02/08/2024
FSG
2 August marks the European Roma Holocaust Memorial DayIn 2015 the European Parliament declared 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, in remembrance of the night of 2-3 August 1944 when SS corps guards at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp took more than 4 300 Roma children, women and men from their barracks to end their lives in the gas chambers. More than 500 000 Roma were killed in concentration camps during Nazi Germany, at the time, a quarter of the total Roma population.
In recent years, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and other institutions have commemorated these terrible events on 2 August through statements and institutional events.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Vice-President Vera Jourová and Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli have called for "not forgetting" the history of the Roma people and honouring their legacy: “More than 500 000 Roma people were systematically murdered in camps, fields, and unmarked trenches during the Holocaust. Their lives were extinguished, their culture suppressed, and their stories silenced. It is our duty to make sure their story is not forgotten and to honour their legacy by fighting for justice and equality for all racialised minority groups.
We remember and we recommit to a world where human dignity is upheld, where diversity is celebrated and where hatred has no place.”
Meanwhile, on the eve of the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, the 80th anniversary of the Roma Holocaust on 2 August, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has issued the following statement: “Eighty years have passed since the Roma Holocaust. Survivors and witnesses of these atrocities will soon fade into memory. It is more important than ever to remain committed to everlasting remembrance. We pledge to stand against injustice and to build a world rooted in respect, understanding, and equality. May the legacy of the Roma victims of the Holocaust inspire us to create a better, more inclusive future.”
In Spain, on Tuesday 23 July, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda celebrated the commemoration of the Samudaripen and the Great Round-Up at the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda. The event was presided over by the head of the Ministry, Pablo Bustinduy, with a speech in which he called for memory, dignity and justice for the Roma people and in which he asked everyone to work together to build a future in which "discrimination and violence against the Roma population will never again be accepted". Representatives of the Spanish Roma associative movement also took part at the event.
The Great Round-Up was one of the most shameful episodes in the history of Spain It took place in the 18th century and entailed the groundless detention of around 10 000 Roma people. The Marquess of Ensenada executed a plan, authorised by King Ferdinand VI, with painstaking instructions to detain and persecute all Roma men and women simultaneously in different cities. The families were separated, men were sent to forced labour camps in the naval arsenals to rearm the Spanish naval fleet, and women and children were sent to prisons and factories.
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