Council of Europe honours Roma victims of the Holocaust: “acknowledge the past and improve Roma rights today”

Today in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe held a commemorative wreath-laying ceremony in memory of Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust. This year marks the 74th anniversary of 2 August, 1944, when all remaining Roma of the so-called “Zigeunerlager” (Gypsy camp) – 2,897 men, women and children – were exterminated in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The Romani genocide, later known as Pharrajimos, was the plan by the Nazi regime and those who supported it to exterminate the Romani people of Europe. While exact figures or percentages cannot be ascertained, historians estimate that around 25 per cent of all European Roma were killed, and over 90% in several European countries. More...