Auschwitz memorial for Roma genocide

Officials and survivors are expected to gather for an event on Tuesday to mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day at the site of the former Nazi German Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland.

A previous event to mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day at the site of the former Nazi German Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland.

Photo: PAP/Art Service 2

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is held every year at Auschwitz on August 2, the anniversary of the killing of more than 4,000 Roma and Sinti prisoners, including women and children, in the camp’s gas chambers in 1944.

📅Today marks the 78th anniversary of the extermination of the last remaining Roma in the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. #OTD we commemorate thousands of Roma victims who were murdered by the Germans during the #WWII. pic.twitter.com/89pt6pICUA

— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) August 2, 2022

The event usually brings together former Auschwitz prisoners from various countries as well as Polish and foreign government officials and diplomats.

The Roma people were considered enemies of the Third Reich, condemned to be isolated and ultimately murdered. Some 23,000 Roma & Sinti were incarcerated in Auschwitz. 91 percent of them perished.
Listen to our #podcast about Roma and Sinti in #Auschwitz.https://t.co/uURtCUYjt7

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) August 2, 2022

Only 2,000 of the some 23,000 Roma and Sinti from 14 countries who were imprisoned at Auschwitz survived the ordeal, according to some estimates.

2/3 August 1944 | The Germans liquidated the so-called Gypsy camp (Zigeunerlager - sector BIIe) of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Some 4,200-4,300 children, women and men - the last Roma prisoners of the sector - were murdered in gas chambers. https://t.co/4oNbsPuWdU pic.twitter.com/HayVwSdBcf

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) August 2, 2022

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Source: IAR, PAP