2 August 2020
Dr. Josef Schuster
President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
Statement on the occasion of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2020
The chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the chair of the Synod of the EKD, Irmgard Schwaetzer, and the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Josef Schuster, have accompanied the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma to the commemoration ceremony in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It is my concern to be here in Auschwitz today, on the day of remembrance for the murdered Sinti and Roma. Because something connects Jews, Sinti and Roma in this place, they were people. People were deported here and murdered simply because they were Sinti and Roma or because they were Jews, both simply because of their origin. This is something that connects, but it is also meant to express that such an inhuman regime must never again be allowed to become active.
Statements
Romani Rose
Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma
Katarina Barley
Vice President of the European Parliament
Helena Dalli
European Commissioner for Equality
Mehmet Daimagüler
Dr. Mehmet Daimagüler, Antigypsyism Commissioner of the Federal Government
Roberta Metsola
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Claudia Roth
Vice President of the German Bundestag
Paul Blokhuis
Dutch State Secretary Paul Blokhuis
Chris J. Lazaris
Amb. Chris J. Lazaris, IHRA Chairman
Fernand des Varennes
UN Special Rapporteur UN minorities
Anna-Nicole Heinrich
President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
Roman Kwiatkowski
Chairman of the Association of Roma in Poland
Erich Schneeberger
Deputy Chairman of the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma and Chairman of the Association of German Sinti and Roma
Timea Junghaus
Executive Director
European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC)
Adam Strauß
Chairman of the Council of German Sinti and Roma in Hesse
Manon Aubry
Manon Aubry, MEP
Adrian-Nicolae Furtuna
Historian at the University of Bucharest
Philomena Franz
Holocaust Survivor
Angelina Kappler
German former Weinkönigin
Marian Kalwary
Chairman of the Association of Jews,
Survivors and Victims of the Second World War