The 2nd of August is the official international day of remembrance of the Holocaust on Rroma and Sinti. Several organisations (here just as a sample) are planning commemorations in Germany and Austria.
Another interview with Romani Rose, president of the German central council of Sinti and Roma in the context of the celebrations of the 2nd of August on the Rroma and Sinti Holocaust.
Romania has signed a legislation making it illegal to deny the Holocaust and forbids the promotion of the fascist legionnaire’s movement. Around 280’000 Jews, and officially 11’000 Rroma (there were more) were killed in Romania during the fascist regime of Antonescu. Recently, as in other neighbouring countries, there have been voices to rewrite this chapter of history.
LET US NEVER FORGET!
A chilling review of the annexation of Austria with the support of the overwhelming part of the population, and the history of Austria under the Nazis. Besides the Austrian soldier deaths (ca. 270’000) in Eastern Europe and Russia, Austrian minorities got decimated: From around 190’000 Austrian Jews, 65’459 were killed in the Holocaust, while from the roughly 11’000 Rroma (Burgenland and Sinti), at least 7’000 perished. These latter numbers are to be taken with caution, as no one really knew how many Rroma there were, and the German did not keep tabs on field executions or gas chambers.
A further article on the Dachau Theatre project, a project fighting stereotypes and played by Rroma and Sinti children. That this play is staged in Dachau, the site of one of the earliest concentration camps in Germany is really symbolically important.
US Holocaust educators from Florida visited Lithuania to share and develop strategies on some of the controversial aspects (i.e. local participation) of the Holocaust; to better understand what happened in Lithuania; to learn international law; to understand prejudices and to fight against them. On prejudice, they will also discuss the one against Rroma. Let’s see!
Auschwitz’s accountant, Oskar Grönning, was condemned to 4 years of prison as an accessory to murder to 300’000 people. These are the documented victims of Auschwitz, with roughly 21’000 Rroma and Sinti. One should never forget though that people who were sent directly to the gas chambers were not registered and the overall number of victims was much higher in Auschwitz.
– Auschwitz-Prozess: Vier Jahre Haft für SS-Mann Gröning. In: Osnabrücker Zeitung. 15.07.2015. http://www.noz.de/deutschland-welt/niedersachsen/artikel/596012/auschwitz-prozess-vier-jahre-haft-fur-ss-mann-groning-1
A theatre representation in the Munich suburbs of Dachau aims at building down stereotypes towards Rroma and Sinti. The place, Dachau, is more than symbolic, as during the Nazi times, there was a notorious concentration camp there were many German Rroma and Sinti were interned.
To watch!
Zoltan Balogh, the Hungarian Human Resource Minister, gave a speech on the Rroma Resistance Day (the day commemorating the uprising of Rroma in Auschwitz on May 16, 1944), and had to apologise for his remarks last August where he actually stated that no Rroma had been deported from Hungary – a lie. At least now it is somewhat official.
Holocaust in Hungary is still not widely acknowledged, especially the fact that most Jews in the countryside were deported as early as 1941 to extermination camps, and this on Hungarian initiative. Rroma were also constantly deported to Auschwitz and other camps.
Throughout the German press, there have been articles commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first deportations of Rroma and Sinti on May 16th, 1940, to concentration camps. Writers, politicians, clerics, all reflected on this dark chapter of German history. Even darker when one considers that the persecution of Rroma and Sinti was not recognised as an ethnic one by the German state until 1982 (Date at which the German Government under Helmut Schmid recognised the racial nature of the perecution). Until then, Rroma and Sinti had been persecuted officially solely for being “asocial” Needless to say, reparations were also not really forthcoming, even after that date.
In the context of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, Martin Schulz visited Auschwitz and paid tribute to the victims of the camp, among which were many Rroma.
A novel, “Jacob’s Colour” speaks about the Rroma holocaust. A long reviews on the book has been written in the Guardian. Unfortunately, the use the “Porrajmos” terms, which is not used by Rroma generally but was introduced by scholars. This choice of word, which denotes rape in Vlax dialects is a misnomer for the Holocaust.
US President Barack Obama mourned the victims of the Dachau concentration camp on the 70th anniversary of its liberation by Allied troops. He stated that: “Dachau is a lesson in the evolution of darkness, how unchecked intolerance and hatred spiral out of control.” and he cited Rroma and Sinti victims. He vowed that such a thing should never happen again.
The French president François Hollande mourned the victims of the only Nazi concentration camp on the French territory – The Struthof. During his visit, he mentioned the Rroma victims who are too often overlooked and forgotten.
An important part of the fight against prejudices towards Rroma is learning about their history and previous persecutions, such as the Holocaust. This is key, for only when one deals with one’s past can one actually shape one’s future.
The article assess that there have not been sufficient efforts to change the perceptions towards Rroma in the general population and only when this occurs, can one hope for a better future.
The red-green coalition from Baden Württemberg will deport asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia, many of then Rroma, on the anniversary of the deportation of Rroma in that Region. This anniversary celebrated on the 24th of March commemorates the first train filled with Rroma and Sinti that departed from Offenburg.
What a date to choose …
The current president of the federal tribunal, Ms. Bettina Limperg is ashamed at an old judgement from the tribunal referring to Rroma as a “plague”. Contrary to what one could think, this judgement was not made under the Nazis but in 1956, so eleven years after the end of the War.
This statement was alas by no mean an exception, as the Rroma Holocaust was not recognised as having been based on ethnicity until the 1970’s.
HNA reports on the research of a history teacher, Arndt Böttcher, who has been researching the history of a Rroma family in Battenberg, the Klein. The family settled in Battenberg in the 18th century and was deported to Auschwitz and other camps during the war. Many died but apparently 4 sons survived the horrors of the war.
The Lety Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic, a camp on which site there currently still is a pig farm is once again in the actualities. In this article, it is claimed that Paul Polansky, an amateur historian, brought the facts and existence of this camp to the world’s attention. While Paul Polanski effectively wrote two books on the topic, these were by far not the first ones about Lety (See for example Wickipedia.de on this topic). Fact is, this was one of the early Rroma camps where from many Rroma were deported to death camps.
The Huffington Post UK published a long article on non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Rroma stand prominently in this article.
For the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation on January 27th, the German press published a series of articles on the topic, highlighting the fact that besides Jews, Rroma were also victims of the Holocaust. How many died is still a matter of dispute, with numbers ranging from 250’000 to several millions. Truth will never be known, as, contrary to popular belief, the Germans did not keep accurate track of their deeds. Only people that stayed in camps for forced labour were registered. Those who were gassed upon arrival or simply shot in the woods in numerous places where not registerd. For example, Auschwitz’s registers show only ca. 405’000 registered people, while the estimates of how many were actually killed there range from 1.1 mio to a more probable 2.3 Mio people.
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