Ilona Lagrene

Testimonial speech on the occasion of 2 August 2021, Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

Avdives serav o 2-to Avgust 1944, o bilǎripe e kadia-akhardesqo kàmpi e Ciganenqo Auschwitz-Birkenau. Odoja rǎt kotar 2-to k-o 3-to Avgust, 4300 ʒene, buteder ʒuvlǎ, murśa, tikne aj nasvale manuśa mudardile ande jekh rǎt. Gazonde len aj phabarde len. Maśkar lenθe sas vi jekh phral me rromesqo. Mo sastro o Karl Lagrene sas deportuime k-o Auschwitz-Birkenau som pe familiaça odova vaxt. Si man i deregistràcia akate. Phenel akate, jekh certifikàta kotar o fòro Bottrop: 'Ćaćǎrel pes akate ka o raj Karl Lagrene, biando p-o 17.1.1908 and-o Männedorf aj lesqi rromni i Mathilde, biandi Winterstein, biandipnasqo than and-o Poznań sar vi o ćhave and-i lìsta maj tele sas registrome and-o kàmpi k-o Weinberg aj aresle and-o Auschwitz p-o 10.3.1943 vaś deregistràcia.' Ćaćǎripe: 'Akava lil ćaćǎrel kaj o Karl Lagrene biando p-o 17.1.1908 and-o Männedorf aj lesqi rromni i Mathilde, biandi Winterstein, biandi p-o 8.3.1919 and-o Posen aj vi o tikne p-i lìsta maj tele save sas registrome akate and-o kàmpo k-o Weinberg aj aresle and-o Auschwitz p-o 10.3.1943 vaś deregistràcia.' Anglal akava, ov sas ćhudino avril kotar e Thagaripnasqi Livni e Muzikaqi. Ande jekh publìko lil, savo sas postome and-o Berlin p-o 15 Mars 1952, maśkar aver phenel pes: 'Reorganizàcia e radiosqe programaqi. Kerdarinǎça kotar o minìstri e Thagaripnasqo o Dr. Goebbels, and-o thavdipe e reorganizaciaqo e radiosqe programaqi, duj progràme ulavde, komplementàro ka oven paruvde vaś o vasno vaxt e difuziaqo, aj kadial o tìpe e programenqe ja o grùpe maj tele si thovde aj o responsabilitète maj tele si definisarde vaś lenqe'. Na kamav te phenav o anava lenqe akate, no kamav te phenav kaj isi jekh lìsta ande savi ćaćimasθe sas kerde eksklùzie kotar e Thagaripnasqi Livni e Muzikaqi ja lenqe kandidatùre sas ćhute tele p-i bàza e paragrafesqi 10 e anglune regulaciaqo so implementìlas e Thagaripnasqo Kulturàlo Ekskluziaqo Akto kotar o 1to Novèmbra 1933 – Thagaripnasqi Livnie Muzikaqi. Maśkar lenθe, paś varesave, si o anav Lagrene, Karl, rezidènti and-o Bottrop am Weinberg 10 aj i dàta e biandipnasqi. Aj akana kamav te drabarav tumenqe jekh poèzia so kerda sas mo rrom savo mulo. Kerda akaja poèzia sosqe mo sastro avilo sas amenne aj tordilo k-o pràgo ajal, sas les maj but sar 80 berśenqo anj ande odoja periòda ov serel sas o Auschwitz sa o vaxt, sosqe ćaćimasne ov xasarda sa pesqi famìlia odothe. Avilo k-o Auschwitz pe rromnǎça, śtare ćhavença, pe phraleça, pe dadeça aj pe diaça aj sàdaj ov aćhilo ʒivdo. Àke sosqe kerda akaja poèzia. 'Vòrbe me dadesqe. Seripen. 25 Jùli 91. K-o pòrte e Auschwitzesqe. Atòska kana tordilam k-o pòrte e Auschwitzesqe, mi famìlia ta me, ʒanglom kaj nas te aʒukeras khanć laćho. Nijekh var na geli mi godi kaj aʒukerel sas amen i traś. Odova vaxt, Kana tordǒvav sas k-o Auschwitz, na ʒanglom kaj ka len manθar mi famìlia. Nijekh var na paćandom kaj o manuśa śaj te oven odoborkha ʒuklane. Mi rromni, me śtar ćhave, mi daj, mo dad aj mo phral - lie len manθar savorren. Savorre trebuja te ʒan. Sosqe? Atòska, kana kana tordilom k-o pòrte e Auschwitzesqe, sar Muselmann (paś mulo) phagle ileça, phabardo andre manθe, oborkha ćućo, na ʒanglom so ka aćhovav ʒivdo. Nakhle 46 berś de kana tordilom k-o pòrte e Auschwitzesqe. Atòska nijekh var na patǎndom kaj ka ʒivav phuro. But bari dukh paśpaśe bilili aj geli de atunćara. O seripe e Auschwitzesqo aćhilo. Sar phurilom, praʒivav, phandlino me memoriaqo. Akana kamav te drabarav tumenqe o anava me sastresqe manuśenqe. O Karl Lagrene, lesqi rromni i Mathilde Lagrene, lesqo ćhave o Karl Lagrene, o Harry Lagrene, lesqo dad o Konrad Lagrene, lesqo phral o Friedrich Lagrene, lesqe ćhaja i Hildegard aj i Gisela Lagrene, lesqi daj i Veronika Lagrene. Aj akana kamav te serav aj te dav patǐv aj trebul te ovel akava vi sar jekh seravipe kaj kasavi buti te na maj ovel nijekh var. Kamav vi te phenav p-o agor, special amare ternenqe, sode si vasno akava ande amaro vaxt, avdives, kana sa ʒal aborkha sig. No kamav te mangav vi tumendar aj te phenav akava tumenqe aj aʒukerav akava kotar o terne. Si lokhes: te den andre kana dikhen jekh bangipe te tordǒn mamuj o daxne-rigesqo radikalìzmo, mamuj i ksenofòbia, mamuj o antisemitìzmo, no vi mamuj o anticiganìzmo, aj sarsavo racìzmo - musaj te mamujden. Sa e zorǎça so si amen, aj na trebul te bistras nijekhvar so ondilo amenqe and-o Auschwitz aj so na trebul te maj ovel nijekh var!

