{"id":1376,"date":"2014-08-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/06-08-2014-memorial-of-the-rroma-holocaust\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:48:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T06:48:54","slug":"06-08-2014-memorial-of-the-rroma-holocaust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/06-08-2014-memorial-of-the-rroma-holocaust\/","title":{"rendered":"06.08.2014 Memorial of the Rroma Holocaust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many international \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers reportes about the mass murder of Rroma on the occasion of the 70th \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommemoration of the evacuation of the Gypsy camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. On \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAugust the second, 1944, the remaining 3000 inmates of the camp were killed. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe inmates of the Gypsy camp actively resisted and barricaded themselves in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe barracks. After the rebellion was put down, approximately 3000 of the 6000 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma were classified as capable of working and taken to other labour camps. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe remaining 3000 \u2013 mostly children, women and old people \u2013 were gassed or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshot. Previously, tens of thousands had already been deliberately starved to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdeath or died of plagues and epidemics. The interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReinhold Gall, pointed out in his speech that the Nazi atrocities would not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave been possible without the opportune collaboration of the authorities and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe police. It is therefore necessary to critically question this passive tolerance \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbut also active support of fascism: \u201cHe pointed to the asylum decree of the ministry \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the interior of W\u00fcrttemberg in November the 7th, 1938, which made \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tit possible that children could be classified as \u201cGypsies\u201d and interned into protectorates. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cFor too long,<\/em> the authorities have not concerned themselves with their own history\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\the said. Also Thomas Schnabel, director of the museum of contemporary history, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpointed out the \u201cfatal cooperation between police, interior ministries and the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGestapo.\u201d For example, the police of Karlsruhe had gathered 150 Sinti and Roma in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe courtyard of its bureau to bring them to the collection camp Hohenasperg, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom where they were deported to Auschwitz\u201d <\/em>(Schmidt 2014). The chairman of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe central council of German Sinti and Rroma, Romani Rose, emphasised in his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspeech at Auschwitz, under the presence of survivors and politicians, the worrying \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trise of right-wing nationalist and extreme right-wing parties and groups: \u201cWith great concern we see that right-wing extremist \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand violent parties and organisations in Europe are increasing and find an echo \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto their slogans into the mainstream of society\u201d<\/em> (Baltic Rundschau 2014). \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoses indication of the missing lessons of history is of particular importance. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOnly through an insufficient remembrance of past atrocities against minorities \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuch as the Roma can the renewed rise of racism against marginalized groups be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texplained. These tendencies are reinforced and fuelled by economic and social issues. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAt the commemoration, young Rroma from 25 European countries were present. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmemory of the atrocities committed by the Nazis should not be forgotten and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpassed on to the younger generation. In his speech to the German Bundestag on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary the 27th, 2011, Zoni Weisz called the genocide of the Rroma justifiably \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe \u201cforgotten Holocaust\u201d. Repression was rarely the right method to sort out a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproblem. West Germany only recognized the Rroma genocide in 1982, \u00a0at which time, many of the survivors had \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talready died. The Holocaust of the Rroma is repeatedly falsely equated with the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tword Porrajmos<\/em>, also in some of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticles cited here. The expression, which emanates from the verb porravav<\/em> and means \u201cto open widely\u201d, is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toften used in the context of sexual activity and is therefore not appropriate \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto describe a genocide. Among the Rroma there is no recognized term to describe \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma Holocaust (compare ARD Tagesschau 2014, Deutsche Welle 2014, Gribben \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Gulyas 2014, Keating 2014, Kushen 2014, Lib\u00e9ration 2014, MDR 2014, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMiGAZIN 2014, Roth 2014, Die Welt 2014, Weisz 2014, Wetzel 2014).<\/p>\n