Czech Culture Minister's statement on Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

The anniversary of Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the unprecedented event of the murder of all prisoners of the so-called “Gypsy camp” at Auschwitz- Birkenau on the night of 2 August and early morning of 3 August 1944, was marked this year by Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman through a video message. “We are remembering the victims of the murder of the Romani family camp at Auschwitz,” he said, adding that this year he would not be able to attend commemorative events in the Czech Republic due to work obligations outside the country.

“At the chapel in the Nostitz Palace I have made an offering of flowers to the victims of this suffering and ethnic genocide,” the minister said, referring to the headquarters of the Culture Ministry. Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is annually commemorated by people in many countries.

The extermination policy of Nazi Germany led to the deaths of at least half a million Roma and Sinti from all over Europe, according to conservtive estimates. Some estimates state there were as many as 800 000 Romani victims, equivalent to anywhere between one-fourth and one-half of the prewar Roma population of Europe.