Tag Archives: Holocaust

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21.11.2014 German Federal Supreme Court asked to take a stance on its hostile judgments on Rroma

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Romani Rose, chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Rroma, has demanded the German Federal Supreme Court in a statement on the 4th Roseburg-symposium to take a stance on its jurisdiction against Rroma under National Socialism and in the post-war period. In 1956, the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) had largely rejected the claims of Holocaust survivors for compensation, on the grounds that there had been earlier official measures against Rroma: “In January of 1956, the Federal Supreme Court had largely denied compensation to “gypsies” who were persecuted by the Nazis. The exclusion and resettlement policy of the Nazis until 1943 was denied to have been motivated by their racial fanaticism, but was said to be part of the “usual police preventive measures”. The judges of the Federal Supreme Court justified their verdict with the suggestion that due to the nature of the people, there had always been measures against the “Gypsy plague”. Without any relativization it says: “They tend, as experience shows, towards crime, particularly thefts and frauds, they often lack the moral drives to respect the property of others, because they appertain like primitive men an unrestrained occupation instinct.” It was not until 1963 that at the Federal Supreme Court recognised that Rroma were persecuted in Nazi Germany before 1943. However, the racist police considerations, which allege a collective predisposition to crime for Rroma, were still recognised. Rose therefore demanded an official dissociation of the Federal Supreme Court from its past verdicts, as he stated at the symposium: ““Then, the Supreme Court adopted the justification strategy of the Nazis and their demagogic agitation”, criticized Rose. Until today, there has been no dissociation on part of the Federal Supreme Court. “We would appreciate it very much if such a statement – in whatever form – would be possible today.”” – In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, 30,000 Rroma were murdered. Researchers estimate at least half a million casualties among the Rroma (Rath 2014).

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21.11.2014 Jean-Marie Le Pen sentenced for racist remark against Rroma

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The Paris appeal’s court sentenced Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the right-wing nationalist Front National, to a fine of 5’000 Euros. The strident politician had claimed at the Summer University of the Front National that Rroma would steal as naturally as birds fly. In French, the word “voler” means to fly as well as to steal. In its judgment, the court of appeal upheld the first instance verdict of the criminal court in December 2013. Le Pen’s defence attorney – Mr. de Saint-Just – decidedly referred to the right to freedom of expression. This would clearly be violated by the judgment of the appeal’s court: ““This final verdict is a massive violation of freedom of expression”, judged Mr. de Saint-Just on Monday, assuring that his client “will go before the European Court of Human Rights that fights for the freedom of expression and that normally supercedes the appeal’s court, unless it is Jean-Marie Le Pen.” “It’s not about freedom of expression, it is about a racist expression, which is a crime”, Mr. Pierre Mairat, the lawyer for the movement against racism and for friendship between people (Mrap) stated. “This last, politically incorrect expression of Le Pen corresponds to his leaving: that of a man who has always associated his statements with hatred, responded Mr. Patrick Klugman, lawyer of SOS Racisme, saluting “a welcome verdict”” (Libération 2014). Jean-Marie Le Pen has been repeatedly noticed for his anti-Semitic remarks gainst foreigners, minorities and the trivialisation of the Holocaust (compare Le Huffington Post in 2014, Le Monde in 2014, Le Parisien 2014).

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19.11.2014 Rroma in Austria: Rudolf Sarközi and the Holocaust

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Rudolf Sarközi, Holocaust survivor and founder of the “Cultural Association of Austrian Roma” is celebrating his seventieth birthday. Sarközi has won several awards for his commitment to the Rroma: “Almost to the day 70 years ago, Rudolf Sarközi was born in the Nazi detention camp in Lackenbach (district Oberpullendorf). Of the approximately 4,000 imprisoned Roma and Sinti in Lackenbach, only a few hundred survived the Holocaust – one of them was Sarközi. On Saturday, at the memorial in Lackenbach, one was commemorating the people murdered by the Nazis. Gymnasium students of Oberpullendorf and young Roma and Sinti co-created the celebration with touching speeches. Sarközi, chairman of Austrian Roma, found clear words: “I hope that the young in the group can say one day that we are not disadvantaged.” At the memorial event, Governor Hans Niessl (SPÖ) and regional vice Franz Steindl (ÖVP) presented Professor Sarközi one of the highest awards in Burgenland: the Commander’s Cross. “The fact that Roma and Sinti today have equal rights as other ethnic groups would not have been possible without the commitment of Rudolf Sarközi”, said the governor” (Kurier 2014, compare Salzburg24 2014).

