On the occasion of Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day, a commemorative event takes place in Budapest today organized by the Holocaust Memorial Centre and the Tom Lantos Institute. During the event among others speeches are delivered by State Secretary György Hölvényi of the Human Resources Ministry, Rita Izsák, the Director of the Budapest based Tom Lantos Institute, as well as by representatives of the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Politics Can Be Different party.

After lighting candles, participants including Roma artists, foreign diplomats, representatives of state and civil organizations lay wreaths at the Roma Holocaust Memorial on the bank of the Danube followed by an ecumenical service. Commemorations are also held in other parts of the country including Nyiregyhaza, Miskolc and Békés county.

The Roma Holocaust has been commemorated worldwide on August 2 since 1972. It was on the night of August 2 in 1944 when more than 3,000 Roma, mainly women and children, were murdered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps. According to historians' estimates, several tens of thousands of Hungary's Roma people perished in the Holocaust.

Lívia Járóka, Member of the European People’s Party representing the Hungarian Fidesz party suggested that the Roma Holocaust should also be commemorated within the framework of a European Remembrance Day.
In August, two other commemorative events are to be held in relation to the Holocaust. One of them is the Day of Humanity 2012 organized by the Holocaust Memorial Centre, where the opening remarks will be delivered by Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Resources. The other is the final conference - entitled „Memories are the key to the future” - of a social programme implemented within the framework of the New Széchenyi Plan.

(Ministry of Human Resources)