Roma Genocide Remembrance Memorial and Youth Confererence Ulrike Schmidt

Amnesty International

Roma Genocide Remembrance Memorial and Youth Confererence

Ulrike Schmidt

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Amnesty Blog about the Roma Genocide Remembrance conference, organised by International Roma Youth Network

http://www.amnesty.eu/en/news/blog/all/we-must-speak-about-the-past-to-prevent-it-from-happening-again00045/#.U-OC6PmSwgt

Conference on the Genocide of Roma people during the Nazi Regime

• Tern Ype- International Roma Youth Network and its partners gathered 1000 young Roma and non-Roma from all over Europe to mark the 70th anniversary of the remembrance day of the Roma Genocide. The aim of the initiative is to raise awareness about the Roma Genocide as well as the mechanisms of antigypyism in a challenging context of rising racism, hate speech and extremism in Europe.

The Organisers

• Tern Ype aims to empower young Roma to have a voice to become key agents of change and to foster solidarity among young people. “…..As young Roma and non Roma we believe that we can build a European culture based on Respect, Dialogue, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities.

• …..We advocate for a wider official recognition of the Roma Genocide in Europe and the formal establishment of August 2nd as the memorial day of the Roma Genocide.

• Tern Ype organised a 5-day programme of conferences, talks and lectures in Krakow culminating in taking part at the memorial in Ausschwitz.

Amnesty’s contribution

• Amnesty organised 2 workshops, facilitated and led by Fotis Fillippou from the IS and Anna Leichtfried from the EU Office on Forced Evictions and Hate Crime targeting Roma communities today. The Workshops were very well received. We also raised awareness with a stall and campaign actions throughout the day.

AI Campaign Actions• A very successful action was producing

a solidarity banner for the Roma families who had been evicted from the City Centre of Cluj Napoka , Romania in 2010 , and “relocated “ on a toxic waste site next to the municipal rubbish dump. Representatives from the community were at the conference and took part in the workshops. Claudia, from the community spoke very movingly about the eviction and the effect the “relocation” has on the health of particularly the children who are suffering from skin disease and respiratory problems due to the toxins , their education and the prospects of employment for the adults.

The finished Banner !Claudia and her 2 cousins are taking the banner back to their community.

Another very succesful AI Action: The Photo Solidarity Action

2 August Roma Genocide Remembrance Day at Ausschwitz

• In May 1944 the Nazis started to plan the “Final Solution” for the “Gypsy Family Camp” in Ausschwitz. The initial date for the liquidation was planned for the 16th May. But when the SS men tried to force the prisoners out of the barracks they faced a rebellion of Roma men, women and children, armed with nothing more than sticks, tools and stones, and eventually the SS had to withdraw. The resistance of Roma prisoners only gave them a few more months to live. On the evening of 2. August 1944 2897 Roma men, women and children were loaded on to trucks , taken to gas chamber 5 and murdered.. Their bodies were burned next to the crematorium. After the liberation of Ausschwitz concentration camp in 1945 only 4 Roma remained alive.

Over 1000 Roma walking to the remains of the “Gipsy Camp” in Ausschwitz Birkenau

The Memorial

2 Survivors gave very moving testimonies and civil society representatives as well as politicians spoke and showed their respect.

No cause for complacency today

• Today Roma all over Europe are stigmatised, discriminated , forcibly evicted and subjected to prejudice, hate speech and violent hate crime, including police violence.

• This must stop, and Amnesty plays a very important role through public awareness-raising, campaigning and lobbying. Our presence at the conference was very valued and welcomed by the organisers and attendees and I was able to establish contacts for future networking and cooperation. I am hoping to bring a film about the Roma Genocide , which was shown at the conference , to the Human Rights Action Centre this year. I am also staying in contact with Claudia and Alejandro from Romania to align campaign actions (of course also in alignment with IS instructions).At the moment we are awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal in Cluj Napoka about the legality of the eviction, before taking further action.

But please show your solidarity by taking part in the photo action !

• Have your photo taken with a message of support and submit it to

• http://together-against-hate.tumblr.com/