{"id":1689,"date":"2014-05-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/21-05-2014-memory-of-rroma-revolt-in-auschwitz-birkenau\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:42:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:42:46","slug":"21-05-2014-memory-of-rroma-revolt-in-auschwitz-birkenau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/21-05-2014-memory-of-rroma-revolt-in-auschwitz-birkenau\/","title":{"rendered":"21.05.2014 Memory of Rroma revolt in Auschwitz-Birkenau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On May 16th 1944, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprisoners of camp sector II B of Auschwitz-Birkenau actively rebelled. Rroma detained \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthere were supposed to be led into the gas chambers by SS: \u201cArmed with stones and tools, they barricaded themselves in the barracks. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey managed to escape extermination for the time being. […] The uprising in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe camp sector II B of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the \u201cGypsy camp\u201d, was a highlight \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the resistance that Sinti and Roma actively held in many ways against the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpersecution and extermination by the Nazis. But their resistance was broken: after \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe selection of all prisoners capable of working, the \u201cGypsy camp\u201d was dismantled \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin early August. The remaining 2900 people died in the gas chambers.\u201d <\/em>In \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAuschwitz-Birkenau, around 23,000 Rroma were detained, half of them younger \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthan 14 years old. Almost all of them were murdered. On the occasion of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommemoration, Deutschlandradio Kultur spoke with Silvio Peritore, from \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. Peritore complains about the lacking \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treappraisal of the genocide in the post-war period, the detentions were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlegitimized as \u201ccrime prevention\u201d in continuity with the Nazis policies, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe continuing tolerance of racist slogans under the guise of freedom of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texpression, which reveals ambivalence towards ones own history. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdministrative Court of Kassel decided in September 2013 that the posters of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe NPD with the slogan \u201cMoney for grandma instead for Sinti and Roma\u201d had to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbe tolerated under the paragraph on the freedom of expression. The statement of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfacts didn\u2019t qualify as demagoguery: \u201cHow \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcan it be that after a recognition of the genocide \u2013 with exhibitions, with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmonuments, educational events \u2013 again today, people continue to be defamed with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta similar language. Last year before the federal election campaign, now for the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEuropean elections again, these NPD election posters are tolerated under the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tguise of party protection and freedom of expression. The state or the judiciary \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoes not evaluate this form of misanthropy as demagoguery and regularly slams \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomplaints from citizens, from people affected, and from Sinti and Roma, who don\u2019t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twant to put with that. On one side one has the historic confrontation in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tform of monuments \u2013 which are important, which are essential \u2013 but on the other \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tside, one has this contradiction that allows populist parties, right-wing extremists, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto do their propaganda against minorities, especially against Sinti and Roma. \u00a0They use them as scapegoats for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tperceived or real nuisances, which is very frightening.\u201d<\/em> On one side, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeritore speaks about a legal loophole, the tolerance of discrimination by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trule of law under the freedom of speech and press, on the other hand, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproblem of the social tolerance of these hostilities. It is therefore every \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsingle citizen responsibility to work and pursue a just society (compare Barbezat \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Deutschlandradio \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKultur 2014, Die Presse 2014, Stoll 2014, Von Billerbeck 2014).<\/p>\n