{"id":1197,"date":"2014-09-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/19-09-2014-the-forgotten-victims-of-the-rroma-holocaust\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T14:32:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T13:32:48","slug":"19-09-2014-the-forgotten-victims-of-the-rroma-holocaust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/19-09-2014-the-forgotten-victims-of-the-rroma-holocaust\/","title":{"rendered":"19.09.2014 The forgotten victims of the Rroma-Holocaust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With a joint letter, several \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinstitutions and scientists called attention to the continued ignorance of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma-Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. The authors call for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tan explicit focus on and recognition of the genocide of the Rroma by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgovernments, international organisations, museums, scientists, activists, and by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe media. The Rroma genocide should not be presented any longer as an event \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseparated from the Holocaust, as it is usually done. This must be presented \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith a more in-depth research and discussion of the Nazi atrocities done to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, as well as an adequate representation of Rroma in committees and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinstitutions, such as the council of the American Holocaust Museum: \u201cRemoving Roma and Sinti from Holocaust \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thistory by creating a separate genocide and by denying their voice in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHolocaust ceremonies signal a disregard for the memory and the dignity of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRomani people. Yet, the United Nations continues to dither about whether Roma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand Sinti should be included in their annual Holocaust Remembrance ceremony. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFurthermore, being designated as a victim of a separate genocide and not a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHolocaust victim is precedent setting. For example, many Romani Holocaust \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsurvivors were unable to qualify for any type of compensation for the losses \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey endured, specifically because the German government failed to recognize \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthem as part of the Holocaust for several decades after the War, long after \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany survivors had died. This is not an example that current governments and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinstitutions should emulate. Only 10 percent of the hundreds of millions of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdollars made available by the United Nations for the survivors, and which the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Government was given the responsibility of disbursing, was set aside for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnon-Jews, and none of that found its way to the Romani survivors. When the U.S. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHolocaust Memorial Council was established in 1980, no Roma were invited to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparticipate, and as mentioned above, it has no Romani member today. [\u2026] \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tObjective and true information about Roma and Sinti can lead to overcoming \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstigma and embracing Romani people as equal members of society, deserving of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdignity and respect\u201d <\/em>(Raeesi et al 2014). Especially with the last point, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe authors of the letter address an important aspect of the historiography of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma: the massive amount of false and inaccurate information that is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspread about the ethnic group, which distorts their perception until today. For \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta long time, it was claimed that there had not been any systematic murder of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma. The Rroma victims were said to be anti-social elements and criminals \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat were interned for regulatory reasons. Such an inhumane interpretation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thistory should in fact belong to the past.<\/p>\n