EU leaders mark 82nd anniversary of Roma Holocaust as 4,300 murdered at Auschwitz recalled
On 2 August, we commemorated European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, and Hadja Lahbib Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, issued the following statement:
“Today, we mark the eighty-second anniversary of one of the darkest chapters in Europe’s history. On the night of 2 August 1944, 4,300 Roma and Sinti children, women and men were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were among the more than 500,000 Roma who lost their lives during the Holocaust – a genocide that destroyed families, communities and cultures, and claimed at least a quarter of the Roma population living in Europe at the time.
For decades, the suffering of Roma and Sinti victims was overlooked, their voices unheard, their families left with an absence that could never be filled. Today, we honour their memory and reaffirm our shared responsibility to ensure that this chapter of the Holocaust is never forgotten or diminished.
As the voices of survivors become fewer with each passing year, our responsibility to preserve their memory grows greater. Each year, we mark 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. By remembering the past, we reaffirm our commitment to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.
While we learn from the past, we must also address the injustices of the present. Antigypsyism remains an enduring challenge for many Roma across Europe, continuing to drive inequality, social exclusion, systemic discrimination and violence. This is unacceptable. We stand united against discrimination, racism and hatred in all their forms. Confronting this legacy is a foundational pillar of our Roma Strategic Framework 2020-2030, which champions Roma inclusion in all aspects of life. The recently adopted Anti-Racism Strategy 2026-2030 also explicitly targets antigypsyism as a distinct and severe form of racism which requires dedicated action.
We hold the memory of the victims in our hearts and we will never forget them. We renew our commitment to uphold the values on which our Union is built. It is through remembrance, education and determined action, that we can build a Union where every person can live in dignity, equality and freedom. Hatred has no place in Europe.
