Commemoration at the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1979

In October 1979, what was then known as the Association of German Sinti, supported by the Society for Threatened Peoples, organised the first large-scale international remembrance ceremony for Sinti and Roma victims at the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It was attended by around 2,000 participants, including 500 Sinti and Roma from twelve European countries. The first president of the European Parliament, Simone Veil, gave a speech, alongside representatives of the churches, political parties and other victim groups of Nazi persecution. As a Jewish survivor of the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Veil underscored her solidarity with the Sinti and Roma, who had themselves been persecuted.

01 | Participants in the march of remembrance arriving at the site of the Bergen-Belsen camp memorial Photo Archives of the Society for Threatened Peoples, photographer: Uschi Dresing
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02 | Simone Veil during her address; Tilman Zülch is to her right Photo Archives of the Society for Threatened Peoples
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03 | Romani Rose and Simone Veil at the remembrance ceremony held in the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Photo Archives of the Society for Threatened Peoples
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04 | Vinzenz Rose during his address; on the right, Tilman Zülch, chairman of the Society for Threatened Peoples, Photo Archives of the Society for Threatened Peoples, photographer: Friedrich Stark/plata
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