Ahead of the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, on 2 August, 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 have made the following statement:
"Today, we commemorate the 4,300 Roma and Sinti children, women, and men who, on 2 August 1944, were forcibly taken from their imprisonment at Auschwitz-Birkenau and led to their deaths in the gas chambers — a brutal act of mass murder committed 81 years ago.
On this solemn day we remember all the 500,000 Roma that were killed during the Holocaust - a genocide that claimed millions of innocent lives. It tore apart families, communities, and cultures across Europe.
This year also marks a decade since the official recognition of 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. We unequivocally reaffirm our commitment to honour the memory of Roma and Sinti victims and ensure their suffering is never forgotten, overlooked or diminished.
We stand united against the discrimination and antigypsyism that continue to pose a serious threat to Roma communities. We also reaffirm our pledge to preserve the memory of Roma Holocaust through education, remembrance, and the fight against all forms of Holocaust denial and distortion.
We hold the memory of the victims in our hearts and stand together in determination as we work to ensure that human dignity is upheld, diversity is celebrated and hatred has no place.
Na bisteras. We will never forget."
Background
In 2015, the European Parliament declared 2 August as the annual 'European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day' to honour the 500,000 European Roma – representing at least a quarter of their total population at that time – murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe.
The European Commission and EU Member States have committed to combat hatred, discrimination and prejudice against Romani people that was at the root cause of the Roma Holocaust and other atrocities committed against Roma communities throughout history, and that continues to fuel exclusion, violence, and inequality in Europe today. This is a core objective of the EU Roma Strategic Framework 2020-2030 in pursuing the realisation of Roma equality, inclusion and participation at both European and national level.
The Commission remains steadfast in its commitment to combat hatred and fight against discrimination as reaffirmed in the Joint Communication on 'No place for hate: a Europe united against hatred' adopted in December 2023 by the European Commission and the High Representative. Through our collective efforts, guided by the EU Roma Strategic Framework 2020-2030 , we are working alongside Roma communities, Member States and civil society to promote equality, inclusion and participation in education, employment, housing and healthcare.
The Commission published its last report on the implementation of national Roma strategic frameworks in September 2024. It shows some progress but also highlights that more work is needed to recognise antigypsyism and implement effective measures to prevent and eliminate it in the long term. The next such Commission report is due in 2026.
In 2025, as part of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme , the European Commission is providing €18 million to support projects on European Remembrance . A priority is dedicated to projects that aim to strengthen Holocaust remembrance, genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity to reinforce democracy in the EU supporting, among others, projects dedicated to Roma Holocaust. Another priority of this call funds, among others, also projects dedicated to Roma history and culture. Additionally, the joint project of the European Commission and the Council of Europe ' RomaMemory ' aims to raise awareness about the systematic persecution of Roma and the genocide on Roma during the Holocaust.
