Hungary, Europe, Remember Roma Genocide Amid Ongoing Hatred (Worthy News In-Depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Eighty years after World War II, Hungary has commemorated the thousands of Hungarian Roma, often referred to as Gypsies, who perished in the Holocaust.
Between 23,000 and 28,000 Hungarian Roma were deported to Nazi concentration and extermination camps, most of them in 1944, following Nazi Germany’s occupation of Hungary, according to historical records.
Many were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland, where thousands were murdered in the so-called “Gypsy family camp” or subjected to inhumane conditions and forced labor. Others perished in forced labor battalions, or were executed by Hungarian Arrow Cross militias and German SS units.
The genocide of Roma during World War II—often referred to as the Porajmos (meaning “the Devouring” in Romani)—remains one of the least recognized aspects of the Holocaust. Across Nazi-occupied Europe, it is estimated that up to 500,000 Roma were killed.
The persecution of Roma was rooted in Nazi racial ideology, which categorized Roma—like Jews—as “racially inferior.”
The Hungarian fascist regime collaborated closely with the Nazis in the roundup, internment, and deportation of Jews and Roma alike.
MANY ATROCITIES
Despite the scale of the atrocities, the Roma genocide received little international attention in the post-war years, and many survivors were left without recognition or reparations, historians say.
Efforts are ongoing across Europe to memorialize Roma victims of the Holocaust and to include their suffering more prominently in historical education and public discourse.
Yet those efforts continue to face resistance, noted Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony.
“I do not know if there is a monument in Budapest that has been vandalized more than the monument to the Roma victims of the Holocaust,” said Karácsony, speaking near the vandalized memorial site in a park overlooking the Danube River.
“The scene of the mindless, vile and cowardly attack is visible today, reminding us that hate is here with us even now, and if we’re not vigilant enough, it can easily turn into murderous temper,”
he warned.
Karácsony emphasized that the Roma victims, including “those who were collected in the winter of 1944 and driven straight to death from the brick factory in Óbuda,” would not be forgotten.
THOUSANDS KILLED
The commemorations in Hungary were part of the annual European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, held on August 2, marking the liquidation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau “Gypsy camp” in 1944.
On the night of August 2, 1944, some 3,000 Roma prisoners were killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were among the estimated hundreds of thousands of Roma murdered during the Holocaust—23,000 of them in Auschwitz alone.
The commemorations come as Hungary continues to grapple with the legacy of the 2008–2009 neo-Nazi murders targeting Roma communities, in which at least six people were killed and 50 others injured before four suspects were captured and convicted—three sentenced to life imprisonment.
The killings occurred mainly in rural villages heavily populated by Roma.
In February 2009, one of the most brutal attacks unfolded in the village of Tatárszentgyörgy, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Budapest. “I woke up from hearing three shots outside in the garden,” recalled Erzsébet Csorba, mother of one of the victims, in an interview with Worthy News at the time.
“I woke up my husband also because I wanted to go with him to see what happened. When we came out here, outside of the door, we saw immediately the burning house of my son,” she said.
FINDING SON
“So I ran around the house and here on the side of the house there is a little forest and I found my son. ‘They shot me down, they shot me down,’ were the last words that he said. And we also found the little boy. His whole small body was full with holes from the bullets. He was still breathing,” she added, before confirming the child also died shortly after.
Several suspects are believed to remain at large.
The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) condemned the initial police investigation, calling it “marred by institutional racism, negligence and stupidity.”
Mayor Karácsony underscored the importance of confronting hatred against Roma—not just in memory of the Holocaust, but as a present-day reality in Hungary and across Europe.
“It’s good if everyone notes it: The Roma traditions of the city form an indisputable part of Budapest’s identity,” he stressed.
“We are proud of the diversity of our city, our home, and—as we have proven before—we will protect it at all times,” the mayor added, noting that Roma, including leading artists, “contribute to the life of Budapest every day with their work, traditions, and culture.”
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