Memorial unveiled for Roma Holocaust victims

The memorial was unveiled outside Newcastle Civic Centre

England's first permanent public memorial dedicated to Roma victims of the Holocaust has been unveiled.

The memorial has been erected outside Newcastle City Council's headquarters to remember the victims of the genocide and honour soldiers from the region who helped liberate concentration camps in Europe.

It is estimated up to 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis during World War Two and the memorial was funded by the Tyneside Roma community.

Irma Karchnakova, of the Roma Right Path Project, said her great-grandfather Jan was murdered at Auschwitz and the statue "means a lot" to her family.

She said she was "very proud" of the local Roma community for creating the tribute.

Nicu Ion, of the Roma Access Association, said the monument was a "powerful statement that history needs to be remembered, commemorated, and that we need to educate younger generations about the atrocities of the past so that those mistakes won't happen again".

The former city councillor led the efforts to establish monument and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he hoped it would help tackle hate crime and racism experienced by his community.

Romanian embassy delegate Mariam El-Hek said the memorial was a "long overdue act of justice"

"Prejudice against the Roma community is increasing and we need to do a lot of education and outreach so people can understand how hatred and extremism can lead to devastating our communities and people's lives," he said.

Dalibar Ferenc, 18, hoped the memorial would spread awareness of the impact of Nazi persecution on Roma people.

"I never actually learned much about it, especially at school," he said.

Ruth-Anne Lenga, associate professor at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, praised the city's efforts campaigning for the monument.

"I think it will help to challenge anti-Roma discrimination.

"We need to know these things. We live in such a fragile world where genocide can happen again, is happening again," she said.

The memorial was unveiled the day before European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on Saturday.

During the ceremony traditional Roma songs were sung and wreathes laid.

Council leader Karen Kilgour said there were about 4,000 Roma people in Newcastle and they had "enriched our city for the better".

She said: "This monument is a long overdue tribute to the men, women and children whose lives were stolen by hatred and persecution.

"It is also a tribute to those from our own region, soldiers from the North East who bore witness to the horrors of the camps and played a vital role in their liberation.

"Their bravery and the lessons history learned must never be forgotten."

Local political and religious leaders and members of the Roma community were joined at Friday's event by representatives of the Romanian Embassy and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Romanian embassy delegate Mariam El-Hek said the memorial was a "long overdue act of justice and act of remembrance".

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