Zilli Schmidt - rroma.org

Zilli Schmidt, one of the last survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, received the Federal Cross of Merit in Mannheim on Friday evening. Mayor Peter Kurz (SPD) paid tribute to the 97-year-old for her political commitment as a member of German Sinti and Roma. Zilli Schmidt was persecuted by the National Socialists as a “Gypsy”. Her parents, her two sisters and her daughter Gretel were murdered in Auschwitz. After the Second World War, Zilli Schmidt built a new life in Mannheim. Under the title “God has planned something for me!” she published her biography two years ago.