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12.11.2014 Goberling: memorial for the victims of the Rroma Holocaust

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ORF (2014) reports on the inauguration of a memorial for the victims of the genocide committed by the National Socialists. In Goberling, in the southeast of Austria, there were around 120 Rroma in the beginnings of the 1940s. Many of them were employed in the mining industry, as the historian Gerhard Baumgartner states. Then, in 1943, almost all of them were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau: “In the era of National Socialism, thousands of Roma have been murdered. Entire neighbourhoods were obliterated, including those in Goberling (District Oberwart). Now, a memorial for the victims of National Socialism was built there. […] Until their deportation, the Roma were virtually the only Catholics in Goberling. After the war, their church remained empty. About 60 years ago, the Catholic parish of Stadtschlaining sold the church, the evangelical pastor of Stadtschlaining, Gerhard Harkam, said. The municipality had initially taken over the church and later sold it to the Lutheran church of Goberling. Next to the Goberlinger Church, which is one of the oldest in Burgenland, a memorial stone has been built now on the initiative of mayor of Goberling, Hans Bieler.” In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, 30,000 Rroma registered were murdered. Researchers estimate at least half a million casualties among the Rroma. The genocide of the Rroma is much less known in comparison to the mass murder of the Jews.

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22.10.2014 Demonstration for the rights of the Rroma in Budapest

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Several German-language newspapers reported on a human-rights demonstration in Budapest, where representatives of the Rroma and their sympathisers called attention on the discrimination of the Rroma minority and demanded more commitment towards compliance of minority rights. There were also members of other discriminated minorities among the protesters: “Several hundred Hungarians participated on Sunday, in the capital Budapest, in a “Roma Pride”- march in honour of the discriminated Sinti and Roma. During their demonstration downtown, they sang the song “Opre Roma” (Stand up, Roma!), that calls for the struggle for social equality. The main organiser of the march, Jeno Setet of the Roma organisation Ide tartozunk (We belong here), said: “This day is for everyone, whether Roma or non-Roma. With it, we want to show the pride of our community and our positive contribution to Hungary.” Among the demonstrators were also representatives of the Jewish community, of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), as well as the homeless people and refugees. Benjamin Abtan of the co-organizing European anti-racist grassroots movement (Egam) in Paris, said: “Roma Pride is our response to the current rise of nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly in Hungary” (Blick 2014). The extreme right-wing Jobbik-party (English: the better ones) emerged as the second strongest power from the municipal elections of October the 12th. Supporters of the party have repeatedly gained attention with demagogic statements against Rroma

Pester Lloyd (2014) explains in details the concerns of the organisers: they criticise, among others, the one-sided press coverage of the minority, leading to the strengthening of negative stereotypes about Rroma. In addition, the access to the education system, to the labour market, and to health care is still insufficient: “The organisers complain that in general and especially in Hungary, “one almost never hears or reads anything positive about the Rroma”, these media exclusion or bias reinforces the separation of majority and minority. However, through pride, one also gets self-confidence to take ones destiny into ones own hands – even if the government does not want this. In a petition, among others, it was demanded that the existence of a Holocaust against Roma and their persecution in Nazi Hungary be made a subject in classrooms. The background: Minister Balog, responsible for the Roma integration, called the Hungarian Roma recently  a “people without a history”, who were caught in an imaginary victimhood. Furthermore, he stated that there were  “no deportations of Roma into concentration camps”, which is historically just wrong.” In addition, Pester Lloyd deplores the very low participation in the demonstration (compare Thurgauer Zeitung 2014, Tiroler Tageszeitung 2014, Die Welt 2014, Wiener Zeitung 2014, Zeit 2014).

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03.10.2014 European Antiracist Grassroots Movement calls for more commitment for the Rroma

