(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 31 JUL - "My thoughts today are with those who lost their lives, those who survived and the Roma and Traveller communities who continue to contribute to the rich and diverse cultural life of our continent," said Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić today, on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the Roma Holocaust, consequence of the actions of the Nazi regime and its collaborators for exterminating the Romani people of Europe. On 2 August 1944, the remaining Roma of the so-called "Zigeunerlager" (Gypsy camp), approximately 3,000 men, women and children, were exterminated in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Council of Europe recalled today. Estimates about the victims of the "Porajmos", the Romani genocide, vary significantly.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), up to 250,000 Roma were killed in the Holocaust, at least a quarter of Europe's Roma population, but others speak of 500,000 or even 800,000 exterminated. The exact figure cannot be ascertained. Pejčinović Burić expressed her appreciation for how an increasing number of European countries recognise the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (2 August). "A better future can only be built on a solid understanding of the past", Pejčinović Burić says. (ANSA).