Український центр вивчення Голокосту

Holocaust

Donate

Вхід

Why is 2nd August the International Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma?

Prejudice against the ethnical minority of Roma and Sinti has its starting point long time before the Nazis dictatorship. A large part of society has labelled them criminal and uneducated.

Later on, as the Nazis took over, the perception of Roma people has become more racist, as they were accused of being a thread to the “Aryan” race.

Slowly, the Nazis began the persecution of Roma and Sinti by isolating them socially, so that they were expelled from the imperial chamber of musicians, not allowed to work or practice their culture.

In 1943, 22 000 German Roma have been deported to Auschwitz, nearly 19 300 died from hunger, cold, sickness or human medical experiments.

On the night from 2. to 3. August. 1944, the less than 4 000 Roma that have remained in the camp were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

Including the areas of Crimea, western Ukraine and the transcarpatian region, 20 000 is the estimated number of Roma on Ukrainian ground in 1941.

The estimation of the number of victims is considered problematic, due to deportation of Roma from Romania to be killed in Ukraine, such as bad protocol of killings. The real number of Ukrainian Roma victims must be over 24 000.

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]

Why is 2nd August the International Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma?

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