Audiovisual presentation of Block 13

Film przedstawia kontekst wystawy stałej poświęconej zagładzie Sinti i Romów w okupowanej przez nazistów Europie, która znajduje się w 13. bloku Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Film ukazuje szczególny akcent wystawy – uzyskany przez unikalną kolekcję zdjęć i dokumentów rodzinnych – normalność życia codziennego między sąsiadami w różnych krajach Europy. Wystawa uwydatnia, jak ta normalność była sukcesywnie niszczona przez reżim nazistowski. Na podstawie ideologii rasowej Sinti i Romowie, podobnie jak Żydzi, byli stopniowo pozbawiani praw obywatelskich, środków do życia i ostatecznie deportowani do obozów zagłady. 500.000 Sinti i Romów zostało zamordowanych w okupowanej przez nazistów Europie.

Duration: 3 minutes

Narration

In 2001, an exhibition on the history of the Holocaust against the Sinti and Roma was opened on the grounds of the Auschwitz main camp, which have since been converted into a museum.

The exhibition is divided into two rooms. At the beginning of the exhibition, the visitor symbolically leaves the historical site of the memorial and enters the core room of the exhibition. Here the life of Sinti and Roma before the persecution by the Nazi-Regime is shown. Sinti and Roma were integrated into social life before 1933 as neighbors or work colleagues. Many had fought as soldiers in the First World War and had been highly decorated. They were citizens of the nations in which they and their ancestors had lived for centuries. The family photos and documents shown in the exhibition underline the normality of every-day life between neighbors in various European states.

The exhibition illustrates how this normality was gradually destroyed by the Nazi regime. On the basis of racial ideology, Sinti and Roma, just like the Jews, were gradually disenfranchised, deprived of their livelihoods and finally deported to the extermination camps. 500,000 Sinti and Roma were murdered in Nazi occupied Europe.

The exhibition could only be realized through the support of numerous survivors of the Holocaust of Sinti and Roma. For this exhibition they entrusted the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma with their private family pictures.

Production and Copyright: The video was realized by the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma in cooperation with the Association of Roma in Poland, and thanks to the support of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.