Український центр вивчення Голокосту

The Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

Today, on 2 August, the whole world commemorates the victims of the Nazi genocide of the Roma. It was on the night of 2 to 3 August 1944 that the Nazis murdered more than 4,000 Roma prisoners in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland.

Roma were subjected to stigmatisation and restrictions long before the National Socialist dictatorship. The Nazis took these prejudices to extremes. The genocide began after the Nazis came to power, with the gradual isolation of Roma and the deprivation of their rights and means of livelihood. As a result of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, marriages between Germans and so-called "outsiders" were banned.

In the same year, Roma in large cities began to be forcibly relocated to "Gypsy camps". A decree of the Kriminalpolizei of 8 December 1938 stated that it was necessary to "finally resolve the Gypsy question", which stemmed "from the very nature of this race".

In 1943, more than 22,000 Roma from Germany and some other European countries were deported to Auschwitz. About 19,300 people died there from starvation, cold, diseases, exhaustion, medical experiments, or were sent to the gas chambers.

In his publications and interviews, Mykhailo Tiaglyy notes that it is difficult to calculate the exact number of victims among the Roma population in Ukraine during the Second World War. According to his estimates, the total number of Roma killed on the present-day territory of Ukraine is approximately 25,000, although this number could be much higher. Ukraine was then divided into several spheres of influence: most of it was under German occupation, some was subordinated to Romania, and a small area belonged to the Hungarians (from publications by Mykhailo Tiaglyy, researcher at the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies https://www.radiosvoboda.org/.../pid-chas.../31386887.html)

You can learn more about the genocide of Roma in Nazi-occupied Ukraine on our website https://www.holocaust.kiev.ua/Files/News/ukraine_kyr.pdf

Announcements

7/7/2025
History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Commemoration. Educational seminar-school. Kyiv 2025 [More]
6/27/2025
Research and Methodology Seminar "The History of Genocides in Ukraine: Lessons and Contemporary Challenges" [More]
6/2/2025
International scientific and methodological seminar “History of genocides in Ukraine: study of experience and contemporary challenges” [More]
5/26/2025
Lecture for Ukrainian diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine as part of the “Diplomacy of Memory” project [More]
5/18/2025
I.B. Medvynsky All-Ukrainian Competition of Student Research and Art Works “History and Lessons of the Holocaust” [More]

8/18/2025
Educational seminar-school “History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Commemoration”

From 13 to 16 August 2025, the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, in partnership with Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, held its annual seminar The History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Memory.
[More]
8/8/2025
Invisible. Resilience: The Past and Present of the Roma

On 2 August 2025, International Roma Genocide Remembrance Day, the exhibition Invisible. Resilience: The Past and Present of the Roma opened at the Living Memory Exhibition Centre of the Babyn Yar National Memorial Museum.
[More]
8/4/2025
You're walking down the street and suddenly see a name. No Grand Words. But a Story.

This is a stumbling stone — a small concrete cube with a brass plate. Often unnoticed by those rushing past, but deeply eloquent to those who pause. Each stone marks a story. A life. And a memory returning to the city. Since August 2025, the Kyiv project “One Stone — One Life: 80 Stumbling Stones for Kyiv” has continued its work. This autumn will bring new installations, new names, new research, and new teams, which we will begin forming in September. Follow our announcements — it might just be you
[More]
8/1/2025
Holocaust Memory: Ukrainian and Polish Experiences Public Lecture at the “Sense” Bookstore in Kyiv

On 28 July, the sixth meeting of the Polish Institute's History Club took place at the Sens bookshop in Kyiv. This time, the topic was the memory of the Holocaust and World War II — particularly relevant at a time when Ukraine is experiencing a new national trauma.
[More]
7/31/2025
Open Lecture on the Occasion of the International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Roma Genocide at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

On July 28, 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine hosted a lecture marking the International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Nazi Genocide of the Roma, organized as part of the “Memory Diplomacy” initiative.
[More]

The Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

Announcements

Latest News

Educational seminar-school “History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Commemoration”

Invisible. Resilience: The Past and Present of the Roma

You're walking down the street and suddenly see a name. No Grand Words. But a Story.

Holocaust Memory: Ukrainian and Polish Experiences Public Lecture at the “Sense” Bookstore in Kyiv

Open Lecture on the Occasion of the International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Roma Genocide at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine