the world. It’s half a million broken dreams and plans, half a million human stories, none of which have been told to the end. Today we are trying to make them remain in our memory at least,” he said.
“The years of extermination have taught us, however, that there cannot be a morality that grants rights only to the elect, that limits them on the basis of race, language, nationality, denomination or orientation. Therefore, we emphasize every year as citizens of our countries, as citizens of a united Europe: the Roma must enjoy a position that is equal to others before the law. This is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right of every human being,” appealed Roman Kwiatkowski.
The Nazis regarded the Roma as a “hostile element”, “by inheritance” conditioned by a propensity to commit crimes and anti-social behaviour. From 1933, alongside Jews, they became the target of racist persecution: first by registration, depriving them of the right to practice certain professions, prohibiting mixed marriages, then forced labour, and finally imprisonment in concentration camps.
After the outbreak of World War II, a decision was made to relocate German Roma to occupied Poland. The German police authorities began to arrest and execute Roma in the occupied territories, including those at the rear of the eastern front, where they were massively murdered together with Jews by the so-called Einsatzkommando.
On the order of Heinrich Himmler to send them to Auschwitz, from 1943 the Sinti and Roma, mainly from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, were deported there. In total, the Germans deported about 23,000 Roma to Auschwitz, of which 2,000 were murdered without being entered into the camp records. 21,000 people were registered in the camp, of which about 19,000 died - they died of starvation and diseases, and were murdered in gas chambers at the time of the liquidation of the “Gypsy camp”.
In block 13, at Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, there is an exhibition commemorating the extermination of the Roma and Sinti, which shows the extraordinary dimension of the Nazi genocide committed against the Roma in Nazi-occupied Europe. In the former Birkenau camp, in sector BIIe, there is a monument commemorating the victims of the Roma nationality.