed by Adrian Gaspar

composition on the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2019

Song of the Resistance of Raymond Gureme

Song by Henriette Gurême, Performed by Aline Miklos

Aušvicate hi kher baro

performed by Dr. Petra Gelbart

Requiem for Auschwitz

Concert on the occasion of the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day 2019

Ferenc Snétberger: For My People

Album in cooperation with the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra in Budapest

Poetry and Art

Exhibition “Tears of Gold”

Exhibition on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of 2 August – European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2019

Porrajmos, a silenced genocide

A dramatization of Margarete Bamberger’s from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Rromane Siklǒvne

RomArchive - Digital Archive of Sinti and Roma

The digital RomArchive makes arts and cultures of Sinti and Roma visible, illustrating their contribution to European cultural history. Through narratives told by Sinti and Roma themselves, RomArchive creates a reliable source of knowledge that is internationally accessible on the internet, thereby countering stereotypes and prejudices with facts.

Visit the RomArchive.eu

History

of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

Sintiundroma.org

Online portal about the Holocaust of the Sinti and Roma

RomArchive

Digital archive for Romani arts and culture

IHRA - Bibliography and Historiographical Review

Annotated bibliography of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma

A project by the IHRA Committee on the Genocide of the Roma

Sinti and Roma in Auschwitz

The last stage of the functioning of the ‘Zigeunerlager’ in the Birkenau Camp

Recent research by historians of the Auschwitz Museum

The Destruction of European Roma in KL Auschwitz

A guidebook for visitors

Photo of KL Auschwitz taken by Jaroslaw Praszkiewicz

The genesis and course of the Nazi persecution of Roma and Sinti

Extract from “The Destruction of European Roma in KL Auschwitz: A guidebook for visitors”

Block 11

Extract from “The Destruction of European Roma in KL Auschwitz: A guidebook for visitors”

Photo of flower in front of barbed wire fence taken in Auschwitz-Birkenau by Jaroslaw Praszkiewicz.

Escapes

Extract from “The Destruction of European Roma in KL Auschwitz: A guidebook for visitors”

Photo of snow-covered rails of Auschwitz-Birkenau taken by Jaroslaw Praszkiewicz.

“Zigeunerfamilienlager” (“Gypsy family camp”)

Extract from “The Destruction of European Roma in KL Auschwitz: A guidebook for visitors”

Block 13 – The permanent exhibition about the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

Audiovisual presentation of Block 13

The permanent exhibition on the genocide of Sinti and Roma at the Auschwitz-Museum; 3 min video

Virtual Tour through the Block 13 Exhibition

The permanent exhibition on the genocide of Sinti and Roma at the Auschwitz-Museum; 5 min video

Block 13

The permanent exhibition at Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

Exhibition Catalogue: Block 13 – Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

Catalogue of the permanent exhibition in the State Museum of Auschwitz

Testimonies of Holocaust survivors

Eva Franz

Holocaust survivor

Else Baker reports about her time as child in the KL

Interview with FAZ

Raymond Gureme

Holocaust survivor, member of the French resistance, human rights activist

Franz Rosenbach

Holocaust survivor and longstanding deputy chairman of the Association of German Sinti and Roma in Bavaria

Walter Winter

Holocaust survivor

Max Lauenburger

Holocaust survivor

5 years ago the European Parliament recognized 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

April 15, 2015 marked a historical moment. The European Parliament voted with an overwhelming majority to finally adopt a resolution which recognizes “the historical fact of the genocide of Roma that took place during World War II” and concludes “that a European day should be dedicated to commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Roma during World War II.”

Of huge importance is the fact that this resolution also “underlines the need to combat anti-Gypsyism at every level and by every means, and stresses that this phenomenon is an especially persistent, violent, recurrent and commonplace form of racism.”

Find out more >>

Recognition

of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

The history of the civil rights struggle for recognition of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

The early days of civil rights work of German Sinti and Roma

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

First public civil rights campaign against racism

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

The hunger strike at the former concentration camp in Dachau

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Removal of the “Nazi race files” to the Federal Archive in Koblenz, following the occupation of the Tübingen University archive in September 1981; in the foreground, Holocaust survivor Jakob Bamberger

The search for the Nazi race files

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Recognition of the Nazi genocide of the Sinti and Roma by Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, March 1982; pictured, from the left, inter alia: Romani Rose, Josef Kwiek, Anton Franz, Egon Siebert; Secretary of State to the Federal Minister of the Interior, Andreas von Schoeler, alongside Chancellor Helmut Schmidt

The recognition of the Nazi genocide of the Sinti and Roma

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

The demonstration outside the Federal Criminal Investigation Department in January 1983; in the foreground Ranko Brantner, Anton Franz, Romani Rose

Protests against special registration by the police

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Institutional recognition of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma

Permanent preservation of the graves of Holocaust survivors in Germany

The estimated 4000 graves of Holocaust survivors are permanently preserved as family memorials and places of remembrance for future generations

Soraya Post, former Member of the European Parliament and initiator of the resolution for the recognition of the Roma genocide, together with Raymond Gurême, a French Roma Holocaust survivor and fighter of the French resistance, who addressed members of parliament March 2015

Recognition of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma in Europe

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Holocaust Memorial Days

An overview of remembrance and education in the OSCE region

The Roma Civil Rights Struggle in Poland

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Current struggles and advocacy for recognition

Remember Us: Commemoration of the Romani Genocide

2 August 2020, 2 August, 17:00 EST (UTC−04:00), Virtual Event

The struggle for the removal of the pig farm at the former “Gypsy camp” near Lety u Písku

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

#RomaRemember

Joint statement on the occasion of 2 August 2020 – International Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

Remembrance event in Bucharest on 2 August 2016; Daniel Vasile (former Member of Parliament), Constantin Braila (Roma survivor), Rozalia-Dana Varga (Roma State Counselor)

The Holocaust in Romania and deportations of Roma to Transnistria

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Nadir and Fatima Dedic, Roma survivors of the Jasenovac concentration camp, July 2010

The Jasenovac concentration camp and the struggle for recognition in Croatia

Exhibition “The long path to recognition of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust”

Struggle for a dignified memorial site

Camp Topovske šupe in Serbia

Dikh He Na Bister! - Roma Genocide Youth Remembrance Initiative

DIKH HE NA BISTER (“Look and don’t forget” in Romani) – the Roma Genocide Remembrance Initiative mobilizes each year thousands of young Roma and non-Roma all over Europe on the occasion of the 2 August – the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – to advance remembrance, recognition and education about the Roma Genocide.

DIKH HE NA BISTER is a space of learning about the past, as well as of reflection about the role of young people in Holocaust remembrance. The initiative creates a dialogue and personal encounter of young people with Holocaust survivors. Their testimonies inspire the participants to address and resist against current challenges of antigypsyism, and other forms of racism in Europe today.

Education

Education and Youth Activism

Dikh He Na Bister – Youth Activism

In partnership with