EUROPEAN UNION 2 Aug 2009 Roma, Sinti victims of Holocaust remembered

The annual international day of commemoration for the Sinti and Roma victims of the Nazi Holocaust is a reminder each year that an estimated half-million of Europe's largest minority, often referred to as "gypsies," were killed in Nazi death camps in WWII. The day is marked with wreath layings in Roma-Sinti communities throughout the European Union, and 2 Aug might see the dedication of a Roma and Sinti Holocaust memorial in Berlin.

Ground was broken for the memorial in Dec 2008 after years of wrangling. Memorials to Jewish and homosexual victims have been erected in Berlin. The funding and location of the Roma-Sinti memorial was agreed in 2005, but disputes over the wording in the inscription are among issues that have delayed construction. Israeli sculptor-architect Dani Karavanwill won the contract to build the monument, which will be erected in Berlin's Tiergarten park close to the federal parliament, or Reichstag. It will be an obelisk mounted on top of a contemporary fountain.

The Nazis set up the "Gypsy Family Camp" at the Auschwitz-Birkenau site at the end of Feb 1943 and transported Sinti and Roma from 14 occupied countries there. During the night of 2-3 Aug 1944, the final 2,900 prisoners in the camp were killed upon the orders of SS head Heinrich Himmler.

On Aug 2, the United Nations, European Union and human rights groups are likely to renew calls for an end to violence and discrimination directed against the Roma-Sinti minority.

At a ceremony in the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz on 2 Aug 2008, representatives of the Sinti and Roma communities called for more effective measures from the European Union to protect minorities. The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, said he was observing with "great concern" current developments following violent physical and arson attacks on the minority in Naples and other Italian communities. He demanded steps to do away with the "completely unacceptable" living conditions of the minority in much of the European Union.

On Jul 10 EU lawmakers urged Italy to stop fingerprinting its Roma and Sinti population, living in some 700 camps in the country, as part of a crackdown on crime. They, and human rights groups, warn identifying people based on ethnicity can set a dangerous precedent. UPDATED Jul/09

RELATED READING:

Work begins on Berlin memorial for Roma, Sinti (DWW 20 Dec 2008)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3890873,00.html

Metro view: They killed gypsies too (Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2009)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443787720&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Commemoration of Roma and Sinti victims of Holocaust (Roma News Network Feb 08)
http://www.romnews.com/community/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=183

Europe's largest minority Sinti and Roma demand equal rights (UN Chronicle)
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2006/webArticles/120106_rose.htm