It was on a hot early August day, 11 years ago that I stood at Auschwitz-Birkenau to witness a remarkable ceremony commemorating the callous murder of the last Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz on 2 August 1944. I well remember that there were many fine speeches either in person or read on behalf of major figures such as the Pope and US Secretary of State John Kerry. Meanwhile, despite the fine words the Roma remained in 2014, the most discriminated against group of people in Europe.
Roma discrimination
They still are. On 24 July it was reported that a huge fire had engulfed a Romani settlement in the municipality of Spišský Štiavnik in eastern Slovakia on the evening of 22nd July. It was said that the fire had “destroyed more than a dozen homes and left about 150 people homeless.”
Many Roma are still living in substandard accommodation in isolated ghettoes in eastern Europe, and it was also noted that former MEP and former Plenipotentiary for Romani communities Peter Pollák had called the situation a warning signal:
“This is a call for this country to wake up. Thank God we don’t have to hold funerals today, but there have also been settlements where such fires have broken out and people lost their lives. What the Romani people need is not trees around their settlements, or a media house in Banská Bystrica, but for their basic needs to be met.”
The previous day, it had been reported that many job ads in Slovakia included the words: “Roma, don’t bother calling” along with a discriminatory, persistent and inaccurate tendency to believe that Roma don’t want to work and that such discriminatory allegations “comfortably fit into the narrative of society.”
It was further noted that:
“Just a few minutes of scrolling on digital platforms will yield many job-offers for cleaning work, helping in kitchens, or other manual labour that include this phrase: ‘Roma, please don’t bother calling.’ This is not some kind of error.”
The report goes on to say that Roma do want to work, but asks how can they when they are so often not allowed to do so?
The Durham Light Infantry at Belsen 1945
When I went to Auschwitz in 2014, I of course hardly the first person from the North East to visit a Nazi concentration or death camp. Among those who were the first to do so were members of the 13 LAA regiment RA (DLI) (TA) who arrived at Bergen-Belsen camp on 18 April 1945 and who saved the lives of Jewish, Roma and other inmates of the typhus-ridden camp.
On Friday 1 August a special ceremony at Newcastle Civic Centre marked this history of the Roma who lost their lives in the Holocaust (or Porajmos as it also called by Roma), the ongoing discrimination against them, and the role that North East soldiers played in helping to liberate them at Belsen in April 1945.
The unveiling ceremony of the memorial monument
The Memorial monument at the Civic Centre honours Roma Holocaust victims and North East soldiers who helped liberate Nazi Camps. On the day of the ceremony the wind was blowing, and the sky was grey, but spirits were high as noon approached and the time came for the unveiling of the Memorial to the Roma and the North East soldiers who were at Belsen. It was great to see as many as 60 or 70 people present.
The event began with a Roma song before we were welcomed by Nicu Ion from Roma Access and the Romanian Roma community in Newcastle. Nicu reminded us that the event was about remembering the Roma victims of the Holocaust and that crucially, it was the first of its kind in the UK.
The introduction was followed by a minute’s silence for all the Roma victims of the Holocaust and for all victims of genocide.
Speeches
We then heard from Henry Gallagher, the Lord Mayor of Newcastle. He reminded us that the process of developing the Memorial had started in 2023 with a motion to the Council from Nicu Ion who was then a Newcastle city councillor, the first Roma councillor in the country. The Lord Mayor pointed out that this first monument in the country to the Roma victims of the Holocaust was a testimony to work of Roma and others, and he was very proud to be unveiling it.
The Lord High Sheriff spoke next about how for too long the suffering of the Roma had remained in the shadows, but that they are forgotten no more. He also mentioned the soldiers who liberated the Bergen-Belsen camp. It was also noted that the remembrance was not only about the past but also the present and future, and that persecution “begins with words but ends in destruction.”
It was important to honour victims with both monuments and deeds. The memorial was a symbol of hope that out of remembrance can come action. The Lord High Sheriff’s speech was followed by a speech from Karen Kilgour, leader of Newcastle City Council.
We also heard from a representative of the Romanian embassy who passed on thanks from the Romanian ambassador and said that the monument was a long overdue act of justice. She congratulated Nicu Ion and Robert Varsi for their hard work in getting the Memorial established, and reminded us that the Holocaust began with prejudice and propaganda and that we should never allow history to be distorted.
It was also noted that Romania has taken important steps, including making 2nd August a national day of remembering the Roma Holocaust, and the representative honoured the North East soldiers who “built a bridge between despair and hope.”
There were also speeches from the chaplain of Roma from Durham, who asked not just to remember, but also to stand up and challenge hate speech. In a speech from a representative of the Roman Catholic church we were reminded that the people at the ceremony were from different backgrounds, but were united in remembering the victims.
There was another call to resist hatred and racism in all their forms in a speech from a representative of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), who said that it was wonderful to see so many there to witness this historic milestone. It is the country’s first and only memorial to the Roma genocide in the Second World War. It was also noted that, ‘this achievement belongs to the Roma community today and marks a new beginning.’
There was a speech from a member of the Newcastle Synagogue who said that she could not imagine why anyone wants to exterminate people of different races. While many think primarily of the Holocaust in terms of the six million Jews killed, there were others who were murdered including homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Roma and Sinti. She reminded us poignantly that “everyone who died was a member of a family who were denied the possibility of reaching their full potential.”
23,000 Roma and Sinti had been sent to the Roma camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau and 21,000 of them didn’t survive. The infamous 1935 Nuremberg Laws had been extended to include Roma and Sinti and that there was a clear correlation between experiences of Jews and the Roma and Sinti. Many of the North East soldiers who were at Belsen, suffered from PTSD afterwards and could not talk about what they had witnessed.
There was one other speech from the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner who talked about her works against racism and hate crimes, and that she had experienced the Roma in Newcastle as a very welcoming community. One of the major priorities of Northumbria Police this year is to tackle hate crime, and recognise the importance of community cohesion. There are still too many asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who face misunderstanding. We should celebrate what the Roma bring to our culture.
Unveiling and flower ceremony
We then had the unveiling of the Memorial by the Lord Mayor and High Sherriff. This was followed by a flower ceremony and Roma national anthem. Wreaths were laid by representatives of different organisations including the Durham Light Infantry and Tyne and Wear Fire Rescue Service.
The official ceremony was followed by refreshments and more speeches inside the Civic Centre, including one from a young white British person, who had learnt about the Roma Holocaust.
Irma Karchnakova
Before the event took place, I asked Irma Karchnakova from the Roma Rights Path Project, which helps young Roma and also brings young Roma together with people from other backgrounds in Gateshead for her comments:
“I am nervous and so excited. This moment is very important to me as my great grandad passed away in Auschwitz and as a Roma community leader this is a special day as I am Roma myself, and also for the young Roma people and the people from the white British community, one of whom is speaking later and I am so proud that he is part of this as they never learnt about it at school but he has friends from the Roma community and he has done research into what happened.”
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