The exact number of Roma who fell victim to the Nazis is unknown, but researchers indicate that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma are believed to have been killed between the years 1933 and 1945. The dark figure is large.
– There was nothing documented about Roma, that’s why we don’t know, says Dan Hultqvist, at Sweden’s Holocaust Museum, which is marking Remembrance Day at the museum and at a ceremony on Raoul Wallenberg Square in Stockholm.
Late recognition
It was only in the 80s that West Germany admitted that genocide had actually been committed against the Roma. It was long claimed that the Romani prisoners had been killed because they committed crimes and not because of their ethnicity.
Then it took until 2015 before the day of remembrance became an official day of remembrance.
Most Roma died in mass executions. In 1942, the Nazi government decided to establish a Roma ward in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 23,000 Roma were taken there. Among them, Hanna Brezinska and her younger sister Anita, born in Poland.
They had seen how the rest of the family was shot dead by German soldiers. Little sister Anita was gassed to death after only a few weeks in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hanna managed to avoid being thinned out by lying about her age.
Place for new prisoners
The closing of Auschwitz’s section for Roma was to take place as early as May 1944. But the Roma resisted and the Germans were forced to postpone the closing. Then all able-bodied prisoners were moved to other camps. Only old and sick children remained, who were killed during the night between August 2 and 3.
– One theory is that the Germans needed room for the Hungarian Jews who have now started to arrive and therefore decided to liquidate the Roma, says Dan Hultqvist.
Then Hanna Brezinska had also been moved on and ended up staying in five different camps before she ended up in Sweden with the white buses.
Entry ban for Roma
Hann was lucky to stay in Sweden. Namely, there was a total entry ban for Roma in Sweden between 1914 and 1954.
– Many Roma came after the war, but most received treatment if they had an illness but were then sent back, so Hanna was lucky, says Dan Hultqvist at the Holocaust Museum
Hanna Brezinska was only 14 when she came to Sweden. She eventually married and had 3 children. Her fate is now represented in the exhibition “Sju liv” at the Holocaust Museum in Stockholm.