Tag Archives: Holocaust

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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More news this week about Roma in the French press. A movie on the Roma Genocide during the Holocaust, which will be released this year; a book by Philippe Lafitte,, where one of the protagonist is a Rom, but which unfortunately uses quite a few stereotypes; a lenghty article in the Le Monde on racism and on the measures the government is taking to fight it; and then the usual. A fire in a camp, a new squat, and travellers “bothering” a town.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Commemoration

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On March 3rd, 1943, 80 years ago, German police arrested Sinti and Roma and deported them to concentration camps.

Several articles in the German press commemorated this day.

News Eastern Europe Poland

80 Years

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80 years ago, the Germans established in Auschwitz II-Birkenau the so-called Zigeunerlager – Gypsy family camp. The first transport of prisoners arrived on February 26, 1943 from Germany. On Sunday, at the memorial site, the anniversary was commemorated by representatives of Roma communities.

The Zigeunerlager existed until August 2, 1944 with 23,000 registered inmates.

Germany News Western Europe

Willi Kreutz

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The Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, together with the Central Council, mourns the loss of Holocaust survivor Willi Kreutz, who died in Mannheim on February 11, 2023 at the age of 90. He was closely connected to both organizations and accompanied the delegations of the Central Council to the international commemoration ceremonies on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day for Sinti and Roma on August 2 in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

Willi Kreutz was born on July 6, 1932 in Düsseldorf. In the course of the May deportations of thousands of Sinti and Roma to the so-called General Government of Poland, his older sister, who later became a civil rights activist, Hildegard Lagrenne, was deported. A few months later Willi Kreutz and his parents followed her.

May he rest in peace.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Commemoration

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Soldiers of the honour guard of the President of the Slovak Republic laid a wreath at the Roma Holocaust memorial in Dubnica nad Váhom during the commemorative event of the civil association In Minorita as part of the project “Ma bisteren!”. This was done on the  78th anniversary of the tragic events in which 26 Roma from the detention camp in Dubnica nad Váhom were murderedThe monument stands on the site of the cemetery where the victims of the detention camp for Roma in are buried.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and the Holocaust

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A new survey in Germany found out that young people know very little about the Nazi period and the Holocaust. For example, less than half of the respondents mentioned the sick and disabled as victims of persecution, and less than a third mentioned Sinti and/or Roma.

For the Memo Youth Study, approximately 3,500 young people aged 16 to 25 were surveyed online by the University of Bielefeld in September/October 2021, and 838 participants were re-tested in September 2022.

Its authors point out that despite insufficient knowledge of the facts, National Socialism and World War II are the main points of reference in the culture of remembrance for teenagers and young adults.

Thus, 63 percent of young adults, but on average only 53 percent across all age groups, reported being interested in events from the National Socialist era. In addition, around three-quarters of those aged 16 to 25 did not question the desirability of dealing with this period in German history.

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Germany: Exhibition

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The exhibition “Race Diagnosis: Gypsy”  will be held from February 23 to March 23 in the state parliament in Mainz, Germany.

The exhibition on the genocide of the Sinti and Roma shows the history of their persecution from the exclusion and disenfranchisement of the minority in the German Reich to their systematic annihilation in occupied Europe. In addition, the history of the survivors of the Holocaust, who were only later recognized as victims of the Nazis, is dealt with. At the end there is an outlook on the human rights situation of the Sinti and Roma in Europe after 1989.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Auschwitz: Education

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The memorial museum Auschwitz-Birkenau will launch a new online education entitled “Roma – the experience of extermination”. It is part of their current work in raising awareness about the Roma Genocide during the Holocaust.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria: Vandalism

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The monument commemorating the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Salzburg, Austria, was again damaged by vandals over the weekend. This is unfortunately not the first time.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany, the Catholic Church, and Roma

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Munich Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx wants to conduct a review of the historical responsibility of the Catholic Church for the persecution of the Sinti and Rom during the Nazi. Marx visited the documentation and cultural centre of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.

The visit also dealt in particular with the role of the then Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber (1869-1952) and his attitude towards Sinti and Roma.

