5 . From left to right they are : Richard Baer ( Commandant of Auschwitz ), Dr . Josef Mengele ( head physician at the Auschwitz Zigeunerlager ) and Rudolf Hoess ( the former Auschwitz Commandant ). The grounds of the SS retreat outside of Auschwitz , at “ Solahütte ”, 1944 . | US Holocaust Museum
easy , led to the First International Romani Congress ( London , 1971 ), which explicitly took up the cause of Holocaust recognition , and was later formalised as the International Romani Union ( 1977 ). This is where the first comprehensive study on the Romani genocide originated , by Grattan Puxon and Donald Kenrick , published by the University of Sussex (“ The Destiny of Europe ’ s Gypsies ”, 1972 ).
It is logical , however , that it was in Germany , where the largest number of survivors lived , that the cause gained particular political momentum . The social climate began to change from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s , with a strong public debate about the significance of Nazism in the country ’ s history ( the so-called Historians ’ Dispute or Historikerstreit ), which provided a favourable framework for a broad critical reassessment of the past . In this context , German Romani activists took a significant step forward in publicly defending their cause through demonstrations and other public actions laden with symbolic significance . A key moment was the success of the 1979 commemoration ceremony at the former Bergen-Belsen camp , which gathered around 2,500 people : German and international Romani representatives , genocide survivors and their descendants , Jewish representatives , and German and European parliamentarians . Shortly after , in 1980 , a group of activists staged a hunger strike at the former Dachau camp to demand recognition of Romani Holocaust victims and to protest against the police ’ s continued use of Nazi criminal records . The campaign gained the support of the Social Democratic Party , and as a result , in 1982 , the
Deep VIEW
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