May 16th:
On 15 May 1944, the 6000+ Roma in the camp were warned that the Nazis were planning their execution. On 16 May 1944, more than 600 Roma prisoners did not show up for the usual morning roll call but barricaded themselves into their barracks. They had broken into an equipment warehouse and armed themselves with hammers, pickaxes and shovels, and taken apart the wooden sections of the bunks they slept on to make weapons. As a result of their defiance, no Roma or Sinti died in the gas chambers on that day. This act of resistance troubled the Nazi Regime. Fearing a camp-wide revolt, 3000 Roma were transferred to other camps. On 2 August 1944, the Nazis gassed the remaining 3000 Roma prisoners in the Blle camp.
The courageous revolt of 16 May 1944 – a fight for the right to life and humanity - is widely referred to as Romani Resistance Day.
To this day, we are still fighting and resisting genocide.
Learn more here.
Also some stories from survivors.
:romani:
I really appreciate all you do for Romani visibility on this site. I've always learned something new from your posts, and this is no exception. Thank you.
I was told by a Romani girl I befriend in, of all places, an arcade in Whitby that the word they have for holocaust is “Porajamos” (sorry if that spelling is way off, I’ve never seen it written out) and while it’s a fairly new word, saying it carries a lot of weight behind it and can silence a room because of that.
As you seem way more knowledgeable about their culture than I will ever be, I’m curious as to whether that’s actually true or not
Yeah, in most dialects that’s what it’s called, it’s similar translation of like “a devouring” or “a mass rape.” Very heavy word for sure and not to be used lightly.
Edit: also some groups don’t like using it at all. My family doesn’t mind using it but I have heard some people not even use the word.
Goddamn, that’s an accurate description for the horrors that occurred.
Truly a courageous group of people that will be looked back at as ahead of their time. :chavez-salute:
Thank you for posting this. Comrades and heroes, resisting in the darkest circumstances.
I have been called anti-Semitic so many times the past week it’s losing all actual meaning. Do you have any idea how fucked up that is ?
Not sure what this has to do with the post? Are you referring to Palestine?
