Roma Holocaust Center commemorates 71st anniversary of Roma Holocaust 

Budapest, August 2 (MTI) – The Roma History, Culture, Education and Holocaust Centre commemorated the 71st anniversary of the Roma Holocaust at an event organised on Sunday.

Ferenc Szabolcs Takacs, state secretary at the prime minister’s office and president of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) noted that 20-30 percent of Europe’s Roma population and nearly half of those of occupied countries were murdered in the Roma Holocaust. Remembering and facing the facts is a must, he said. He added that the Roma community, which has seen many hardships in the course of history, is an endless source of creative energy.

Addressing the event, Ilan Mor, the Israeli ambassador to Hungary, said the Roma and Jewish people share a fate in being peoples whose lives are worse than others’ because of their origins and religion. He stressed the necessity of remembering and being reminded of this. New generations must be told that the Holocaust was a decision, a very bad decision, he said.

The Roma Holocaust Centre helps remember the victims, he added.

Addressing a commemoration organised by the National Roma Self-Government, Istvan Hegedus, the body’s president, noted that the present generation would be the last one to meet Holocaust survivors in person. It is thus our responsibility to determine how future generations may interpret the events of history without “first-hand knowledge”, he added.