Roma people must be assisted in their advancement, Secretary of State Szabolcs Ferenc Takács of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday at the commemoration organised by the Roma Civic Association (RPT) at the Roma Historical, Cultural, Educational and Holocaust Centre on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the Roma Holocaust.
Mr Takács, State Secretary for EU Affairs of the Prime Minister’s Office and Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) reiterated that 20 to 30 per cent of the European Roma population in the millions, and almost one half of the Roma population of the occupied European countries were killed in the Holocaust during World War II
He stressed: remembering and facing up to the facts is an obligation. There is always hope for the revival of the community. The Roma community which has undergone so many trials during the course of history is an inexhaustible source of creative force, the State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Mr Takács also mentioned that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is the only inter-governmental organisation which is concerned with the research, education and the preservation of the memory of the Roma Holocaust.
Ilan Mor, Ambassador of Israel to Hungary pointed out in his speech: there are people whose lives are worse than those of others due to their origin or religion. The Holocaust is the worst example of this. This is a common point of reference in the plight of the Roma and Jewish communities. We must remember this day every day, must remind others of it, and must tell new generations that the Holocaust was a decision: a very bad decision.
The Roma Holocaust Centre helps to remember the victims, he added.
In his speech, the Ambassador made mention of the atrocities committed by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem a few days ago, and stressed that they must be thoroughly investigated. “We are sorry, and we are ashamed about what happened", Ilan Mor pointed out, adding: these atrocities are not compatible with the values of Israeli democracy, pose a challenge to us all, and warn us of the threats of hatred.
At the same time, the Ambassador also told his audience at the Budapest event: Israel is the only democracy in the Middle-East, and must fight for its survival day after day.
The letter of Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog was read out at the event, in which the Minister stressed that the tragedy of the Roma Holocaust remains incomprehensible to this day, to which there is no possible excuse.
In his letter, the Minister drew attention to the Roma-Hungarian co-existence which dates back centuries, and pointed out: “we must work together”.
Mr Balog takes the view that “we are a nation of new beginnings", (...) and "if needs be, we start again every day because we have a goal" (...) "we can improve our life together”.
In his letter, the Minister reiterated the motto of RPT, based on which “The future is in our legacy”.
István Makai, President of RPT expressed his thanks to all those who contributed to the establishment of the Roma Holocaust Centre opened by President of the Republic János Áder a year ago.
"It is our duty to remember and to remind others”, the speaker said.
As Mr Makai highlighted, the birth of new things gives new hope. The Roma Holocaust Centre demonstrates that it is possible to make constructive efforts if we unite our strength, and others may draw on this experience.
Deputy State Secretary for Social Inclusion at the Ministry of Human Resources Mrs Langerné, Katalin Victor reiterated in her speech: the 20th century was a century of genocides, and we do not know to this day how the intentional mass destruction of people on an industrial scale was allowed to take place.
"Let us carve it into our children’s hearts that this cannot happen ever again”, the Deputy State Secretary stressed.
After the speeches, wreaths were laid at the memorial plaque of the victims of the Roma Holocaust by Szabolcs Ferenc Takács on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, by Ilan Mor on behalf of the State of Israel, by Mrs Langerné, Katalin Victor on behalf of the Ministry of Human Resources, and István Makai and a Roma Holocaust survivor on behalf of RPT.
The invited guests viewed the exhibition in the Roma Holocaust Centre introducing the past of the Roma, the Roma Holocaust, the Roma culture, and works of art by Roma artists.
Based on the 1972 decision of the World Romani Congress, we celebrate the international memorial day of the Roma Holocaust on 2 August: on the night of 2 and 3 August 1944, more than three thousand Roma and Sinti people were killed by SS soldiers in the Auschwitz death camp due to their origin.
In the wake of disenfranchisement measures adopted in Hungary between the two World Wars, after the German occupation of the country on 19 March 1944, at least thirty ghettos and concentration camps were set up In Hungary. Smaller groups of Roma were transported to German extermination camps already in the spring of 1944, and Roma forced labour companies were assembled in August. After the takeover by the Arrow Cross Party on 15 October 1944, the organised deportation of Roma families to camps in Germany started on 2 November. According to historians, the Holocaust has some fifty to seventy thousand Hungarian Roma victims.
(Prime Minister's Office)