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On the occasion of the proclamation of the “Rroma Pride” day of October the 5th, Abtan (2014) of the anti-racism organization “European Grassroots Antiracist Movement” calls for more commitment of all forces operating in Europe to reduce the discrimination against the Rroma minority. On the initiative of the organisation and in cooperation with local Rroma associations, days of action will be held in various European countries. Abtan uses the Czech concentration camp Lety as an example that the recognition of the Rroma and their history is until today not sufficient. At the site of the former camp, where an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Rroma were murdered, there is a pig farm, which was built during the Soviet rule. Again and again, Rroma organisations have asked for the demolition of the farm and the creation of an appropriate monument: “What does the defilement of the location of Lety tell us? It is the attempt to erase a past that [allegedly] did not happen. The indifference to certain sufferings of certain individuals. The relationship between the past genocide and the racist violence today. It tells us a story of commitment to remember. A revival of dignity and solidarity with which human rights activists, Roma and non-Roma, have organised the first European memorial on site. 18 countries were represented. It tells us about the shared sense of belonging to Europe, about the common love of the values ​​of democracy. The defilement of Lety tells us a part of the current history of Europe. However, across the continent, there are racist acts of violence perpetrated against Roma.” That’s why the fight against the continued injustices against the Rroma is so important, so that the younger generation may have a better future, which is not shaped by hopelessness and discrimination (compare Abtan 2014/II).

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03.10.2014 Journalism prize for article on the genocide of Czech Rroma

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The article by journalist Silvie Lauder (2014) on the genocide of Rroma from the Czech Republic gives attention to a little addressed historical event and shows the importance of moral courage against collectively committed injustices: “Seventy years ago Czech and Slovak Roma embarked on a grim path to nearly complete annihilation. In the spring and summer of 1943, 4,500 Roma were shipped off to the so-called Gypsy camp in Auschwitz: one-third were from camps in Lety and Hodonin, in the south and southwest of the country, and two-thirds were taken from their homes. The fates of local Roma remain one of the least investigated chapters of the war, and one part of this story is completely unknown – that some Roma survived the Nazi attempt at extermination thanks to the help of “white people.”” At this point, one needs to comment that the genocide would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Czech authorities, who cooperated with the regime of the National Socialists, or at least obeyed them. Even before the rise of the Nazis, laws against Rroma were adopted in the Czech Republic: in 1927, the Czech Parliament initiated a law against “wandering gypsies” that forced them to register themselves with fingerprints and henceforth forbade them to enter certain areas. A detailed description of the experiences of survivors, who survived the Holocaust thanks to the help of dedicated individuals follows. Nevertheless Lauder comes to a bleak conclusion: “Twenty thousand of the 23,000 European Roma who went through the Gypsy camp did not survive. Czech and Moravian Roma, after German and Austrian Roma, made up the second-largest group and on them the Nazi persecution fell with the most terrifying strength. “The majority of adults were killed along with entire families and clans, and with them their family traditions, customs, music, songs, and stories were lost,” notes Vlasta Kladivova in the book, The Last Stop: Auschwitz-Birkenau. “There was no one left to pass them on to.””

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03.10.2014 Journalism prize for article on the genocide of Czech Rroma

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The article by journalist Silvie Lauder (2014) on the genocide of Rroma from the Czech Republic gives attention to a little addressed historical event and shows the importance of moral courage against collectively committed injustices: “Seventy years ago Czech and Slovak Roma embarked on a grim path to nearly complete annihilation. In the spring and summer of 1943, 4,500 Roma were shipped off to the so-called Gypsy camp in Auschwitz: one-third were from camps in Lety and Hodonin, in the south and southwest of the country, and two-thirds were taken from their homes. The fates of local Roma remain one of the least investigated chapters of the war, and one part of this story is completely unknown – that some Roma survived the Nazi attempt at extermination thanks to the help of “white people.”” At this point, one needs to comment that the genocide would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Czech authorities, who cooperated with the regime of the National Socialists, or at least obeyed them. Even before the rise of the Nazis, laws against Rroma were adopted in the Czech Republic: in 1927, the Czech Parliament initiated a law against “wandering gypsies” that forced them to register themselves with fingerprints and henceforth forbade them to enter certain areas. A detailed description of the experiences of survivors, who survived the Holocaust thanks to the help of dedicated individuals follows. Nevertheless Lauder comes to a bleak conclusion: “Twenty thousand of the 23,000 European Roma who went through the Gypsy camp did not survive. Czech and Moravian Roma, after German and Austrian Roma, made up the second-largest group and on them the Nazi persecution fell with the most terrifying strength. “The majority of adults were killed along with entire families and clans, and with them their family traditions, customs, music, songs, and stories were lost,” notes Vlasta Kladivova in the book, The Last Stop: Auschwitz-Birkenau. “There was no one left to pass them on to.””

