2 August 2020
Luc Jacobs
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in Poland
Statement on the occasion of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma 2020
On this sad anniversary we remember the 500,000 Sinti and Roma that perished in the Holocaust.
We owe this tribute to every single victim who’s human dignity, who’s very existence was ruthlessly and routinely denied by other human beings.
The unspeakable crimes perpetrated in the extermination camps, continue to shock us, not only because they happened but also, because they could happen.
Thanks to dedicated research and education, underpinned by the poignant testimony of survivors, we have come to better grasp the underlying factors that culminated in the horror of the Holocaust.
There can be no excuse any more for remaining indifferent when harassment, exclusion or even dehumanization of minorities become the accepted ‘new normal’ in political discourse and social attitudes.
Statements
Romani Rose
Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma
Katarina Barley
Vice President of the European Parliament
Helena Dalli
European Commissioner for Equality
Mehmet Daimagüler
Dr. Mehmet Daimagüler, Antigypsyism Commissioner of the Federal Government
Roberta Metsola
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Claudia Roth
Vice President of the German Bundestag
Paul Blokhuis
Dutch State Secretary Paul Blokhuis
Chris J. Lazaris
Amb. Chris J. Lazaris, IHRA Chairman
Fernand des Varennes
UN Special Rapporteur UN minorities
Anna-Nicole Heinrich
President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
Roman Kwiatkowski
Chairman of the Association of Roma in Poland
Erich Schneeberger
Deputy Chairman of the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma and Chairman of the Association of German Sinti and Roma
Timea Junghaus
Executive Director
European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC)
Adam Strauß
Chairman of the Council of German Sinti and Roma in Hesse
Manon Aubry
Manon Aubry, MEP
Adrian-Nicolae Furtuna
Historian at the University of Bucharest
Philomena Franz
Holocaust Survivor
Angelina Kappler
German former Weinkönigin
Marian Kalwary
Chairman of the Association of Jews,
Survivors and Victims of the Second World War
