Remembrance – Page 2 – ERGO Network

2 August – Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

“75 years since liberation and a lesson unlearnt! Antigypsyism is still alive and present in our society.”

On 2 August 1944, over 4,300 Sinti and Roma were murdered in the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were taken during the night from their barracks to the gas chamber by SS guards, who only months earlier had been driven back by the fierce resistance of the Romani prisoners fighting with nothing but picks and shovels. Every year on this tragic day, Sinti and Roma around the world come together to commemorate the more than 500,000 Romani people who were murdered in camps, fields, and unmarked trenches all across Europe during WWII.

Although Roma have been part of Europe for centuries, our narratives and contributions to European societies remain largely ignored and on the margins of what European history should be representing, namely united through diversity.

75 years have passed since the end of World War II, but children are still not learning about the Sinti and Roma Holocaust in school. Historical facts about the persecution of Romani people throughout centuries remain unknown and ignored by governments, the media and society at large. The historical responsibility for seeking the truth and reconcile, to recognize what has been done to the Sinti and Roma is only very slowly being taken up by governments.

The lessons of World War II are unlearnt when it comes to the Roma. We are still facing antigypsyism, discrimination, hate speech and exclusion. Prejudices and stereotypes related to our ethnicity remain the primary obstacle in our efforts for an equal start and treatment and in the exercise of our fundamental rights and obligations.

Europe is facing a real challenge to respond to the rise of antigypsyism, which is accelerating in the current crisis. Roma in Europe are more likely to live in poverty than the majority population, have a higher risk of unemployment and have poorer health. They are exposed to racism (with, in some countries, one third to half the population not wanting to work with Roma colleagues), and are more often victims of police brutality. Locked in ghettos supposedly due to Covid-19 safety measures, we became even more targets of populism and hatred, largely ignored by policymakers in Europe.

Today, with the rise of racism and far-right movements across Europe and the world, raising awareness of the Roma Holocaust is urgently necessary. We need recognition, remembrance and commemoration of the Sinti and Roma Holocaust in order to learn for the future by remembering the past, and we need to act in the presence to prevent the past from ever happening again in the future. Ignorance and denial of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti, as of any other event in the history of a nation, prevents opportunities to learn about each other, from each other; and to set out together on a path of mutual trust, respect and understanding.

This is our world; we must avoid that it is becoming a community of fear and hatred, instead we should strive to be a proud and equal society of mutual respect of all!

On the occasion of the commemoration of the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, we as ERGO Network join the efforts of the European Roma Holocaust Remembrance Coalition and call on governments and the international community to:

Formally recognize the 2nd August as the official Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma;
Build, honor and preserve monuments and memorial sites dedicated to the Sinti and Roma victims of the Holocaust;
Invest into museums, research centers and other institutions dedicated to Roma Holocaust, Roma History and Roma Culture;
Make Roma history and culture part of educational curricula and textbook;
Acknowledge antigypsyism as a specific form of racism targeting Roma communities and adapt diverse preventive and reactive tools to fight it.

Press release: Meeting with EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli

ERGO Network meets European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli to commemorate the Holocaust Remembrance Day and discuss the future of Roma inclusion post 2020

Brussels, 30 January 2020

On 28 January 2020, a delegation of European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network members from EU member states and enlargement countries met with the new European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli to commemorate the Holocaust Remembrance Day, as well as to discuss about the challenges faced by Roma civil society organisations in fighting antigypsyism and advocating for Roma rights and inclusion, and a meaningful and participatory post-2020 Roma Strategy.

“Roma people have been living in Europe for more than 700 years and have massively contributed to the richness of the European heritage. Yet, for centuries, European societies have turned a blind eye to racism and widespread discrimination of Roma people. We have to change that”, Commissioner Dalli committed to the ERGO Network members during this first meeting with Roma civil society representatives of her mandate.

In light of commemorating 27 January 1945, when the Red Army liberated the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, and in the context of rising right-wing extremism, fighting antigypsyism today in Europe is not an easy task. “We need the European Commission to provide a strong and robust post-2020 Roma equality and inclusion strategy that goes beyond the EU, with antigypsyism at its core. It should include minimum standards, be backed by strong Roma and civil society engagement and by funding prioritising Roma rights and wellbeing, to ensure a true and meaningful change of paradigm“, ERGO Network Director Jamen Gabriela Hrabaňová said.

ERGO Network members and Commissioner Dalli discussed future approaches to Roma rights and inclusion, structured around four key dimensions:

combating antigypsyism as horizontal and stand-alone priority, in all its forms and manifestations, including through strong legislative measures;
a comprehensive, binding, EU Strategy for Roma inclusion that includes enlargement countries on equal footing, with concrete minimum standards and ambitious targets, as well as common monitoring at the EU level;
capacity-building, support and channels for Roma civil society to keep their watchdog role, and to meaningfully engage in the design, implementation, and monitoring of public policies that affect them;
prioritising Roma inclusion in the next MFF programming period, ensuring that Roma communities are involved in the delivery of European funds at the national and local level.

