Dr Jörg Skriebeleit

Statement on the occasion of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2020

I am standing here in the former concentration camp Flossenbürg not far from the crematorium, the so-called Valley of Death; next to the memorial stone, the memorial sign for the Sinti and Roma persecuted and murdered in the Flossenbürg camp complex.

The Flossenbürg concentration camp with its more than 80 satellite camps in Bavaria, Bohemia and Saxony was one of many central places of suffering for the Sinti and Roma minority. Hundreds were deported to subcamps for forced labor, and dozens were burned to death in this area here. We also stand here in and on a cemetery for the minority.

As the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial, we also work to educate, not only in the historical sense, but also very contemporarily for protection of minorities, for tolerance. Here at the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial Site, we cultivate the memory of the persecuted people and their minority.

But we also work prospectively. We are committed to minority rights and try to empower young and old people. Not only are we a place of remembrance for the minority and others, but also a place for the future, where the values of tolerance and human life are passed on. That is what this day means for us today.