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

01.10.2014 Remembering instead of suppressing: addressing the Rroma Holocaust at German schools

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Mirwald (2014) reports on the work of Petra Rosenberg, chairman of the national association of German Sinti and Roma in Berlin-Brandenburg, as an expert on thematic days in German schools. Rosenberg continues the work of her father, Otto Rosenberg, which campaigned until his death for the equality of the Rroma and informed about the history of the minority: “the 62-year-old graduate teacher described the terrible experiences that her father documented in the book “The burning glass”. The young audience, who in the classroom is currently learning about the Third Reich, learned that Otto Rosenberg, who was one of the founding fathers of the civil rights movement of the Sinti and Roma in Germany, was able to write down his memories only in old age. Her father was a broken man, who was never able to work again. He woke up at night, cried and asked why he had survived as the only one of eleven siblings. “As a child I didn’t know anything. I only felt the grief, took his hand and cried with him”, Petra Rosenberg described scenes from her childhood. […] It was shocking to hear that doctors and scientists that had questioned and examined Otto Rosenberg in 1936 as race researchers in the camp Berlin-Malzahn, were able to practice after the war in Frankfurt am Main, and that the policeman who sent Otto Rosenberg to Auschwitz, later worked in Ludwigsburg as a detective in a high position.” Even after the war ended, discrimination against Rroma therefore continued, and it took the collective protest of many Holocaust survivors and their descendants, so that the injustices were finally officially recognized. Unfortunately, the prejudices about the minority continue until today, as the debate on the so-called “poverty immigrants” reveals.

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01.10.2014 Demagoguery against Rroma in the Internet

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Meier (2014) reports on open agitation against Rroma in a Facebook group from Duisburg. A user posted a wanted poster with a blurred photo, in which he claimed that two dark-haired, veiled women had tried to abduct a child. The offenders are Rroma, the initiator suggested. However, according to the police, theses accusations are unfounded: “The police sees the story, which reproduces the century-old stereotype of child-abducting “gypsies”, as invented. Nevertheless, the Facebook does not fail its purpose: “to Auschwitz”, “rape them”, “to the gas chamber”, these are comments under the “wanted poster”. It was shared about 6,000 within a few days, spread by other users. A stupid conflagration of hatred, having no consideration for the law, logic or spelling.” Meier sees the many affirmative responses to the inflammatory posting as a symptom of general, increasing xenophobia in Duisburg, that is not directly only towards, but in particular against Rroma. The inflammatory facebook group was in the meantime taken offline and an investigation for demagoguery was started. The accusations were not without impact, as the many supportive comments on the social network show, as well as similar expressions at town hall meetings. They stand in a tradition of negative stereotypes, which have been spread about the Rroma for centuries: already in the Middle-Ages, the minority was accused of abducting and trafficking children. It is thought provoking that these allegations still find so much response. In Germany, according to the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. The majority are well integrated, work, send their children to school and live in apartments.

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24.09.2014 Vom Odenwald: one-sided praise of Zoltan Balog’s Rroma policy

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In his article for the Budapester Zeitung, Herrolt vom Odenwald (2014) criticises the Austrian writer Erich Hackl’s questioning analysis of Zoltan Balog’s policy. In his article “How to plough the sea?” Hackl (2014) criticised that Zoltan Balog denied that Rroma from Hungary were deported from Hungary to Germany during the Holocaust. This misinterpretation of history is totally inappropriate, so Hackl, and was criticised by many other newspapers. The Hungarian Rroma press centre reacted immediately with the publication of reports by Holocaust survivors. Rroma were deported with the help of Hungarian authorities to Nazi Germany, this is beyond debate. However, the criticism of Balog’s statement only takes a marginal role in Hackl’s text. The predominant part of the article deals with the struggle of the Rroma writer Marika Schmiedtberger and the Rroma activists Rudolf Sarközi against the oblivion of past atrocities. However, vom Odenwald sees this differently: from his perspective, Hackl’s entire article is a systematic discrediting of Balog, in which all positive achievements of the politician are deliberately hidden. And yet, he himself does exactly what he accuses the Austrian author of doing; he interprets his text in an extremely one-sided way: “the (upper) Austrian writer Erich Hackl just got lost in Hungarian politics, and from much that he believed to have to comment on, he negated reality. This concerns first and foremost the situation of the largest ethnic minority in the country, namely the Gypsies. I prefer this terminology to the consistently used term “Roma and Sinti” by solicitously politically correct (PC) media. […] Hackl however applied total poetic freedom in his article “How to plough the sea?”, for the (more left positioned) weekend supplement “Spectrum” of the “bourgeois” Austrian daily newspaper “Die Presse”, and was not concerned with ethno-linguistic subtleties from comparative linguistics. He and his publishing medium were in fact primarily concerned with denouncing the alleged disgraceful, racist politics of Hungary towards the Gypsies, especially under its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. And, according to the popular saying “beat the sack, but mean the donkey”, do verbal bashing against Zoltán Balog, the minister largely responsible for integration and the Gypsies.” Odenwald’s statement that the term “Gypsy” is politically unproblematic is wrong. Rather, it would be correct to say that there is no consensus on the context in which the use of the term is appropriate. Many Rroma reject the concept because of its negative connotation. The criticism that Erich Hackl one-sidedly criticises Balog is also wrong. Balog has repeatedly attracted attention for his ill-considered and indiscriminate remarks about Rroma: for instance, in the Hungarian radio station Lánchídrádió he called the Rroma “unworthy poor”, because they actually were healthy and fit for work, but still burden the state as recipients of social benefits (Pusztaranger 2014). ­If one makes incautious remarks, one must be able to tolerate criticism. Odenwald then continues to enumerate extensively what Zoltan Balog has done for the Rroma: thanks to Balog’s effort, the “history and culture of the Roma” is now part of the national curriculum in the upper year education. Moreover, the minister for human resources champions a better economic integration of the minority. Nobody discredits these efforts. However, the extreme sensitivity of supporters of the incumbent Orban government to critique reveals that they want to suppress legitimate criticism themselves. Otherwise, they would not react as fiercely and emotionally to questioning or analysing comments. Pröhles Gergely (2014) response to Erich Hackl’s article also belongs to this category.

