On 2 August 1944, 81 years ago, the Auschwitz-Birkenau ‘gypsy camp’ (Zigeunerlager) was cleared: overnight, over 4,000 people – mostly women and children – were exterminated in the gas chambers. To commemorate this tragedy, the Roma Genocide Remembrance Day has been celebrated for several years, a day in memory of the genocide of the Roma and Sinti during the Second World War. In the Romani language, this extermination is called Porrajmos (devouring) or Samudaripé (extermination) and caused the death of about half a million people belonging to this population.
Piero Terracina, a survivor of Auschwitz and direct witness to the liquidation of the Zigeunerlager, recalled that night:
"I was locked up, it was night and there was a curfew, but I could hear everything. In the middle of the night, we heard shouting in German and dogs barking. Order was given to open the barracks of the gypsy camp: there were screams, cries and a few gunshots. Suddenly, after more than two hours, all was silent. Shortly afterwards, we saw the glow of the crematorium's towering flames from our windows. The next morning, our first thought was turn our gaze towards the Zigeunerlager: it was completely empty. Nothing but silence and the windows of the barracks banging."
This is what Ceija Stojka, an Austrian Roma deported to Auschwitz when she was just eight years old, wrote:
"When I was born in Austria, my family numbered more than 200 people. Only six of us survived the war and the extermination. I was a child, and I had to watch other children, elderly people, women and men die. I lived among the dead and the dying in the camps. And I asked myself: why? 'What have we done wrong? I can still hear the SS shouting, I can see the blonde women, the Aufseherinnen (guardians) with their big dogs trampling on us. I can smell the burning bodies. How can I live with these memories? How can I forget what we went through? We cannot forget! And Europe must not forget!"
The memory of the Porrajmos is an occasion to reflect on the evil generated by racist ideologies, which fuelled discrimination and annihilation in concentration and extermination camps. It is the story of centuries of persecution against Europe's largest minority. It is still an open wound on the continent, which raises questions about how many violent words and actions are still directed towards the Roma people today, and how far we are from achieving real integration in education, healthcare and housing for a community made up largely of children and young people.
The Community of Sant'Egidio – which has stood by the Roma and Sinti for many years – stands with this minority and invites everyone to remember its history, marked by contempt and persecution, so that no one is left on the margins of memory and society.
