In his fortnightly column MARK SEDDON reflects on the death of Major Oak and why such ancient trees matter to us
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Remembering the Roma Holocaust
VICTORIA HOLMES charts the long struggle to gain recognition for the Nazi genocide of Roma, Sinti and Traveller people — and how prejudices against them still remain
Roma and Sinti prisoners at Belzec labour camp, south-eastern Poland, c1940 just before it was turned
into a Nazi German extermination camp
[Public Domain]
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The US-Israeli conflict with Iran has had far-reaching consequences, including a boost to Pakistan’s regional standing, argues ROGER McKENZIE
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The drive to strengthen European defence is reshaping relations between France, Germany, Italy and Britain, says NICK WRIGHT
AUGUST 2 is Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. It commemorates the events of 1944 when the Nazis began the liquidation of the “Gypsy family camp” or Zigeunerlager at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
That night, the SS guards rounded up the men, women and children wearing brown triangles on their uniform (the identification given for “Gypsy stock”) and transported them to the gas chambers and crematoria.
It is estimated that between 2,000 and 4,000 Romani and Sinti people were killed on that night alone, although the overall death count of the Holocaust ranges between 220,000 and 500,000, with the exact figure unlikely to be ever known.
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