Published on August 2, 2024
We are commemorating the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti. Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček participated in the commemoration ceremony in Auschwitz
On 2 August, we commemorate the last 4,300 Roma and Sinti in the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, who were murdered by the SS on that night in 1944 despite their fierce resistance. In memory of all 500,000 Roma and Sinti murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe, the European Parliament declared this date the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti in 2015. On August 2, 2024, we will commemorate the 80th anniversary with the last survivors of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti.
The Ombudsman laid wreaths on behalf of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs together with Kateřina Jacques and Lucie Fuková - Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs
The significant anniversary will grant to the genocide of Roma and Sinti the much-needed visibility and recognition at the European level. Historical memory always implies lived responsibility for the present. Today, 80 years after the end of the war, when we recall the Nazi crimes and the Holocaust, we must simultaneously work for the rule of law and a vivid democracy in the present day. The world's states are called upon to live up to the legacy of Auschwitz and to take decisive action against these developments.
The commemoration ceremony wasorganized by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Association of Roma in Poland in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
