WUNRN
Nazi
Liquidation of the Gypsy/Roma Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau - Genocide - Women
& Girls
August 2 marks the 70th Anniversary of the
liquidation of the so-called Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the Nazi
death camp. On that day in 1944, the Nazis killed 2,897 men, women, and children
in the gas chambers. August 2 has been observed since 1997 as the Romani Extermination Remembrance Day.
The
Nazi Germans regarded Sinti and Roma (Zigeuner, as they were referred
to in official German documents of the period) as enemies of the Third Reich,
and therefore sentenced them to isolation and extermination.
In terms of numbers, the Romanies (Gypsies) were the third-largest group of deportees to Auschwitz, after the Jews and the non-Jewish Poles. Romani (Gypsy) transports reached Auschwitz from 14 countries.
A total of about 23,000 Romanies were imprisoned in
Auschwitz-Birkenau; approximately 21,000 of them perished. The remainder were
transferred to other camps. They labored in industry. Romanies were also
subjected to criminal medical experiments. They were used as subjects in
experiments at Buchenwald on the effects of drinking sea water.
It is estimated that about half of the Romanies in lands
occupied by the Third Reich died as a result of German persecution and terror.
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