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19.09.2014 The forgotten victims of the Rroma-Holocaust

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

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13.08.2014 Gilles Bourdouleix sentenced because trivialization of the Holocaust

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Gilles Bourdouleix, wha was the mayor of Cholet in the department of Maine-et-Loire from 1995 to 2008, was sentenced to a fine of 3000 Euro for his statements trivialising the Holocaust against the Rroma. Therewith, the court of appeal of Angers confirmed the judgment of the criminal court, which had passed the sentence in January of this year, however this time not suspended. The judgment of the court reads: “With the public uttering in sufficiently audible voice to be perceived (…) his regret that the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the German authorities during the Second World War towards the travellers were not committed long enough, the defendant has in fact made ​​such a glorification” (Delève 2014). The prosecutor, who viewed the offense of glorification of crimes against humanity as proven, called for a prison sentence of 6 months on probation. During a confrontation with travellers that camped illegally on a field of his congregation, Bourdouleix announced: “Hitler may not have killed enough of them.” According to his own statement, the travellers had provoked him with the Hitler salute, which is likewise punishable. A journalist of the newspaper “Le Courrier de l’Ouest”, who was present at the incident, wrote an article about the events and published an audio recording of the statement on the newspaper’s website. Bourdouleix denied all allegations and threatened a lawsuit for defamation. The recording was a manipulated montage, he stated. Bourdouleix’ lawyer stated that they will appeal to the court of cassation. Bourdouleix was forced to resign from the UDI party in response to his Holocaust trivialisation. The maximum penalty for the glorification of the Holocaust is five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 Euros. Bourdouleix was additionally sentenced by the court to pay the organisations La Ligue des droits de l’homme (LDH), Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (Mrap), la Fondation pour la Memoire de la Deportation, la Licra und la Fondation nationale des déportés et internés, who had filed the suit against him, one symbolic euro of compensation. – In most of the cited articles, as well as in the verdict, travellers are used synonymously with Rroma. However, most Rroma are sedentary. There are also other ethnic groups which have a minority of travellers, such as the Yeniche, who have European roots (compare 20 minutes 2014, Le Cain 2014, Libération 2014).

  1. 20 minutes/AFP (2014) Son dérapage sur les Roms lui coûte 3000 euros. In: 20 minutes Suisse online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/faits_divers/story/29343403
  2. Delève, Elise (2014) Propos anti-Roms : Bourdouleix condamné en appel à 3.000 euros. In: France info online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/justice/article/propos-anti-roms-gilles-bourdouleix-condamne-en-appel-une-amende-de-3-000-euros-548821
  3. Le Cain, Blandine (2014) Propos anti-Roms : l’élu Gilles Bourdouleix condamné en appel. In: Le Figaro online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2014/08/12/01002-20140812ARTFIG00122-propos-anti-roms-l-elu-gilles-bourdouleix-attend-la-decision-en-appel.php
  4. Libération/AFP (2014) Gens du voyage : le maire de Cholet Gilles Bourdouleix condamné à 3 000 euros d’amende. In: Libération online vom 12.8.2014. http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2014/08/12/bourdouleix-condamne-a-3-000-euros-d-amende-en-appel_1079498?xtor=rss-450
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08.08.2014 Zoltán Balog denies deportation of Hungarian Rroma

