Exhibition at the European Commission “Racial diagnosis: Gypsy”: a short report
Last Updated: 15 February 2018
by Giacomo MANCA
Report by Giacomo Manca
Last Wednesday, on March 31st I took part in a visit to the exhibition “the genocide of the Sinti and Roma people and the long struggle for recognition”, at the European Commission by the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma.
The exhibition, which describes the story of Sinti and Roma’s genocide in the Nazi-occupied Europe, covers the story from the exclusion and marginalization of a well-integrated minority to their systematic extermination in concentration camps.
The inhuman perspectives of the perpetrators, testified by abstract documents recording their bureaucratically organised annihilation, contrastq with the testimonies of the victims, displayed in the exhibition thanks to many family photos providing a glimpse into the realities of the people’s lives. The exhibition concludes with a few pictures on the history of the survivors in post-war Germany, describing the long struggle that these people experienced for being recognised as genocide victims and the post-1989 human rights situation of the Sinti and Roma minorities in Germany.
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma was founded in February 1982 and is the independent umbrella organization of 16 national and member associations. It is based in Heidelberg and carries out advocacy towards both citizens and the national institutions: it supports the equal participation of the Sinti and Roma in politics and society and their protection and promotion as a national minority.
You can find more information on its initiatives and on the genocide of the Sinti and Roma on the website http://zentralrat.sintiundroma.de/aktuelle-meldungen/