2nd of August 2012– Commemoration of the Roma Genocide

On the 2nd of August 1944, 2897 elderly people, women and children, the remaining Sinti and Roma of the so-called "gypsy camp" (“Zigeunerlager”) at Auschwitz-Birkenau, were murdered in the gas chambers. Knowledge and official recognition of the extermination of Roma during the Second World War is still very limited. Tens of thousands of Roma were murdered in the occupied Eastern territories and thousands of them killed in extermination camps. Like every year about around 60 young Roma and non-Roma will gather in Auschwitz on the 2nd of August to remember the fate of thousands of Roma during Second World War and raise awareness of danger of extremism and present issues of antigypsyism and discrimination. Taken from a press release by ternYpe - International Roma Youth Networkternype@romayouth.com