Germany News Western Europe

Roma, the Holocaust, and Compensation

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Survivors of the Nazi genocide of Sinti and Roma are worse off than other groups when it comes to compensation. A commission set up by former Interior Minister Seehofer (CSU) is calling for compensation for this disadvantage. But the traffic light coalition does not want to implement it.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Series and Stereotypes

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At the beginning of the 20th century, in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, more than a third of the population was Jewish. The series Le Bracelet of Fire, directed by Giorgos Gikapeppas, has been released on February 4 on the public television channel ERT and from January 25 on the Ertflix group platform and retraces for the first time the history of a family of Thessaloniki through the darkest events of the 20th century.

However … The first episode, at the 37th minute and 45th second has a “Gypsy”, called Angelis is saying:

I stole, I stole (past continuous)

But it is allowed for the Gypsies to steal.

God gave us this right.

And he “explains” that the Romans gave an order to a Gypsy to forge the 4 nails to crucify Jesus. But when the Gypsy found out it was to crucify Christ he swallowed one. From then onwards God gave the Gypsies the right to steal.

This later tale is one that Roma told in Western Europe (but not in Greece) as the reason for their continuous travels (and originally as to why they claimed to be pilgrims).

In any case, that is a bunch of stereotypes…

News Eastern Europe Poland

Auschwitz Museum on Roma

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An online educational session prepared by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust will be devoted to the Roma Holocaust. It will take place on February 23, the Auschwitz Museum announced.

“The Roma were recognized by the German Nazis as enemies of the Third Reich, therefore they were sentenced to isolation and extermination. In February 1943, their deportation to KL Auschwitz began. A family camp called Zigeunerlager was established in Birkenau. The Roma incarcerated there came mainly from territories of Germany, Austria, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and occupied Poland. The Zigeunerlager existed until August 2, 1944. At that time, about 4,200-4,300 men, women and children were loaded onto trucks and taken to the gas chamber” – reminded Dr. Maria Martyniak, responsible for the projects educational in the museum.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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A new museum in Montreuil en Bellay will be created to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. This location was an internment camp in France for Roma.

Other news are much more usual: An association devoted to the promotion of Roma culture (well, it is a bit of a stereotyped culture) celebrates its ten years. In the North, a family is facing expulsion. In the Southeast in Grenoble, neighbours of a squat are complaining. And finally, the story of a former fort near Paris which is supposed to be turned into a centre for oncology and is literally full of garbage. Until 2021, Roma were sorting out the garbage there.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Memorial

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More on the upcoming memorial on the site of the former concentration camp for Roma in Lety, in the Czech Republic.

In just one year, the Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Bohemia should stand in Lety u Písek. The company Protom, which won the tender, undertook to complete the monument in 345 days.

Minister of Culture for the ODS Martin Baxastated:

“It was an event that was forgotten for decades, now the construction of the memorial here in Lety has been inaugurated. It will create a place that will be a permanent reminder of what happens when we slacken in our efforts to defend the values of freedom and democracy.”

The construction of the monument will cost less than one hundred million crowns. The winner of the indoor and outdoor exhibition competition should be announced this month. The Museum of Roma Culture would like to open the monument in 2024. The German government has also promised the museum funding for the outdoor exhibition. Norwegian funds will also contribute 26.5 million crowns to the memorial.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Holocaust

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On February 2, 1943, in Imbramowice, near Wrocław, the Germans murdered 43 Roma, including women and children from families who lived there with Polish families at the time. It is also known that seven people escaped, the Germans caught them and murdered them the next day in Wolbrom. There were 50 victims in total.

The secretary of the Roma Association in Poland, Władysław Kwiatkowski is related to the families of the victims of the German murder and commemorates this murder 80 years ago.

May they rest in peace.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Memorial

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The memorial to the Roma Holocaust on the grounds of the former pig farm in Lety will be completed within a year and will cost 199 million CZK (4.2 million EUR). In February, the winner of the competition for the indoor and outdoor exhibition of the monument will be announced.

Austria News Western Europe

Motion for a Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Yesterday evening, the National Council unanimously passed a motion for a resolution to the government with the aim of recognizing the genocide of Roma and Sinti during National Socialism as a historical fact and establishing August 2 as a national day of remembrance for all victims of this genocide.

Germany News Western Europe

German Evangelical Church and Roma

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The head of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Anette Kurschus, acknowledged that her church was involved in the exclusion of Sinti and Roma during the National Socialist period. Kurschus said in Berlin that the Evangelical Church took many blamable actions. The church was involved in betraying people and handing them over to be destroyed. Kurschus also announced an increased commitment against today’s discrimination of the minority.

This is a historical event. When will the other denominations follow?

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