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The Hungarian minister of human resources, Zoltán Balog, made headlines with a controversial statement about the deportation of Hungarian Rroma during National Socialism. On the occasion of the uprising in the Gypsy camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, on August the second, 1944, every year on this day a commemoration of the victims of genocide is held. Balog also recalled the events in an interview on state radio Kossuth, but also used the conversation to make some highly problematic statements: “It is important to know that no deportations of Gypsies from Hungary took place. These were done from Austria, that is, the Hungarian gypsies [sic] were taken away from there, and this is why Hungary is also really affected [from the Roma Holocaust]. The figures, however, vary greatly, some speak of 70,000, another of half a million, so it is important to have a solid documentation and research, where we can confront ourselves with these facts. […] I tell you honestly, that’s why I’m cautious on the issue of the Roma Holocaust, because this is a new discovery. The greatest tragedy of these people is that they have no history (…), and what that means, the Magyars know well, whom one wanted to rob their history, we are for a thousand years in one place, and then they find out (say researchers) that we are not or were not there” (Puszta Ranger 2014) Historical sources as well as eyewitness accounts of Holocaust survivors refute all these statements: there were direct deportations of Hungarian Rroma into the concentration camps. The Hungarian national socialist party Arrow Cross provably deported thousands of Rroma into the concentration camps of the Third Reich. As regards the aspect of history: it is true that the Rroma don’t have an own nation-state, but that does not mean that they do not have a good documented history that is thoroughly reviewed. A transnational ethnic minority can have a collective identity without the need to operate on the same rules as nationalism, as one might interpret Balog’s allusion. Balog’s statement that the Rroma should not rely too heavily on their identity as victims of the Holocaust, also caused great resentment. He stated: “I have witnessed the process through which the Gypsy intelligentsia has begun to say:  ‘pardon me, but we too have a Holocaust, and as such we too are part of this history.’ Yet I would still like to caution my Gypsy friends from concentrating too much on this element of their identity. Because even among the Jewry, many have come to the realisation that if the experience of the Holocaust and the knowledge that ‘we were victims’ are the only (or the most important) aspects of Jewish identity, then this creates internal confusion and schizophrenia. And this does not help these communities look towards the future” (Hungarian Free Press 2014). Although this statement may be well intentioned in terms of the social integration of the Rroma in Hungary, it also demonstrates great disrespect for the actual victims of genocide and their memory. From a minister of human resources more tactfulness in dealing with such an issue can be expected. Critics point out that Balog has made himself indictable by denying of the deportation of Rroma from Hungary, which violates article 333 of the criminal code that punishes the denial or trivialization of the Holocaust with up to three years imprisonment (compare Hirsch 2014, Hungarian Free Press 2014, The Budapest Beacon 2014 I/II).

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06.08.2014 KZ Lety: demand for an appropriate memorial instead of pig farm

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During the occupation by the Nazis, there was a concentration camp for Rroma in the South Bohemian town of Lety, which was operated by Czech collaborators. Some 1,300 people were interned there; hundreds of them were murdered. Despite this grim finding, today there still is no memorial at the site of the former labour camp. Instead, there is a pig farm built under communist rule. This irreverent handling of a memorial site was protested against for years. Culture Minister Daniel Herman reaffirmed in a broadcast by the Czech radio the plans to establish a permanent memorial: “I am very pleased that the Prime Minister has asked me and Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier this spring during the commemorations in Lety to find a solution for the pig farm, and if appropriate, to seek its transfer. The aim is to build a memorial at the site of this former concentration camp, since currently, the memorial is located on the former burial ground. […] Of course, we want that there is a solution during the mandate of our government, because we feel responsible that it has not yet happened. It is certainly a disgrace in the accounting of our past. I think it is necessary that one also confronts the painful moments. And it is necessary to remember that this camp was not under the auspices of German Nazis, but was led by their Czech collaborators. The guards were Czechs. And that’s actually our share of the Holocaust against the Roma. We have to face this issue.” The poor handling of the historical heritage of the Rroma Holocaust is emblematic of the insufficient respect for the minority in the present. Segregated schools, discrimination in the labour market and widespread prejudices continue to make the life of the Rroma anything but easy (compare Kraus 2014). – The chairman of the right-wing nationalist Úsvit party, Tomio Okamura, provoked a political outcry on Monday when he announced that no one had died in Lety. The concentration camp of Lety was a myth, he stated. Numerous politicians, including the Czech minister for human rights, Jiří Dienstbier, called for his resignation (Prager Zeitung 2014).

