World Roma Day in Dachau: “We want justice!” – Dachau

Erich Schneeberger, 71, raises his voice when he formulates the central political demand for World Roma Day in the Evangelical Reconciliation Church in Dachau on Sunday: “We want justice for our minority!” The chairman of the Bavarian state association of German Sinti and Roma knows what he is talking about. Almost all of his family members were murdered under National Socialism, half a million fell victim to the genocide, his parents survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp due to serious illnesses, and after 1945 Sinti and Roma in Germany continued to be discriminated against and marginalized – until today. Schneeberger expresses his sadness and anger as he talks about how Roma who are fleeing the war in Ukraine are being singled out today. They are denied the simplest things like food. “Germany in particular has an obligation to help the Roma from Ukraine.” Pastor Björn Mensing agrees and adds: “During the Second World War, thousands of Roma were murdered in 140 locations in Ukraine by task forces and soldiers in mass shootings.”

“We can be proud of our success”

It is a memorable event in the church’s discussion room in the concentration camp memorial, where 42 years ago, in April 1980, eleven German Sinti, including concentration camp survivors, went on a week-long hunger strike to have the Nazi crimes against their minority recognized as genocide to force. The activists around Romani Rose, today chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, also demanded justice. The Munich social worker Uta Horstmann, who is now sitting on the podium and telling the story, was there at the time. “We couldn’t have imagined then that we would be proud today. The hunger strike started a ball rolling that is still rolling.” The Central Council was founded in 1982 and the genocide was recognized by the federal government under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD). The world looked – again – at Dachau: Telegrams of solidarity came from everywhere, the news broadcasts reported continuously – and the Bavarian state government came under increasing pressure. There was another demand at stake: the so-called racial “expert opinions” from the Nazi era, which were said to have been destroyed, were still being used by the police and the courts, and they were even quoted from them in court decisions. “We still don’t have the files,” says Schneeberger. Church Councilor Mensing says they are stored in the Federal Archives. Schneeberger has his doubts about that. “I don’t have much faith in politics.”

Sobering balance sheet of the state treaty

Schneeberger, representative of Romani Rose in the Central Council, took a big step in 2018. He signed a state treaty with the then Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), in which the Free State of Bavaria undertook to take action against discrimination against Sinti and Roma. The German Sinto draws a sobering conclusion: there are officials in the police who would slander Sinti and Roma with the worst slander; according to the state treaty, authorities in particular are called upon to take action against discrimination against the minority. There also seem to be problems with educating young officials. Although, according to Schneeberger, they understand the resentment, they lose all their good intentions “in no time” when they are out on patrol with older colleagues. The media and press, according to Schneeberger, also convey prejudices without thinking. Antiziganism is deeply rooted in the German majority society: according to surveys, more than 55 percent do not want to tolerate Sinti and Roma in their neighborhood, just as many believe that they are inclined to crime. Now the extension of the state treaty is pending. Schneeberger will also hold talks with, among others, the Bavarian anti-Semitism commissioner, Ludwig Spaenle (CSU), about the appointment of an anti-Gypsy commissioner in Bavaria, according to the federal commissioner, who took office in March of this year. Apparently Spaenle wants to take over this function himself. However, voices were also raised as to whether a member of the Sinti and Roma should not be better appointed.

The stone keeps rolling. What Schneeberger did not suspect: Among the guests were Bernhard Seidenath (CSU), Deputy District Administrator Marianne Klaffki (SPD), Luise Krispenz, Dachau’s third mayor, and Richard Seidl, contemporary history officer for the city of Dachau (both Greens). And Gabriele Triebel (Greens), member of the education committee of the Bavarian state parliament and parliamentary group spokeswoman for education, religion/worldview and culture of remembrance. She told the SZ that she took a lot from this event. Your parliamentary group will support the national association of Sinti and Roma in extending the state treaty, including in the appointment of an antiziganism commissioner. “Much has been achieved, but there is still a lot to be done in order to do justice to the Sinti and Roma.”

Mainstream society has never really come to terms with the past

Radoslav Ganev makes it clear on the podium how much still needs to be done. The political scientist has the student association of Sinti and Roma in Germany and the Munich association RomAnity founded. Young Sinti and Roma are hiding because they fear for their studies or their job. The majority of society has never really come to terms with its past, it continues to marginalize and degrade the minority. Referring to the civil rights movement’s hunger strike, Ganev said it was wonderful what the older generation had achieved, but it also saddened him that 40 years later the same battles were still being fought. The Dachau artist Alfred Ullrich, who comes from an Austrian Sinti family, put the perspective into perspective: If the majority of society Sinti and Roma deny their dignity, then they must ask themselves where their own dignity is.

Open detailed view

In the preceding service, which was organized by Pastoral Advisor Judith Einsiedel and Church Councilor Mensing, three victims were remembered: Rudolf Endress, Alfred Ullrich’s uncle, who survived Dachau and many other camps, Jakob Bamberger, who took part in the hunger strike in 1980 – and like so many early on died as a result of being imprisoned in a concentration camp. 2,300 Sinti and Roma were deported to the Dachau concentration camp alone. And Mercedes Kierpacz, German Romni with Polish roots and mother of two children, who was murdered by a right-wing extremist assassin in Hanau in February 2020 at the age of 35. It doesn’t stop – and that’s why the call for justice won’t stop.