Preserving the past to protect the future ...
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Holocaust Memorial Drive for
the Roma/Sinti (Gypsy) People Killed During the Holocaust

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Starting Date: July 28, 2003

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Summary Background

Similar as the Jewish race, the Roma/Sinti (Gypsy) race was targeted by the Hitler's machine for the full extermination. Unlike any category of victims of the Holocaust, the Jews and the Gypsies were targeted by Hitler for their race and nothing else. But unlike the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the Gypsies victims were largely ignored. Indeed, as Dr. Ian Hancock noted with such eloquence in his article "Uniqueness of the Victims: Gypsies, Jews, and the Holocaust," the Holocaust, by in large, has been considered to be "a uniquely Jewish event" and to equate Gypsies with Jews as belonging to the same category of victims in this modern genocide was utterly unthinkable and quite unacceptable. Yet, the proportion of Gypsies killed during the Holocaust paralleled to the proportion of Jews killed during the same Holocaust. Conservatively it is estimated that some half million Gypsies perished during the Holocaust although we have seen studies tripling that half million estimate.
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Purpose and Goal of our Holocaust Memorial Drives

It is the purpose of our Holocaust Memorial Drive to

  • first and foremost rise the level of awareness of the Gypsy victims of the Holocaust -- this forgotten race targeted by Hitler for a complete annihilation; and
  • second, to engage into a campaign designed to engage the United Nations, and various Roma/Sinti organizations for the necessity to get involved for the creation of Memorial Monuments for the Gypsy victims of the Holocaust.
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Argument

The proportion of Gypsies killed during the Holocaust parallels with the proportion of Jews killed during the Holocaust being for both races about 75%. However there is no parallel in how the world had commemorated the memory of the victims from these two respective races as the Gypsies victims, at best, appear as a footnote to the Holocaust. And this, with concern, we submit that is not quite right. The world's moral compass, we believe must point to the suffering of the Gypsy race during the Holocaust and, it is this memory that the United Nations must embrace for the world to remember. A United Nations Gypsy Memorial for the victims of the Holocaust would be indeed a fitting tribute worth implementing.
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How to Help
We are in the process of formulating how anyone could help with this campaign and we will be posting here that result. In the interim, we would appreciate very much indeed with any suggestions that you may have towards accomplishing our stated goals.


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Progress Report
We will be posting here the progress as well as the difficulties encountered with our stated Holocaust Memorial campaign.

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Thank you for coming here and, we look forward to your active participation!
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