It took decades before Germany recognized the Romani Holocaust — the Nazi genocide of 500,000 European Roma and Sinti during World War II. Several more decades passed before the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma became an official German and European day of remembrance, celebrated each year on August 2.

Based on initiatives by Polish Roma groups, the Nazi liquidation of the so-called "Gypsy Family Camp" in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp on the evening of August 2-3, 1944, was first commemorated half a century later, in 1994.

Thousands of deported Roma and Sinti had already been killed as a result of malnutrition and disease. That evening, thousands more were forced into gas chambers, shot and beaten to death by Nazi henchmen.

In 2015, the European Parliament declared this date the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. In Germany and other European countries, the genocide is commemorated by officials with the participation of government representatives. In some cases, representatives of European governments travel to the memorial site in Auschwitz.

In most cases, however, countries hold their own memorial services — particularly in central and southeastern Europe, where Nazi extermination commonly targeted Romani peoples. These days, such memorial days also take the opportunity to raise awareness for ongoing Antiziganism and the consequences it has.

Poland: 15 years of commemoration

Poland, home to an estimated 30,000 Roma, has been observing August 2 since 2011. The ceremony routinely includes a visit by parliamentary and governmental representatives to the Auschwitz Memorial.

Another important day of remembrance is observed each year in the village of Szczurowa, east of Krakow, on July 3. It honors the memory of Polish Roma massacred by German troops in 1943. In 1956, Szczurowa became the first site of a European memorial for victims of the Romani Holocaust.

Other small towns and villages across southeastern Poland also commemorate the killing of Polish Roma during Nazi German occupation.

Czechia: A former pig farm turned memorial site

In the Czech Republic, where nearly 250,000 Roma live, August 2 has been an official day of remembrance since 2015. The most important ceremony is held in Lety, south of Prague, where Roma organizations have been commemorating the genocide for decades. This is the site where German Nazis established a concentration camp in 1940, and began deporting and imprisoning Romani families from occupied Bohemia from 1942 onward.

After the war, the site was used as a pig farm. It was closed in 2018, following a long controversy, and transformed into a place of remembrance.

Czech President Petr Pavel and then-Prime Minister Petr Fiala both attended the opening ceremony in April 2024.

Another memorial site is located in Hodonin north of Brno, at the location of a further Nazi concentration camp which imprisoned Romani people from Bohemia and Moravia. Here, one of the atrocities commemorated includes the mass deportation of Roma and Sinti to Auschwitz on August 21, 1943.

Slovakia: Memorial Day established in 2005

Around half a million Roma live in Slovakia. Here, the Romani Holocaust Memorial Day has been observed on August 2 since 2005. The main ceremony is held at the Slovak National Uprising (SNU) museum in Banska Bystrica in central Slovakia.

The museum honors the 1944 armed uprising against Nazi occupation. It was one of the largest anti-fascist movements in Europe during World War II.

The memorial ceremony is organized by the government's Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities and non-governmental Roma initiatives. Other representatives of the state or the presidential office also take part.

Hungary: Antiziganism yesterday and today

Around 600,000 Roma call Hungary home. Here, since 2005, various sites have been observing the Romani Holocaust Memorial Day on August 2, following a parliamentary resolution. In Budapest alone, there are three places of remembering for the Roma murdered during the Holocaust where commemorative events are held. The reason for these and numerous other memorial sites is that Hungarian Roma were the target of deportations and killings particularly following German occupation in 1944 and under the rule of the Arrow Cross, Hungary's fascist regime.

Historical remembrance in Hungary is also deeply intertwined with the racist murdering spree directed at Roma people between 2008 and 2009. In this time, four Hungarian neo-Nazis killed a total of six people and injured 55 others, some of them severely. They planned their final hate crime for the night of August 2, in the eastern village of Kisleta.

Romania: Deportation to Transnistria

Romania, where around 2 million Roma live, Roma Holocaust Memorial Day has officially been observed since 2020. The main event is held at the Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest, which was inaugurated in 2009. Under the dictator Ion Antonescu, who was allied with Nazi Germany, Romania independently organized the mass deportation of Jews and Roma to Transnistria, where about 380,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma were murdered in camps or died from hunger and disease. In 2025, President Nicusor Dan became the first Romanian head of state to personally attend the memorial service.

In 2004, Romania designated October 9 as its official Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was on that day that Jewish citizens were first deported from the Bukovina region to Transnistria. The day also explicitly honors the memory of Roma who were deported and murdered by Antonescu's regime.

Bulgaria: Commemoration without day of remembrance

About 700,000 Roma call Bulgaria home. Here, August 2 has yet to be declared an official day of remembrance, but it is still marked with commemorative events organized by Roma organizations. Government and state representatives also take the occasion to issue commemorative statements. Although Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany, it resisted German demands to deport Jews and Roma. But groups were discriminated against through a wide range of racist laws, and effectively made second-class citizens.

Croatia: Focus on escape attempt

Croatia has a population of about 25,000 Roma. Its parliament only declared August 2 a day of remembrance in 2014. The main commemorative ceremony is held at the site of the former concentration and extermination camp Jasenovac, where the fascist Ustashe movement imprisoned Serbs, Jews, Croats and Roma.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 were murdered there. High-ranking politicians regularly take part in commemorative ceremonies. More broadly, remembrance events in Jasenovac primarily highlight April 22, when prisoners attempted to escape the extermination camp in 1945.

North Macedonia: Memorial Day and national holiday

Around 100,000 Roma live in North Macedonia, where the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day has officially been observed on August 2 since 2017. A key remembrance ceremony is held in Skopje at the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia. In North Macedonia is also a national and religious holiday: Republic Day and St Elijah Day, respectively. because of this, public remembrance of the Roma genocide tends to receive less attention.

Serbia: No official day of remembrance

In Serbia, home to around 130,000 Roma, August 2 is not an official memorial day for the Roma genocide. But there are other days of remembering the genocidal policies of the Nazi and Ustase regimes which also honor the memory of the Roma killed in the genocide.

This article was translated from German.