International Roma Holocaust Day in Ukraine

80 years ago, on the night of August 2-3, 1944, about 3,000 prisoners of the so-called “Gypsy camp” were killed in the gas chambers of the Zigeunerlager concentration camp in Auschwitz. This date became another bloody symbol of the genocide of the Roma people during the Second World War. In total, more than 20,000 of the 23,000 Gypsies deported from 14 countries died in this camp.

The exact number of Gypsies killed and tortured in concentration camps during the war is unknown, but according to some estimates, it is up to half a million people.

The commemorative date was established by the proclamation of the International Council of Remembrance of the Roma Genocide, adopted on November 23, 1996 by the leaders of Roma organizations from 10 European countries and the United States of America at the “Genocide – Memory – Hope” conference.

According to the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of October 8, 2004, the International Day of the Roma Holocaust in Ukraine is celebrated on August 2 at the state level.