THE HOLOCAUST AND THE UNITED NATIONS OUTREACH PROGRAMME

Remembering the Dead, Documenting Resistance,Honouring the Heroes 53
Romani population was greater and, we can assume, the number of
those murdered rose accordingly.
I believe that it is crucial for us to hold memorial ceremonies and
set aside spaces and monuments dedicated to those who were murdered,
to those who lost family, loved ones and community, to those
who returned from the camps or hiding only to find their culture
decimated and to those who survived genocide. The theme of the
2013 International Day of Commemoration for the victims of the
Holocaust, “Rescue during the Holocaust: The Courage to Care” 6 ,
encourages us not only to remember the dead and commemorate the
survivors, but also to celebrate the heroes of the Holocaust — those
who reached out beyond their families and communities, and who,
in saving the lives of others, ran the risk of losing their own lives.
I am often asked about Sinti and Roma resistance to the terror and
destruction carried out by the Nazis and their collaborators. One of
the most significant — but understudied — acts of resistance carried
out by Sinti and Roma prisoners occurred between 15 and 16
May 1944 in the zigeunerlager of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sinti and Roma
prisoners were deported to Auschwitz in family groups, and at least
23,000 were murdered in the gas chambers there. Throughout the
network of death camps and mobile gassing units, Jews and Gypsies
were the two groups systematically targeted for murder. 7 By the end
of 1943, the Nazis had imprisoned 18,736 Sinti and Roma in the Birkenau
Gypsy Camp; by May 1944, only 6,000 remained. The others
had been gassed or deported to other camps for forced labour. 8 On 15
May 1944, the prisoners in the zigeunerlager discovered that the Nazis
planned to gas all 6,000 of those who remained; when the SS 9 guards,
armed with machine guns, surrounded the camp for the transport to
the gas chambers:
…[T]hey met armed resistance. After stealing scraps of sheet
metal, the prisoners had sharpened the metal into crudely
fashioned knives. With those improvised weapons, and with
iron pipes, clubs, and stones, the Gypsies defended themselves.
Guards shot some resisters” 10