The rising hate crime and persistent discrimination towards Roma and Sinti across Europe underlines the need for a new strategy as world commemorates Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on August 2.
On 2 August 1944, the last 4300 Sinti and Roma living in the so-called “Gypsy Camp” were murdered in the gas chambers of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. This day is a symbol of the Holocaust of the Nazis at more than 500,000 Sinti and Roma in occupied Europe.
In Corona times, Roma in Eastern Europe are increasingly stigmatised and marginalized. In the DW interview, Romani Rose, Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, calls for decisive action against anti-Gypsyism.
Antiziganism (also antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or anti-Romani sentiment) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism which is specifically directed at Romani people (Roma, Sinti, Iberian Kale, Welsh Kale, Finnish Kale and Romanichal).
For centuries, the music of Roma and Sinti has influenced European classical music. Conductor Riccardo M. Sahiti and his orchestra show how inspired the great composers were.
Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority. But antigypsyism, hate crime, as well as hate-motivated harassment and discrimination, continue to plague many Roma across the EU, as European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ study repeatedly shows.
Around 4 in 10 Roma were victims of hate-motivated harassment or discrimination in the five years before FRA’s survey of Roma across nine EU Member States. This is a wider societal issue: nearly 1 in 2 Europeans are uncomfortable with Roma as neighbours, according to FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and government measures to control it, further revealed how entrenched antigypsyism is. Some governments imposed disproportionate restrictive measures in response to identified infection cases. Prejudice further excluded many Roma.
