Roma Genocide Remebrance Day, or Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, is an annual event held on the 2nd August to commemorate the Roman people who were murdered by the Nazis and their allies during World War Two.
When thinking of the Holocaust, many of us automatically think of it's victims as Jews. There is in fact some controversy surrounding the term Holocaust, with some historians believing it should refer specifically to the calculated mass murder of European Jews, and others believing it should be an umbrella term for all mass murder committed by the Nazis during this time. Whether you believe the term should encompass other victims or not, it is important that you recognise that there were other victims. Like Jews, Roma and Sinti people were targeted by the Nazis for total eradication.
More than 200,000 Roma and Sinti were murdered or died as a result of disease, starvation and dehydration - this is around 25% of the Roma and Sinti population.
Upon arrival at the concentration camp, one transport of 1,7000 Polish, Sinti and Roma gypsies were killed in the gas chambers.
Transportations that were not sent straight to the gas chambers were used for construction work. Thousands died of typhus and noma due to overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, and malnutrition.
The 2nd August is a particularly poignant date for remembrance because on this night in 1944, the 'Gyspy Family Camp' at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liquidated. After doing some research I have found that 2,897 men, women and children of Roma or Sinti descent were murdered in the gas chambers by the Nazis on that night.
After the liberation of Auschwitz, just four Roma remained alive.
I urge you please to share this post and spread the word, to educate others and allow us to mark this occasion with the respect and remembrance that these people deserve. History only repeats itself if we do not learn from the lessons it has taught us, now is as important a time as ever (I would argue the most important time) for us to look back at our mistakes and vow never to make them again.