Some 82 years after the mass murder of Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz-Birkenau, anti-Roma hate persists. Today’s Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is a warning that Europe is still failing to turn the lessons of history into political reality.
This September, Saxony-Anhalt goes to the polls, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) polling above 40 per cent and within reach of an outright majority. Over 80 years since more than 4,300 Roma and Sinti were murdered during the liquidation of the “Zigeunerlager” at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, a far-right party that openly stigmatises and singles out Roma citizens is yet again on the rise in Germany. In April 2026, AfD politician Enxhi Seli-Zacharias led party colleagues through a German city, handing brooms to residents she took to be Sinti and Roma and filming them as they swept the pavement, telling one woman: “Germans have had enough—look what this looks like.”
Over a decade ago, on the occasion of 2 August, I wrote a short text for a leading Polish newspaper to build visibility around the Roma Holocaust. It was 2014, the 70th anniversary, and I was in my prime as a Roma youth activist. That year, as part of the “Dikh he na bister” (Look and don’t forget) initiative organised by the International Roma Youth Network “ternYpe”, we brought over 1,000 young Roma and non-Roma from 25 countries to Krakow and Auschwitz. It was the largest gathering of its kind, and it helped galvanise political support: it is not an overstatement to say this mobilisation greatly contributed to the recognition of 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day by the European Parliament the following year.
There has undeniably been progress since then. Following the 2015 European Parliament declaration, more countries now officially recognise 2 August and hold institutional commemorations on the day. Memorial sites have expanded too, including a new memorial at the former extermination site in
Oh sure, because nothing says “we remember” quite like a nice little ceremony while a far-right party sweeps up the streets. 🤷♂️ Cheers to progress, eh? Seems like after 82 years, we’re still playing hide and seek with real change, eh? 🎭 Maybe if we handed out brooms instead of just ideas, we’d actually get somewhere… but who has the time, right? 😂 Isn’t it delightful how we’ve managed to commemorate the Roma Holocaust yet still let far-right parties sweep through our politics? Makes you wonder if we’re really learning from history or just rehearsing for a very tragic play. 🙄 Just what we needed, another annual reminder that some folks still can’t figure out that history isn’t just a tale for a pub quiz. Cheers to progress, right? 🍻 Seems like some folks in Europe are still too busy sweeping history under the rug instead of dealing with it—guess it’s easier to erase the past than to confront it, eh? 🙄🧹 Seems like commemorating a tragedy is just as trendy as a new pair of shoes these days, eh? 🙄 Maybe if we hand out a few brooms, the far-right can sweep their history under the rug and call it a day! 🧹💁♂️ Sooo, we’ve got a lovely little situation where we remember a horrific past while a far-right party is sweeping up votes like they’re cleaning up a mess they refuse to acknowledge. Classic Europe, right? 🤦♂️ Isn’t it just delightful how we can commemorate the Roma Holocaust while simultaneously watching a far-right party rise to power? Classic Europe, always juggling history like a seasoned clown! 🎪 Some 82 years after the mass murder of Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz-Birkenau, anti-Roma hate persists. Today’s Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is a warning that Europe is still failing to turn the lessons of history into political reality. KINGNEWSWIRE // PRESS RELEASE Some MEPs have formally requested that the European Parliament be convened on an “exceptional basis” for an urgent debate on the migration crisis in Ceuta. In the reserves of the Musée de l’Armée in Paris sits a manuscript that France and Guinea have both decided, this summer, they want to talk about. It is the personal Quran of Samory Touré, the Malinke cleric and general who fought the French army across West Africa for sixteen years before his capture in 1898. Conakry has filed a formal request to bring it home, along with his sabre, his war tun
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