UN: Romani Holocaust survivor part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a Romani Holocaust survivor from Romania, Dumitru Miclescu, spoke during the ceremony for the first time ever. His emotional speech at the New York headquarters of the United Nations recalled not just the horrors of Nazi persecution, but also the long-forgotten suffering of the Roma in what is called "the forgotten Holocaust" in Transnistria.
The ceremony at UN headquarters was held on 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Miclescu, who will turn 91 this year, emphasized the need for global recognition of the Holocaust of the Roma and the inclusion of this history in education systems.
“Transnistria remains a forgotten chapter of the Holocaust. It is not enough to commemorate Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. We must add locations such as Vapniarka and Tiraspol to the map of the history of the Holocaust. Recognition is the first step toward justice, and justice is the basis of healing,” said Miclescu, who was accompanied to the speakers’ podium by his niece, Izabela Tiberiade.
RECORDING OF THE CEREMONY
Forgotten chapter of the Holocaust: Roma deported to Transnistria
Miclescu was born on 8 March 1934 in Tamna, Mehedinți County, Romania. When he was eight, he and his family were deported to the internment and labor camps of Tiraspol and Vapniarka in Transnistria (a territory on the border of Moldova and Ukraine).
The deportation of Romani families was ordered in 1942 by Antonescu, the dictator of the Fascist regime in Romania and an ally of Nazi Germany. Approximately 25,000 Roma from Romania were forcibly moved to the area, more than half of whom were children.
It is estimated that approximately 11,000 of the deported Roma perished there as a result of cold, disease and hunger.
Calls for the Holocaust of the Roma to be recognized
Miclescu is a crucial figure fighting for recognition of the Holocaust, its Romani victims, and their compensation. In Romania he actively contributed to the adoption of Act. no. 221/2009, which provides pensions to the children of survivors.
During the 1990s, Miclescu faced racist violence in Romania and emigrated to Germany, where he then also experienced a pogrom in 1992 in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, the first massive attack by neo-Nazis in a unified Germany. “Today I am not just standing before you as a Holocaust survivor, but also as a witness to the never-ending struggle of my nation, the Roma, in Romania and all over Europe. The scars of the Holocaust remain with us. However, the deepest wounds are caused by the stories which have never been heard,” Miclescu said, recalling that many Romani women and men still remain on the outskirts of society facing discrimination, exclusion, poverty and racism.
“This is not just a legacy of the past, but also the result of the silence that surrounds our suffering to this day,” Miclescu said. In his speech at the UN he called on world leaders to fully recognize 2 August as Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.
“I call on the international community to fully recognize the Holocaust of the Roma and 2 August as Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. Commemorating the past is not just a question of history, but also a commitment to a future in which dignity and justice will be a matter of course. I call on Romania and every country to include the history of the Roma into school curricula and the national museums as an integral part of our shared history,” Dumitru Miclescu, a Romani survivor of the Holocaust from Romania, said in his speech at the UN.