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06.08.2014 Memorial of the Rroma Holocaust

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Many international newspapers reportes about the mass murder of Rroma on the occasion of the 70th commemoration of the evacuation of the Gypsy camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. On August the second, 1944, the remaining 3000 inmates of the camp were killed. The inmates of the Gypsy camp actively resisted and barricaded themselves in the barracks. After the rebellion was put down, approximately 3000 of the 6000 Rroma were classified as capable of working and taken to other labour camps. The remaining 3000 – mostly children, women and old people – were gassed or shot. Previously, tens of thousands had already been deliberately starved to death or died of plagues and epidemics. The interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Reinhold Gall, pointed out in his speech that the Nazi atrocities would not have been possible without the opportune collaboration of the authorities and the police. It is therefore necessary to critically question this passive tolerance but also active support of fascism: “He pointed to the asylum decree of the ministry of the interior of Württemberg in November the 7th, 1938, which made it possible that children could be classified as “Gypsies” and interned into protectorates. “For too long, the authorities have not concerned themselves with their own history”, he said. Also Thomas Schnabel, director of the museum of contemporary history, pointed out the “fatal cooperation between police, interior ministries and the Gestapo.” For example, the police of Karlsruhe had gathered 150 Sinti and Roma in the courtyard of its bureau to bring them to the collection camp Hohenasperg, from where they were deported to Auschwitz” (Schmidt 2014). The chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Rroma, Romani Rose, emphasised in his speech at Auschwitz, under the presence of survivors and politicians, the worrying rise of right-wing nationalist and extreme right-wing parties and groups: “With great concern we see that right-wing extremist and violent parties and organisations in Europe are increasing and find an echo to their slogans into the mainstream of society” (Baltic Rundschau 2014). Roses indication of the missing lessons of history is of particular importance. Only through an insufficient remembrance of past atrocities against minorities such as the Roma can the renewed rise of racism against marginalized groups be explained. These tendencies are reinforced and fuelled by economic and social issues. At the commemoration, young Rroma from 25 European countries were present. The memory of the atrocities committed by the Nazis should not be forgotten and passed on to the younger generation. In his speech to the German Bundestag on January the 27th, 2011, Zoni Weisz called the genocide of the Rroma justifiably the “forgotten Holocaust”. Repression was rarely the right method to sort out a problem. West Germany only recognized the Rroma genocide in 1982,  at which time, many of the survivors had already died. The Holocaust of the Rroma is repeatedly falsely equated with the word Porrajmos, also in some of the articles cited here. The expression, which emanates from the verb porravav and means “to open widely”, is often used in the context of sexual activity and is therefore not appropriate to describe a genocide. Among the Rroma there is no recognized term to describe the Rroma Holocaust (compare ARD Tagesschau 2014, Deutsche Welle 2014, Gribben 2014, Gulyas 2014, Keating 2014, Kushen 2014, Libération 2014, MDR 2014, MiGAZIN 2014, Roth 2014, Die Welt 2014, Weisz 2014, Wetzel 2014).

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01.08.2014 Holocaust: “the saver in the long skirt”

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In an impressive article Hreczuk (2014) reports on the fate of the Romni Alfreda Markowska (Noncia) and of more than 50 men and women who owe her their lives. The reason for the article is the 70th day of remembrance of the evacuation of the Gypsy camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The systematic mass murder in the Gypsy camp cost nearly 20,000 people their lives. Markowska, whose entire family was murdered by the Nazis, worked with her husband for the Todt organisation who installed railway tracks in the occupied territories: “When somebody told Noncia about a group of Roma who was killed in a nearby forest, all her terrible memories came back. “When she heard that she went there immediately”, says Parno [one of the rescued]. In the remains of the camp in the woods, Noncia finds a child. It is her first. […] On that day, Noncia decides to rebuild her large family. Within a radius of 100 kilometres, she goes everywhere where the Nazis have murdered. She smuggles children out from the trains. She never gets discovered. “Nationality did not matter to Noncia”, says Parno. Some time later, when Noncia and her husband moved behind the front to the west, as far as Gorzow, they also took lost children from there. German children. […] Noncia is now almost 90 years old and too sick to receive unknown visitors. In 2006, she received the second highest civilian honour of Poland, the Polonia Restituta with a star. But she never received compensation for her persecution. Her little pension is barely enough for life and for pharmaceuticals.” This memorable article shows the importance of civil courage and action against the passive acceptance of prevailing circumstances.

