Saskia Esken

Video statement on the occasion of 2 August 2024, Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

Dear representatives of Sinti and Roma in Europe,
Ladies and gentlemen from politics and civil society,
but above all, dear contemporary witnesses,

it is a great honour for me to send this video message on behalf of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany to your commemorative event on the
occasion of the European Holocaust Remembrance Day for Sinti and Roma.
In view of the great suffering that was inflicted on many people from your
families, which cannot be put into words, it is difficult to find the right
words to greet you on this day.

First of all, there is admiration.

Admiration for the fact that you have been working so persistently and at
the same time sensitively for decades to come to terms with and clarify
the inhuman crimes committed against your people during the Second
World War. I admire you for summoning up the strength to repeatedly
expose yourselves to the wounds of the past.

With your tireless efforts, you finally achieved recognition in 1982 – late,
but not too late: That the Sinti and Roma had been severely wronged by
the Nazi dictatorship. They were persecuted on racial grounds and many of
them were murdered. These crimes constituted genocide, an act that can never be forgotten and must never be forgotten. This is why it is good that
you, that we, remember.

I am also filled with gratitude when I look back on your work of
remembrance! In your valuable memorial work, you have shown posterity
for the atrocities that were committed against your people. So that
present and future generations can remember. So that they can
understand, process and look to the future. Because, despite or precisely
because of the past, you want Sinti and Roma to be and remain part of
society in Germany, I am grateful for that too. Because you enrich this
country.

Remembrance work is always also educational work. With your work, you
make a significant contribution to ensuring that the history of the Sinti
and Roma and the crimes committed against them can be anchored as
part of our history in educational work. The enlightened memory of the
crimes of the Nazi dictatorship must not only be upheld in Germany. It
must be incorporated into the understanding of our common European
past in order to make it clear for all future generations: Never again is
now!

This is particularly important today! Because what you and other people in
this enlightened country, in the Germany of today, have to experience
again, these hostilities, acts of violence and intimidation – that fills me with deep shame.

It is precisely now that we must join democratic forces – politicians,
associations, churches, local authorities, local communities. Together, we
must resist the beginnings of the forces that seek to marginalize groups of
people in our country and in Europe.

The hundreds of thousands of demonstrations against the concept of socalled “remigration”, which means nothing other than deportation, have
shown that our society has a powerful democratic majority. They have
shown that this majority wants to be an open and diverse country in
which many different cultures live together in peace with their families,
their traditions, their beliefs and their languages.

I hope that this society will carry us through the coming months and years
and into a bright future. I am glad to know that you are part of it.
I wish you a dignified commemoration with best wishes.