Status: 12/30/2022 9:36 p.m
Auschwitz survivor Philomena Franz died at the age of 100. She shared her memories of the time in the concentration camp in lectures and books. She has now been honored by Minister of State for Culture Roth.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth praised the recently deceased Sintiza and Auschwitz survivor Philomena Franz as “a very important, tireless fighter for commemoration”. Roth explained that she was one of the first to raise her voice and speak publicly about her experiences in the concentration camps in the 1970s.
She expressed her sadness and anger and also talked about people who would have helped her. “None of this was to be taken for granted, especially not in post-war Germany.”
Franz died at the age of 100
According to media reports, Franz died on Wednesday at the age of 100 in her hometown of Rösrath near Cologne. The death came unexpectedly, before that she had celebrated Christmas with her family, it said.
Roth warned that the responsibility of the culture of remembrance grows with the death of contemporary witnesses. “The extent to which Sinti and Roma became victims of the National Socialist policy of extermination must be made even clearer. It is also important today that the cultural wealth of the Sinti and Roma is made even more visible as an integral part of our common culture.”
Lectures at schools about their memories
Franz was born in Biberach in 1922 into a Sinti family of musicians. In 1943 she was deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis, where most of her family died. During this time she has lectured in schools and written an autobiography entitled “Between Love and Hate: A Gypsy Life”. She also shared her memories in the form of stories that were published in 1982 in the “Gypsy Tales” collection.
In 1995 she received the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon. In 2001, the civil society network European Movement Germany named her “Woman of Europe 2001”.