German lawmakers attend Auschwitz ceremony for Sinti-Roma

German and other European officials, along with survivors, attended a ceremony on Friday to commemorate the mass murder of thousands of Sinti and Roma people 80 years ago during Germany's Nazi rule.

On the night of August 2, 1944, German guards killed 4,300 men, women and children held at the so-called Gypsy Family Camp at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

The victims were sent to the gas chambers at the camp, located in the then-occupied Polish town of Oswiecim.

In total, 500,000 Sinti and Roma fell victim to the crimes of Nazi Germany.

The genocide is marked on Friday as the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma.

Genocide 'concealed and denied' even after the war

The head of Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, said Auschwitz still represents "the greatest crime that people have ever committed against people," including Sinti and Roma victims.

She said it was "a bitter realization" that in post-war Germany, the genocide of the Sinti and Roma was "concealed and denied" and hardly any perpetrators were brought to justice.

Bas said that "hostile attitudes and discrimination against Sinti and Roma are still widespread" as they are discriminated against when looking for housing and jobs and are often distrusted by government agencies.

The German delegation included Manuela Schwesig, state premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the speaker of the Bundesrat upper house of parliament, Culture Minister Claudia Roth and several Bundestag lawmakers.

Today's 'false prophets' pose similar threat, just as the Nazis did

Several survivors described how they were impacted by the Nazi's policy toward Sinti and Roma people.

"There is hardly a family among us Sinti and Roma that does not associate the name Auschwitz with the murder of their relatives," Holocaust survivor Alma Klasing told the attendees.

She warned that the surge in support for far-right parties across Europe was worrying before asking young people to "defend our democracy" against the threat of "these false prophets."

Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski, who is also president of the International Auschwitz Committee, also alerted in his speech about growing discrimination in European societies.

"It begins with hate speech and it ends with Auschwitz," the 98-year-old said.

Polish Senate President Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska gave a speech on behalf of her country in front of attendees from Lithuania, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Israel and other countries.

Auschwitz played key role in Holocaust

Auschwitz is remembered as one of six major extermination camps set up by the Nazis to round up and kill some 6 million Jews across Europe during World War II. The figure represented around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population at the time.

Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz during the war, 1.1 million were put to death, including 960,000 Jews as well as Roma-Sinti people, Soviet prisoners of war, and gay men.

mm/msh (AFP, dpa)