Prior to this, he had been expelled from the Reich Chamber of Music. In a public letter, which was posted in Berlin on 15 March 1952, it says among other things: “Reorganisation of the radio programme. By order of the Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels, in the course of a reorganisation of the radio programme, two separate, complementary programmes will be switched on for the important broadcasting times, and so the following types of programmes or groups were introduced and the following responsibilities were defined for them”.

I don’t want to name them here, but I would like to name that there is a list in which actually exclusions from the Reich Chamber of Music were made or their applications for admission were rejected on the basis of paragraph 10 of the first implementing regulation to the Reich Cultural Exclusion Act of 1 November 1933 – Reich Chamber of Music. Among them, next to some, is the name Lagrene, Karl, resident in Bottrop am Weinberg 10 and the date of birth.

At this point I would like to read you a poem by my late husband. The reason for this poem was that my father-in-law came to us and stood at the doorway like this, he was well over 80, and during that time he remembered Auschwitz again and again, because he actually lost his entire family there. He went to Auschwitz with his wife, four children, his brother, father and mother, and he was the only one who survived. And that’s why my husband wrote this poem.

“Words of my father. Remembrance. 25 July 91. At the gates of Auschwitz. Back when we stood at the gates of Auschwitz, my family and I, I knew that nothing good awaited us. I never thought that horror was waiting for us. Back then, when I was standing at the gates of Auschwitz, I didn’t know that my family would be taken away from me. I never thought that people could be so cruel. My wife, my four children, mother, father and brother – they all took them from me. They all had to go. Why? Back then, when I stood at the gates of Auschwitz, as a Muselmann, emotionally broken, burnt out inside, so empty, I didn’t know that I would survive. It is now 46 years since I stood at the gates of Auschwitz back then. Back then I never thought I would live to be so old. A lot of pain and suffering has almost melted away since then. The memory of Auschwitz has remained. Having grown old, I survive, prisoner of my memory, behind the gates of Auschwitz.”

At this point I would like to read you the names of my father-in-law’s family. Karl Lagrene, his wife Mathilde Lagrene, his sons Karl Lagrene, Harry Lagrene, his father Konrad Lagrene, his brother Friedrich Lagrene, his daughters Hildegard and Gisela Lagrene, his mother Veronika Lagrene. At this point, I would like to commemorate and remember, and it should also serve as a reminder that something like this can never happen again.

I would also like to conclude by saying to you, especially to our youth, how important it is in this time in which we are today, which is very fast-moving. But I would like to ask you and I would like to point this out to you and I also expect this from the youth.

Quite simply: to intervene when you see injustice, to stand up against right-wing radicalism, against xenophobia, against anti-Semitism, but also against anti-gypsyism, racism of any kind – this must be opposed. With all the strength we have and possess, and we must never forget what happened to us in Auschwitz and what must never happen again!