(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).
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