Roma Holocaust Memorial Day was marked in Budapest on Sunday, 76 years to the day after more than 3,000 Roma and Sinti were killed by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
János Agócs, the chairman of the National Roma Self-Government, said the victims had been simple Roma people: mothers, fathers and children. Their perseverance is demonstrated by the fact that among the victims of the Holocaust, alone the Roma could not be separated from their families by the murderers, he said.
“The victims of this murderous ideology are remembered today with heavy hearts,” Agócs said, adding that sympathy is also felt for those that experience any form of discrimination on a daily basis.
Deputy state secretary in charge of fostering ties with civil groups and society Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky said the government acknowledges its task to increase awareness of the Roma Holocaust, while bridging the divides between different groups in society. He added that it is the state’s duty to ensure that a tragedy such as the one that occurred 76 years earlier is never repeated.
Photo credit: hirado.hu