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30.07.2014 Andrychow: pogroms against Rroma

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Zurawski (2014) reports on anti-Rroma pogroms in Andrychow, Poland. According to the journalists, last month, right-wing groups have begun with demonstrations propagandising “Cyganies out”  (Gypsies out). Andrychow is just a few kilometres from Auschwitz, where thousands of Rroma were systematically murdered during the Second World War. Roman Kwiatkowski, president of the Polish Rroma Association, called the latest incidents very disturbing. Many Rroma are worried and afraid: “In Andrychow last month, a pregnant Roma woman was attacked as she walked in the street. Soon after, two young ethnic Poles were beaten up in what many residents assumed was a Roma revenge attack. Anger erupted. Supporters of the local football club, Beskid Andrychow, set up a page on Facebook. It published accounts of what it said were violent attacks by Roma, and photographs of ethnic Poles it said had been beaten up. The page has now been “liked” by 14,182 people. One post read: “We’re not going to sit quietly and pretend that everything is OK. We are shouting long and loud: enough of Gypsy impunity!”” Critics see the new right-wing movement in Poland as influenced by the Hungarian Jobbik party. This has made racist comments against Rroma socially acceptable among more and more people. It is very alarming that racist slogans against the minority still find such strong echo. The defamation of a minority does not start when it is physically excluded and ostracized, but already when it is agitated against by demagoguery. This intellectual arson must be stopped. Policy makers from Poland are called upon to stop the spread of anti-Semitic thought (compare Zurawski/Lowe/Goettig 2014).

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16.07.2014 “Memories of Holocaust victims are lost with the graves”

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Stoll (2014) and the SWR (2014) report on the expiry of the concessions of graves of Holocaust survivors. The graves of Rroma who survived the Nazi genocide are more than just resting places to the members of the minority. They are also memorials to the victims of National Socialism and thus have an historical value. Approximately 3,500 tombs are affected. Romani Rose calls for conversion of the tombs of Holocaust survivors to honour-graves with eternal resting right. It is significant that the Jewish cemeteries were granted this status a long time ago, whereas the Rroma have been denied this expression of respect until now: “The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, has urged the federal and state governments on Monday to do more for the tombs of Sinti and Roma. The graves are also places of memory to the victims of the Holocaust, he said in Heidelberg. […] “If the graves are eliminated, then the families also lose the memory to a part of their biography and to the people who have fallen victim to an unique racist crime”, says Romani Rose […]. He goes even further: he states that the sites are also “learning sites” for the population: through them, one conceive what was once possible in Germany and what appears inconceivable today” (SWR 2014). The Rroma Holocaust was only recognized in 1982 by the chancellor Helmut Schmidt. This only happened after massive protests by Rroma in Germany, who did not want to tolerate the continuing discrimination against them in the post-war period any longer. Rose emphasizes that the survivors’ graves are also places of remembrance for the rest of the family members who did not return from the concentration camps. He appeals to the policymakers that one finally recognises the graves as eternal resting places.

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11.07.2014 Far-right groups in Poland

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Zurawski (2014) reports about Polish far-right groups who blame the Rroma-minority for criminal activities. In this dynamics, Rroma are used as scapegoats. Beside actual physical violence against Rroma, shouts such as „Cyganies raus“ (Gypsies or Rroma out) are exceedingly common. Rroma in Poland are increasingly afraid of these developments. Human rights campaigners think that there is a direct link between these groups and the Hungarian extremist Jobbik party. This direct link is denied by a Jobbik activist. Jobbik Politicians were only present to offer to help. The right wing politician Robert Winniki, who said at a rally all Rroma should be driven out, sees in the Jobbik and it’s success as an inspiration for his views.   

Zurawski, Wojciech (2014) Polish far-right groups stir up anti-Roma hatred in the shadow of Auschwitz. In: The Independent the 9.7.2014. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/polish-farright-groups-stir-up-antiroma-hatred-in-the-shadow-of-auschwitz-9595882.html  

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