In Romanes, the language of the Romani people, the Holocaust is referred to as the Pharrajimos, which means “devouring”.
Before the start of World War II, Romani and Sinti people throughout Europe were treated as second-class citizens, which included unequal treatment in the legal system. Because of their indeterminate status legally, there was and remains considerable debate about the actual number of Roma and Sinti who lost their lives during the Holocaust.
Total estimates of Romani lives lost across Europe range from 500,000 to 1,500,000.
It is widely accepted that the number of Roma and Sinti who were systematically exterminated at the Auschwitz-Birkenau was 20,000.
This month, on 26 February, it will be 76 years since the a train carrying Romani people arrived at Auschwitz. This single train that came into the station in 1943 would be the first of many that would arrive full of Roma into the camp complex.
It was the beginning of a tragedy that European history has largely ignored – the Romani Holocaust, or Pharrajimos.
