The European Commission has finally put out its word on the decades-old phenomenon of antigypsyism. From physical attacks in the East to dormant systematic discrimination in the West, Roma people are the taboo story of Europe. Despite the recent efforts of the European institution for inclusion, anti-Roma sentiment is deeply rooted, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified the problem.
The Romani people worldwide are celebrating International Romani Day. This day commemorates histories first-ever World Roma Congress, convened near London in 1971. The initiative
The name Ian Hancock has become synonymous with Roma advocacy. As the pre-eminent Roma scholar worldwide, and by far the most vocal of the handful of Roma-rights advocates, Professor Hancock is definitely a major player in the area of Roma advocacy. But how did Ian Hancock rise to where he is today? How does he feel about the way the Roma are viewed? And, perhaps more important, what are his hopes for the Roma in the years to come?
I interviewed Ian Hancock on the morning of November 12, 2004, after having attempted to reach him for several days. His official day job is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, but Hancock wears a multitude of different hats. He is the Roma ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a member of the International Romani Parliament and as White House appointee served as the Romani delegate to the U.S.
On the night of 2/3 August 1944, the ‘Gypsy Family Camp’ (The Zigeunerlager) at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liquidated. 2,897 men, women, and children of Roma or Sinti origin were murdered in the gas chambers by Nazi officers. Their bodies were burned in pits.
Romani prisoners in a camp © USHMM
Of the 23,000 Roma and Sinti people imprisoned within the camp, it is estimated that around 20,000 were ultimately murdered. The anniversary, often referred to as Zigeunernacht, is an opportunity to remember the Roma and Sinti people murdered under the Nazi regime, and is now marked as Roma Genocide Remembrance Day.
The link is taken from
Holocaust Memorial Day trust :https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/2-august-1944-zigeunernacht-2/
