80 years ago, 3,000 Roma were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz

 

80 years ago, on the night of August 2 to 3, 1944, 3,000 Roma – mainly women and children – were murdered by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. On the occasion of the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday, the Council of Europe recalls that Roma communities are still confronted with anti-Gypsyism across Europe. The institution is calling for this genocide to be integrated into school curricula on the Old Continent. 

  

The genocide of the Roma population, also known as “Porajmos” (“devoured” in Romani), was organized by the Nazi regime, which ordered the deportation of Gypsies to Auschwitz-Birkenau as early as February 1943. Until July 1944, Gypsies from all over Europe were taken to the death camp.

  

Prisoners were tattooed with a number starting with the letter “Z” for “Zigeuner” (“Gypsy”) and given a brown triangle. Detention conditions were particularly harsh, costing the lives of many prisoners who succumbed to disease, cold and lack of food. Gypsy women and children were also forcibly sterilized and subjected to medical experiments. 

  

Several events commemorate the 80th anniversary of the genocide on Friday. A ceremony is being organized in Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Polish Roma Association. A tribute will also be held in Strasbourg, the headquarters of the Council of Europe.

  

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, has highlighted the “upsurge in cases of anti-gypsyism, hatred, discrimination and harassment perpetrated against members of the Roma, Sinti and Traveller communities”.

  

In all, the Nazi genocide of the Roma claimed the lives of around 500,000 people, representing at least a quarter of their population at the time.