Recognition of the Roma Genocide

 Recognition, official texts

According to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) (Education on the Holocaust and on Anti-Semitism, p. 71), the Holocaust is referred to as "the destruction of the Jewish population of Europe by the Nazis during World War II". The extermination of other national minorities is also mentioned briefly in certain textbooks.

There is no officially designated Holocaust memorial day in Belarus. However, since 2006, Belarus has observed 27th January as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. In addition, commemorative events are held annually on 2nd March, the date of the major anti-Jewish pogroms in the Minsk ghetto, and on 9th May, the Victory Day.

Belarus has not established a memorial day for commemorating victims of the Roma and Sinti genocide. Representatives of those nationalities killed by the Nazis are commemorated in Belarus annually on 22nd June, when the country commemorates all the victims of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), and also on other days related to the war.

 Data (camps locations, Remembrance places, measures etc.)

In the Koldichevo camp, up to 22 000 people were murdered, among them Jews, Belarusians and Poles. According to the inscription on one of the memorials there were also Romani among the victims. The exact number of victims is not known. Approximately two kilometres north of the village a memorial was inaugurated in 2002, including and specifically naming all victim groups: Jews, Poles, Belarusians and Roma.

The Commissioner for Religious and Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and other representatives of his office participate on a regular basis in publicly sponsored commemorative events dedicated to the Holocaust. President Alexander Lukashenko took part in the commemorative events dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Minsk ghetto, which were held at the “Yama” (a Russian word for “pit”) memorial, from 20th to 23rd October 2008. On 21st October 2013, a commemorative ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the Minsk ghetto was held at the Yama memorial and event was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs who placed a stone and laid a wreath at the monument. The ceremony was also attended by the president of the World Jewish Congress and by the Commissioner for Religious and Ethnic Affairs of Belarus.

On 8th June 2014, the President of Belarus laid a capsule containing a message for future generations on the site of a forthcoming memorial commemorating the Trostianets extermination camp, where Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

 Specialised institution, commission, research centre etc., dealing with this issue

According to the available information, there is no specialised institution, commission or research centre specifically dealing with the issue of the Roma Genocide.

Commissioner for Religions and Nationalities: Leanid P. Gouliako
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus
11 Kommunisticheskaya St., Minsk 220029, Belarus
Telephone: +375 17 284-63-44

National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus
K. Marks st., 12, 220030, Minsk, Belarus
Telephone: +375 17 327-43-22, 327-48-27
E-mail: [email protected]

Novogrudok Museum of History and Regional Studies
ul.Grodnenskaya 2, 231400, Novogrudok, Belarus
Telephone: +375 8 01597 21470

Belarusian National Holocaust Foundation

 Official initiatives (campaigns, actions, projects, commemoration days, museums)

The Yama Memorial in Minsk commemorates the city's ghetto victims. State authorities reported that some local communities organise regular events commemorating the extermination of the Jews. The subject of the Holocaust is one of the topics researched and presented by the Museum of History and Culture of the Belarusian Jews. The Museum of History and Regional Studies in Novogrudok also carries out research.