Better man? We already are.

Romani are usually excluded whenever the topic of the Holocaust/WW2 comes up, so it’s not all too surprising that the Romani Day of Resistance is very unknown to the majority. But it should be celebrated and embraced since it represents a change in the way Romani culture and identity appear in public space - where a history of resistance replaces a history of oppression:

On 15 May 1944, the underground resistance movement in the Auschwitz, Birkenau concentration camp BIIe warned the Roma that the SS guards were planning to round up the nearly 6,000 Roma and Sinti prisoners and send them to the gas chambers. 

On the morning of 16 May, the Romani prisoners did not show up for the usual morning roll call and ceased cooperating with the SS guards.

The Roma barricaded themselves into their shanties. They had broken into an equipment warehouse and armed themselves with hammers, pickaxes and shovels, taking apart the wooden sections of the bunks they slept on to make wooden stakes. 

When the SS guards approached the area, they were met with armed resistance from the inmates. 

The prisoners forced the guards into retreat, and though some prisoners were shot that night, the act of resistance allowed the Roma and Sinti prisoners to put off execution for several more months.

The SS were in shock because they had completely failed to anticipate this resistance. Concerned they might lose more men and that the uprising might spread to other parts of Auschwitz, they retreated from camp BIIe.

No Roma died in the gas chambers that day. The Nazis subsequently put the prisoners of BIIe on a starvation diet.

Later, on 23 May 1944 the Nazis moved 1,500 of the strongest Romani prisoners to Auschwitz I, many of whom were then sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.

On 25 May 1944, 82 Romani men were transported to the Flossenburg concentration camp and 144 young Romani women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp.  

Less than 3,000 Romani prisoners remained in the family camp at BIIe, most of them children.

On 2 August 1944, the Nazis gassed all the remaining Romani prisoners to death in gas chamber V, although the Roma fought back on that dark night as well.

In Hungary the 2nd of August was designated in 2005 by the Parliament as “Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day”, yet most European countries make no or insufficient mention of the Roma victims in their official position regarding the Holocaust. 

Roma are still misrepresented by stereotypes that overshadow our culture and real identity and it should be needless to say that Europe should put some effort on making the Roma genocide widely known and recognized, to serve as a counterforce to the increasingly violent rhetoric and action against the Roma because and through them. Yet it does not seem like anything like that will happen any time soon. 

Get to know me meme | favourite relationships [6/10]   ↳ Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr

I remind you of this today, because of it’s significance. These were people that squared loaves of bread against guns, that fought tooth and nail for their very right to life, despite odds that were greatly stacked against them. They fought with conviction against the tyranny that had kept them incarcerated, and rebelled against the persecution that would deny them their humanity. It’s resounding proof of the strength of the human spirit, that no matter how hard you try and break someone, to trample and subdue them, there will still be those that say no.

Although porrajmos is a bitter, but not too distant memory, even today, in 2017, Rroma throughout the world are still suffering. They are still evicted from their homes, still belittled in the streets, denied food, denied healthcare, denied education. The world treats us as second class citizens, as criminals, as commodities, as a costume you can just don on a whim. You call us witches, beggars, liars, thieves. You deem us dirty, stupid, a waste of space. You forget that we are people. That we are smart and talented, that we are loyal and creative, fierce and bold. We have as much right as anyone to live beyond the shackles of poverty. 

Let us remember…

…the six million Jews, including 1.5 million children, who were exterminated in the Holocaust (in Hebrew, Shoah).

…the entirely new alphabet created by the Nazis for the Final Solution — from the letter “A” for Auschwitz to the letter “Z” for Zyklon-B.

…not only the tragic deaths of the six million Jews, but also their vibrant lives—as shopkeepers and craftsmen, scientists and authors, teachers and students, parents and children, husbands and wives.

…the richly hued and ancient Jewish civilizations that were destroyed—from Salonika to Vilna, from Amsterdam to Prague.

…the slippery slope that began with the rantings of an obscure Austrian-born anti-Semite named Adolf Hitler and led, in the course of less than 15 years, to his absolute control over Germany.

…those who failed to grasp the emerging threat of the Hitler regime, who minimized his maniacal ravings in the 1930s, and who thought a policy of appeasement might satisfy his unquenchable lust for power and conquest.

…the fertile soil of European anti-Semitism—cultivated over centuries by cultural, political, and religious voices—that created an all-too-receptive climate for the Nazi objective of eliminating the Jewish people.

…the courage of Denmark, as well as Albania, Bulgaria, and Finland, for their extraordinary efforts to protect their own Jewish communities.

…the example of thousands of Righteous Persons—who are called, in Hebrew, Hasidei Umot Ha’olam. They risked their own lives—and, in some cases, gave their lives—so that others might live.

…the millions of non-Jews—Poles and Russians, Roma and the disabled, political opponents and homosexuals—murdered under the relentless Nazi onslaught.

…the determination and sacrifice of the Allied nations, which, through “blood, toil, tears and sweat,” as the indomitable Winston Churchill said, vanquished the Third Reich.

…the survivors of the death camps, who endured such unimaginable suffering and who have inspired us all with their indomitable courage, spirit, and will to live.

…the absence of an Israel in those war-time years—an Israel that, had it existed, would have provided a haven when so shamefully few countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees.

We must never forget…

…those who perished at the hands of the Third Reich and its collaborators.

…those who saved even a single life. As it is written in the Talmud: “He who saves one life has saved the world.”

…the ancient Jewish teaching that we are all created “in the image of God.”

…the importance of speaking out, forcefully and unambiguously, and taking action against intolerance and bigotry, whenever and wherever they occur.

…the inextricable link among democracy, the rule of law, and protection of human rights.

…the age-old prophetic vision of a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

…that each of us, in ways large and small, can help bring us closer to the realization of that prophetic vision.

David Harris