“Na Bisteras”: Europe remembers the Roma Holocaust – but is memory enough?

Remembering August 2, 1944

Exactly 81 years ago, on the night of 2–3 August 1944, the SS liquidated the so-called Zigeunerlager (Roma camp) in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Around 4,300 Roma – women, men, and children – were murdered in gas chambers that night.

This massacre was not an isolated act, but the culmination of Nazi Germany’s extermination policy against Europe’s Roma communities. Historians estimate that at least half a million Roma were killed during the Holocaust – almost one quarter of their entire European population.

For decades, this story remained pushed aside – absent from public narratives of the Holocaust and rarely taught in schools. The EU only officially recognized August 2 as the European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day in 2015. Yet, nearly a decade later, the Roma genocide still struggles to gain its rightful place in education, public debate, and equality policies.

Symbolic memory or real policy?

Ahead of this year’s Memorial Day, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, and Commissioner Hadja Lahbib issued a joint statement. They reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to fighting antigypsyism and to keeping alive the memory of the Roma genocide.

Education and countering historical distortion were strongly emphasized. But while symbolism matters, it also raises the harder question: how effective are the EU’s real actions?

The EU’s Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2020–2030 sets out ambitious goals across education, employment, healthcare, housing, and participation. Yet, the European Commission’s 2024 progress report makes it clear: implementation in Member States faces serious obstacles.

Will Europe live up to its promises?

The challenge is not only to preserve memory, but also to turn it into real tools of social and anti-discrimination policy.

NGO reports cooperating with the Commission show a mixed picture: countries like Spain and Finland have made some progress, while in others – such as Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia – implementation is more cosmetic than real.

Weak monitoring and lack of enforcement leave Member States free to treat Roma inclusion policies as optional.

The next EU progress report on the Roma Framework will come in 2026. Its findings will be a crucial test of Europe’s credibility. If antigypsyism continues to be tolerated at a systemic level, then memorial days risk being reduced to rituals – without real political consequences.

Towards a future that remembers

August 2 is a reminder that the Holocaust was not only about crimes, but about systematic dehumanization. For Roma communities, that dehumanization began long before Auschwitz – and, in many ways, it still continues today.

Memory cannot be reduced to ceremonies and anniversaries. It should be a driver of reform and accountability.

The Commission’s declaration is a step in the right direction. But without stronger enforcement, systemic education, and genuine Roma participation in decision-making, the EU risks falling short of its own commitments.

Na bisteras – “Do not forget” – is not just a call to remembrance. It is a political and moral responsibility that Europe must be held accountable for.