August 2nd - The International Romani Holocaust Memorial Day

Today, August 2, is the Roma (& Sinti) Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Romani Holocaust (often referred to as the Porrajmos - a term that, while widely used, is linguistically controversial, as in some dialects it translates to "rape", alternative and more right terms include Samudaripen - Genocide, Kali Traš - Black Fear, and Sarvanaš—a word which closest translation may suggest a total or complete disappearance) did hit the up to 2.5 million Roma, Sinti-Manouché and Kale as the direct victims who were killed by the Nazi Germany & its collaborators.

The date of 2 August was chosen for the memorial because on the night of 2–3 August 1944, 2,897 Roma, mostly women, children and elderly people, were killed in the "Gypsy families camp" ("Zigeunerfamilienlager") at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.


Exact number of the killed Roma & Sinti is not known because there was not full statistics, and also at the concentration camps they counted usually oldest male of the family, not every individual.