On Wednesday 31 July, ahead of the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, recalled the extermination of more than 3,000 Roma men, women and children on the night of 2 to 3 August 1944 in the gas chambers of the Zigeunerlager at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The total number of Roma persecuted and executed by the Nazi regime is estimated at around 500,000, she said, reaffirming the Council of Europe’s “determination” “to combat prejudice and discrimination in all its forms”.
Committed to Roma inclusion for many years, the Council of Europe has worked to include both the Roma Holocaust and their history in general in the school textbook curricula of its 46 member states, says Marija Pejčinović Burić, who points out that this is one of the “key objectives” of the “Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan for Roma and Traveller inclusion (2020-2025)”.
At the same time, a joint Council of Europe/European Union programme was launched last spring for a two-year period.
Entitled ‘Roma Holocaust Remembrance and Education (Roma Memory)’ it “aims to raise public awareness throughout Europe of the issue of Roma Holocaust remembrance and education”.
This objective is supported by the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion, which provides Member States with a range of educational tools designed to raise awareness of the history of the Roma and Travellers.
Eighty years after the Roma Holocaust, “it is more important than ever to remain committed to everlasting remembrance”, concludes Marija Pejčinović Burić, calling for “a world rooted in respect, understanding, and equality”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)