Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

The Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (known with various slightly different names) on August 2 commemorates the victims of the Romani genocide (Porajmos) which was committed against the Romani people by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II.

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day
Monument to the Memory of the Holocaust of the Romani in Borzęcin
Observed byCouncil of Europe, European Parliament, Croatia, Czechia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine
SignificanceCommemoration of the victims of the Romani genocide
Date2 August
Next time2 August 2021 (2021-08-02)
FrequencyAnnual

The date was chosen because on the night of 2 to 3 August 1944 2,897 Roma, mostly women, children and elderly people, were killed in the Gypsy family camp (Zigeunerfamilienlager) at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The total number of victims who were killed in the genocide is estimated to number between 220,000 and 500,000. Some countries have chosen to commemorate the genocide on different dates.

Establishment and commemoration

In 2004 the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) adopted a resolution on the commemoration of the International Remembrance Day of the Holocaust of the Roma.[1]

In 2009 the Serbian Roma National Congress (Romski Nacionalni Savet) and the International Romani Union proposed the introduction of the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust against the Roma/Porajmos.[2]

In 2011 Poland established, by parliamentary resolution, the Genocide Remembrance Day of the Roma and Sinti (Dzień Pamięci o Zagładzie Romów i Sinti). Croatia, Czechia, Lithuania, and Slovakia also observe 2 August as Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day.[3][4]

The European Parliament on 15 April 2015 declared "that a European day should be dedicated to commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Roma during World War II and that this day should be called the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day".[5]

The Council of Europe also holds commemoration ceremonies.[6]

Other dates

Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden commemorate the Roma and Sinti genocide on 27 January, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Czechia has four dates: 2 August, 7 March, 13 May and 21 August. Latvia has three dates: 27 January, 8 April and 8 May.[4][7]

In Serbia it is commemorated on 16 December, "in memory of that date in 1942, when Himmler ordered the systematic deportation of Roma to concentration camps and their extermination".[2]

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References
  1. Kotljarchuk, Andrej (May 28, 2015). "The Nazi Massacre of Roma in Babi Yar in Soviet and Ukrainian Historical Culture". balticworlds.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  2. Pisarri, Milovan (2014). The Suffering of the Roma in Serbia during the Holocaust (PDF). Belgrade: Forum for Applied History. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. "OSCE/ODIHR". Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. "Roma and Sinti Holocaust" (PDF). Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  5. "International Roma Day – anti-Gypsyism in Europe and EU recognition of the memorial day of the Roma genocide during WW II". European Parliament. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  6. "2 August European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day". 8 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  7. "Teaching about and Commemorating the Roma and Sinti Genocide: Practices within the OSCE Area" (PDF). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
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