The Poznan Declaration of Western Balkans Partners on Roma Integration within the EU Enlargement Process , which was signed on highest level by the Prime Ministers of the Enlargement countries, can inspire EU Member States in this regard.

For more information, please contact Jamen Gabriela Hrabaňová, ERGO Network Director, at g.hrabanova@ergonetwork.org.

‘Dikh he na bister’ presentation at Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre

‘Dikh he na bister’ presentation at Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre

On the 5th of September, over 30 invited guests gathered at Pavee Point to hear the experiences of 10 young Irish Travellers and Roma who participated in the Roma Genocide Remembrance Initiative.

This is the first time an Irish delegation had attended the Roma Genocide Remembrance Initiative, which involved a visit to Auschwitz and meeting Holocaust survivors. The trip also gave the participants the opportunity to meet other young Travellers and Roma, and work together in sessions on history, racism, and remembrance.

The participants described their visit to Auschwitz as difficult, and emotional. Bianca Paun, a participant from Kildare said: “When you’re walking there, where people took their last steps and try to feel what they feel – it’s very hard”.

During their time in Poland the participants also heard from two Roma survivors, including Raymond Gureme, who hadn’t spoken about his experience in Auschwitz for 70 years. On August 2nd, the Irish group attended a special Roma Genocide memorial, lighting candles and presenting roses to remember the victims.

The presentation in Pavee Point also involved a question and answer session, and audience members were eager to share their thoughts on the topic, and to ask participants about Auschwitz. Jason Sherlock, a participant from Galway, said that he found the rooms of shoes and glasses at the Auschwitz museum to be the most powerful exhibits. By sharing photos and stories, the group succeeded in raising awareness of the Roma Genocide in Ireland, and inspired the audience to stand up for the human rights of minority groups.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

ERGO NETWORK

Seventy-three years ago, on 27 January 1945, the Red Army liberated the last survivors from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

On this day we honor the victims of Nazism, including Holocaust victims from the Jewish community, from the Roma and Sinti communities, from the communities of sexual minorities, and from all other groups who were targeted for special persecution by the Nazis and their collaborators.

Romani and Sinti people were targeted by the Nazis for genocide because of their ethnicity and were almost completely annihilated in some parts of Europe. This part of the history of the Holocaust and the Second World War is often forgotten.

We Roma and Sinti who have inherited the legacy of this history shall never forget it!!! Na bistren!!

It is high time, as we progress toward the middle of the 21^st century, that all of Europe fully recognise the horrors of its past, namely, the more than six million European Jews and the hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti specifically targeted for genocide, with few survivors.

European societies today need to hear the stories of the heroes, including Romani heroes, who resisted the Nazis. We need to listen to Holocaust survivors tell the stories of all those who did not survive. We must listen not just to honor the past, but most importantly to resist the dehumanisation that poses a serious threat to the democratic order in many European countries, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.

Europe is in danger today of failing its moral obligation to uphold the dignity of all human beings and to prevent a recurrence of the Nazi era, which began by exploiting the loopholes that exist in any system based on competition for the democratic vote. We must mobilize resistance and prevent neo-fascist and neo-Nazi political parties from accessing power in legislatures throughout the EU-28.

There should be no place for neo-fascists or neo-Nazis in European society, but today they are openly marching in the streets, organizing anti-Romani incitement, and openly brandishing their hatred of all who do not conform to their narrow vision of who counts as European. Europe needs a wake-up call about the danger posed by these anti-democratic forces.

All EU Member States must hold appropriate commemorations regarding the Holocaust, including events where the Romani victims are honored. All EU Member States must also properly monitor and prosecute present-day hate crime and hate speech and must report about such crimes targeting Romani people (or those perceived as Roma) to the citizens they serve.

The Roma and Sinti face a specific form of racism in European society, that of antigypsyism, which gives rise to a broad spectrum of discriminatory expressions and practices, including ones that are more covert than overt. Antigypsyism is not only about what is being said about Roma and to Roma, it is also about what is or is not being done to combat their dehumanisation.

All Europeans have a responsibility to recognize the full impact of the centuries-long problem of antigypsyism, as it is an integral part of why institutions continue to neglect their responsibility to specifically combat the dehumnisation of the European Roma by their non-Roma fellow citizens. By fighting antigypsyism, including within institutions, together we can secure a better place for Roma in Europe.

All Europeans have a duty to educate our peers and future generations to make sure that no specific groups are ever targeted for harm, whether by individuals or by powerful institutions. We also have a responsibility to all children in Europe to allow their dreams of a better future, predicated on a Europe that is just, peaceful and secure, to come true and to help them fulfil their dreams and their potential.