January 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day. A time to act.

We are fast approaching January 27, which is the day the General Assembly of the United Nations declared to be International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust. They also urged their member states to develop educational programs to "instill the memory of the tragedy in future generations to prevent genocide from occurring again." January 27 was selected as the date since it is the date the Russians liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the death camps, where they found only one survivor of Romani descent. The Assembly stated

"Rejecting any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, the 191-member Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution condemning “without reserve” all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, whenever they occur."

So the question must be asked, why has the United Nations refused the Romani nation to participate in the ceremonies this year? Last year we were included, but, as of this writing, this year we are not. If the UN found it a worthy effort to spend two days in 2005 debating the issue of establishing a memorial date and went so far as to ask every member state to commemorate the day, then why include a minority who has the most to lose from being excluded from the services? Is it because there is a question as to the murder of the Romani people in the Holocaust?

Even the expert scholars, survivors themselves, state that the Romani people were indeed victims of the Holocaust. In a letter written to Elie Wiesel and dated December 14th, 1984, Simon Wiesenthal stated

“The Gypsies had been murdered in a proportion similar to the Jews: about 80% of them in the area of the countries which were occupied by the Nazis.”

Even Germany finally admitted to the world that the Romani nation was selected as a race for extermination, as evidenced by former German president Roman Herzog stated in 1997,

"The genocide of the Sinti and Roma was carried out from the same motive of racial mania, with the same premeditation, with the same wish for the systematic and total extermination as the genocide of the Jews."

One would think that such statements, made years in advance of the creation of the day of remembrance would be admission enough, but it seems it isn't.

So we look to the statement made by the Assembly itself, piece by piece. The first section reads:

"Rejecting any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part..."

Is not silence just as deafening as the cries of millions? By their silence and by their unwillingness to to include the Romani nation in their ceremony and allowing a Romani to speak, they add to the misguided belief that the Romani people were not victims of the Holocaust. Rejection by omission is just as bad as flat denial, which the UN rejects.

"...the 191-member Assembly adopted by consensus ..."

191 members of the Assembly agreed to this, and yet, who among them is asking for full inclusion of the Romani people, people who were affected in many of these countries? These members must look to the histories of their own countries and see what side they were on, what actions their government took, and, in the glaring light of the present, act accordingly.

"...a resolution condemning “without reserve” all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief..."

Read it again. "Without reserve" all manifestations of  religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief (emphasis mine). This section here means we are included. Or should be included, by their own admission!

And finally,

"...whenever they occur."

They already have occurred and they are currently occurring while the UN does what? Remains silent.


So in our fight for human rights and our dealings with the UN, who do go to? There is a United Nations Human Rights Council. What nation has been designated with such an honor? The Czech Republic.

"[T]he Czech Republic was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the term 2011 -2014. The Czech Republic thus has the honor to become one of the 47 member states of the main UN body responsible for creating and implementing UN policies in the field of protection and promotion of human rights in various part of the world." (emphasis mine)

Seriously? According to the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, over 90,000 Romani women were sterilized in the Czech Republic since 1980. Romani children are still be segregated from the public school system even after the Court of Human Rights ordered the Czech Republic to de-segregate in 2007.

I bring this up because there is a direct link to the Holocaust and our fight for justice in Europe. When the Third Reich fell to the Allies and the atrocities committed by the German State were revealed to the world, the anti-Semitic laws were immediately abolished. Not so in the case of the anti-Gypsy laws. It was still illegal to be a Gypsy until 1953. No one was educated about the murders of the Romani people because few survivors wanted to talk about what they experienced and the deaths of loved ones and family members. Now, the world is blissfully ignorant of the Romani inclusion in the Holocaust and the hate and persecution that resulted in O Baro Porrajmos continues to this day and we face a genocide once again.

We must demand the UN include us and, if they refuse, we must make it clear in cities around the world that we, as a nation, were set for extermination and that we can see it happening again and that we will not allow it.

Organize something within your community. A meal with a candle lighting ceremony, a wreath presentation to a river, or volunteer to speak at a school. The point is, do something. Record that event through pictures or video. Let  people see what we stand for because if we don't speak for ourselves, who will?