August 2: Europe's Belated Recognition of the Roma and Sinti Genocide
RastinewsIt took Germany decades to officially recognize the genocide of Roma and Sinti people under Nazi rule, in which an estimated 500,000 people died. It also took decades for August 2, marked annually as the "European Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day," to become an official day of commemoration in Germany and across Europe.
On August 2, 1994, Polish Roma organizations held a large-scale ceremony at the Auschwitz Memorial to commemorate, for the first time, the so-called "liquidation of the Gypsy camp" at Birkenau. The liquidation took place on the night of August 2 into August 3, 1944. Thousands of camp inmates had already died before that night from malnutrition, disease and epidemics. That night, German Nazis murdered thousands of Roma and Sinti held in the camp — in gas chambers, by shooting, or by beating them to death.
At the memorial site in Berlin, upright stone blocks bearing portraits of Roma and Sinti killed under Nazi rule stand side by side, with trees visible in the background.
August 2 has been observed as European Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day since 2015, at the initiative of the European Parliament.
Germany and other European countries hold official ceremonies attended by government representatives. Representatives of some European governments also travel to the Auschwitz Memorial on August 2.
Most commemorations, however, take place within each country's own borders — chiefly in Central and Southeastern Europe, where Nazi extermination policy repeatedly targeted Roma communities. In some of these countries, commemorations today also address anti-Roma sentiment and its present-day consequences.
Poland: An Official Remembrance Day for 15 Years
In Poland, home to roughly 30,000 Roma, August 2 has been an official remembrance day since 2011. Members of parliament and government regularly attend ceremonies at the Auschwitz Memorial.
Another major commemoration is held every July 3 in the village of Szczurowa, east of Krakow, remembering the victims of a massacre German forces carried out against Polish Roma in 1943. Europe's first monument to victims of the Roma genocide was erected in Szczurowa in 1956.
Smaller towns and villages across southeastern Poland also hold summer commemorations for Polish Roma killed during the German occupation.
At the former camp entrance at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Karl Stojka kneels before an open barbed-wire gate, with mourners and the camp grounds visible behind him.
Austrian Sinto Karl Stojka, deported to Auschwitz at age 11, returned years later to commemorate those killed at the entrance to the former "Gypsy camp." His visit to Poland stands as a symbol of how survivors' testimony has carried the memory of the genocide from one generation to the next.Photo: Bednarczyk/dpa/picture alliance
Czechia: A Former Pig Farm Now a Memorial Site
Czechia, home to roughly 250,000 Roma, has also officially commemorated the victims on August 2 since 2015. The most significant ceremony is held in Lety, south of Prague. German Nazis established a camp there in 1940, and from 1942 onward, Roma families were deported to it.
After the war, the camp site was used as a pig farm. Following years of debate, the operation was shut down in 2018 and the site converted into a memorial. Czech President Petr Pavel and then-Prime Minister Petr Fiala attended its opening in April 2024. Another commemorative site is Hodonín, north of Brno, where a German camp for Roma also operated in 1942–1943. The site also marks preparations for the mass deportation of Roma to Auschwitz on August 21, 1943.
A model of the former Roma internment camp at Lety shows numerous barracks and structures within a fenced perimeter, depicting the camp's layout from above.
Slovakia: An Official Remembrance Day Since 2005
In Slovakia, home to roughly half a million Roma, August 2 has been an official remembrance day since 2005. The main ceremony is held on the grounds of the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in Banska Bystrica, in the country's central region.
The museum preserves the memory of the 1944 anti-fascist Slovak uprising. The commemoration is organized by the government or its Roma affairs commissioner together with civil Roma initiatives, and is attended by representatives of other state institutions, including the presidency.
Hungary: Anti-Roma Sentiment, Then and Now
In Hungary, home to roughly 600,000 Roma today, Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day has been marked on August 2 at numerous sites since 2005, under a parliamentary resolution. In Budapest alone, ceremonies are held at three separate memorials dedicated to Roma killed in the Holocaust. The large number of such memorials reflects the fact that Hungary's Roma were victims of deportation and massacre especially under the German occupation that began in 1944 and the rule of the Arrow Cross, Hungary's Nazi movement.
Alongside these historical commemorations, Hungary also remembers the victims of a string of anti-Roma killings carried out in 2008–2009. Far-right terrorists killed six people and wounded 55, some severely, during that period. Their final attack came on the night of August 2 into August 3, 2009, in the village of Kisleta in eastern Hungary.
At the memorial site at Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Roma woman in traditional dress dances during a ceremony, surrounded by musicians, onlookers and the remains of the former camp structures.
Hungarian Roma commemorate the victims of the Nazi genocide with a traditional ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The remembrance recalls both the massacres of the past and the anti-Roma sentiment that persists in the country today.Photo: Jerzy Ruciæski/dpa/picture alliance
Bulgaria: Commemoration Without an Official Day
Bulgaria, home to roughly 700,000 Roma, has not declared August 2 an official remembrance day. Roma organizations nonetheless hold unofficial commemorations on the date, and state and government representatives issue remembrance statements. Although allied with Nazi Germany, Bulgaria refused Germany's demands to deport its Jewish and Roma populations. Even so, both communities were subjected to numerous discriminatory laws and reduced to second-class status.
Romania: Deportation to Transnistria
In Romania, home to roughly two million Roma, Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day has been officially observed since 2020. The main ceremony takes place at the Bucharest Holocaust Memorial, opened in 2009. Under the dictatorship of Ion Antonescu, Hitler's ally, Romania carried out mass deportations of Jews and Roma to Transnistria. An estimated 380,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma were killed or died of starvation and disease in the camps there. Romanian President Nicusor Dan became the first head of state to attend the ceremony in person, in 2025.
Romania designated October 9 as National Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2004, marking the start of the deportation of Jews from the Bukovina region to Transnistria. The Roma deported and killed under the Antonescu regime are also specifically remembered on that date.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan lays a wreath at the Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest, flanked by soldiers in ceremonial dress standing at attention.
Croatia: The Escape Attempt Takes Center Stage
In Croatia, home to roughly 25,000 Roma, parliament did not declare August 2 an official remembrance day until 2014. The main ceremony is held at the site of the former Jasenovac concentration camp, where the fascist Ustaše regime held Serbs, Jews, Croats and Roma. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Roma were killed there. Senior government representatives regularly attend the commemorations. At Jasenovac, remembrance events more often center on April 22, the date in 1945 when prisoners attempted to escape the camp.
North Macedonia: Remembrance Day and National Holiday
In North Macedonia, home to roughly 100,000 Roma, August 2 has been the official Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day since 2017. The main ceremony is held at the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia in Skopje. But because August 2 is also celebrated in North Macedonia as Republic Day, a national holiday, public attention to the Roma genocide commemoration tends to be overshadowed.
Serbia: No Official Remembrance Day
In Serbia, home to roughly 130,000 Roma, August 2 is not an official day for commemorating the Roma genocide. Even so, Roma genocide victims are remembered as part of other ceremonies marking the extermination policies of the Nazi and Ustaše regimes.