The
European Roma Rights Centre, as you may be aware,
has been sharing reflections via social
meida on the Roma Genocide all this
week as part of our Roma Genocide Remembrance
Week. We are commemorating the 2, 897
men, women and children murdered when the
Zigeunerlager was liquidated at
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp on 2nd
August, 1944.
This day has come to
represent a day of mourning also for the over
half a million Roma who perished at the hands of
the Nazis in the Second World War.
We have
included in this email all the video and
written reflections from our
staff on the commemoration of the Roma
Genocide which we published over the course of the
week.
We
hope you find these meaningful and you are of
course very welcome to share
them amongst your friends and
colleagues.
ERRC President Ðorđe
Jovanović shares his family’s experience
of the Pharrajimos, and how the litigation and
advocacy work of the ERRC is as important now as
it ever has been in ensuring the lessons of World
War Two are not forgotten.
ERRC
Managing Director Adam Weiss shares his
experience of being taught of the holocaust
growing up in a Jewish family, and his early
perception of Roma as victims of genocide by the
Nazis.
Adam’s
message that the lessons of the Second World War
must be adhered to in the fulfillment of Roma
rights, is as important now as ever before. The
taking of so many lives must not be in vain, and
the ERRC will continue to strive for an end to
Roma discrimination and the full equality of
Romani people in Europe.
ERRC
Board Chair Ethel Brooks speaks
about the lessons learned from the Second World
War and how we must ensure the worst chapter of
modern European history is not forgotten in the
face of rising anti-Gypsyism.
Advocacy
Officer Atanas Zahariev reflects on the meaning of
the words of the Romani anthem in modern Europe
today, and its importance in uniting Romani people
everywhere on Roma Genocide Remembrance Day.
Board
member William Bila thinks about the often
sidelined issue of LGBTIQ Roma who perished at the
hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. It is
important to ask ourselves and society the
questions William poses so that no one’s terrible
experience of genocide is forgotten.
Advocacy
Officer Bernard Rorke discusses the Romani
Genocide in the Czech Republic today, and the
atrocities committed at Lety concentration camp
during the Second World War.
Advocacy
Officer Bernard Rorke remembers the Hungarian role
in the Pharraijmos, the violent murders of Roma by
Neo-Nazis in 2009, and the state of Roma Holocaust
denial past and
present.
We
think it is fitting to end our week of
commemoration with the words of Auschwitz survivor
Primo Levi who 60 years ago, almost to the day,
warned:
“If
we fail to bear witness, in a not too distant
future we could well see the deeds of Nazi
bestiality relegated by their very enormity to the
status of legend. It is vital therefore to speak
out.”
Nais
tuke,
The
ERRC Communications
Team
