Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner: Time to cure amnesia about the history of Roma in Europe

Nils Muižnieks, the Human Rights Commissioner at the Council of Europe, has written in advance of the 2 August commemorations of the 1944 murder of Romani people at Auschwitz that Europe’s amnesia about the history of the Roma needs to be cured. Referencing the historical events at Auschwitz in particular, he writes:  "Knowledge about both the Roma uprising and the liquidation of the ‘Gypsy camp’ remains limited in European societies today."

Muižnieks calls this knowledge "crucial" to understanding Romani people’s current situation throughout Europe today. His "Human Rights Comment" cites numerous examples of the mistreatment of Roma throughout history, including the forced removal of children from Roma and Yenish families in 20th-century Switzerland.

The Commissioner says the Roma Holocaust or "Pharrajimos" during WWII was the culmination of many policies of exclusion and forced assimilation. Referencing the current situation, he writes:  "It is also deeply worrying that some mainstream politicians, in a context of growing populism in Europe, have publicly allowed themselves to condone the Roma Holocaust."  

Muižnieks says Romani people’s lack of trust in majority societies or public institutions is a result of this tragic past. He references in particular the forced sterilization of Romani women, which has long been a practice in several countries, the Czech Republic included.

The Czech Government is in the process of designing a compensation program for the victims, the law for which is supposed to be drafted by the end of this year. Human rights observers are concerned that those appointed to administer the program should have a full grasp of these occurrences as human rights violations.