European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in Prague, Czech Republic
The ARA ART organization and the Municipal Department of Prague 3 held a remembrance evening for the Holocaust and its Romani victims on Wednesday, 2 August. The event, which has already become a tradition, was held under the name "Leperiben – We Will Never Forget" and took place outdoors on Jiřího z Poděbrad Square.
The program included a staged narration of the stories of eyewitnesses to the Holocaust of the Roma, live music performances and a reading of the names of the Romani victims. “The Roma are our neighbors, our co-workers, our classmates. They frequently have to grapple with prejudices, unequal treatment in access to education or housing, without that fact having any greater resonance in society. We know very little about the culture and the history of Romani people, which is inspiring and rich. I believe the majority society and the Romani community coming closer together will gradually eliminate or at least ameliorate many misunderstandings. Events like Leperiben are able to aid with that,” Michal Vronský read on behalf of the mayor of Prague 3 to open the event, which was moderated by Jarmila Balážová together with Tomáš Bystrý.
The moderators recalled the recent anti-Romani remarks by some politicians and expressed appreciation for those who do not take a stab at increasing their job security through populism. The opening of the event featured a staged narration of the stories of Holocaust survivors of Romani origin, performed by Pavlína Matiová and Michal Žolták.
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Live musical accompaniment was provided by the Josef Šenki Band together with singers Natálie Kuchárová, Sára Marcinová, Petra Gelbart, Marie Olahová and the Romano Balvaj choir. The program closed with the reading of names of the Romani victims of the Holocaust, which was done by non-Romani and Romani figures of public life.
Those invited to read the names were Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková, the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Jana Vohralíková, Senator Adéla Šípová, Ústí nad Labem assembly member and chair of the Czechoslovak Romani Union Karel Karika, Romani activist Jozef Miker, director of the RomanoNet organization Michal Miko, director of the ARA ART organization David Tišer, artist Věra Horváthová and others. Many countries commemorate European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August.
On that day in 1944 the Nazis gassed to death 4,300 Romani and Sinti children, men and women in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. During the 17 months of the existence of the “Gypsy Family Camp” at Auschwitz (from February 1943 to July 1944), as many as 23,000 children, men and women were imprisoned there.
Approximately 21,000 Roma and Sinti prisoners were murdered in the camp. Other Romani people were murdered in the concentration camps of Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanka, Sobibór and Treblinka.
Others whose numbers are difficult to estimate were shot to death and buried in mass graves in wooded areas. Nazi Germany’s extermination policy led to the deaths of a conservative estimate of 500,000 Roma and Sinti from all over Europe; some estimates state as many as 800,000 Romani and Sinti victims, which would equal anywhere between 25 to 50 % of the interwar population of Romani and Sinti people.
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