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Each year thousands of local activities take place across the UK to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD).

Holocaust Memorial Group Hartlepool was founded in 2014 and is supported by Hartlepool Borough Council Youth Services. HMG Hartlepool is made up of twelve young people aged 13-19 who work hard all year round to educate themselves and raise awareness amongst their peers about the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

On the night of 2/3 August 1944, the camp where Roma and Sinti people were held at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liquidated. Thousands of men, women and children of Roma or Sinti origin were murdered in the gas chambers by Nazi officers. Their bodies were burned in pits.

International Roma Day is an opportunity for us all to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Roma people.

The Roma people are one of the oldest and most persecuted groups of people in Europe. Those called ‘gypsies’ by their neighbours were originally from groups, including the Roma, and also the Sinti, Lalleri and others, who preferred a travelling or nomadic lifestyle. For centuries, most countries had tried to send them away, refusing them permission to travel within their lands.

Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of HMDT, states the importance of marking Roma Genocide Remembrance Day on 2 August.

Every June, we celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) in the UK.

HMDT has produced recipe cards sharing dishes important to communities targeted during genocide. Also providing background information, they are an engaging way of learning about cultures and celebrating the lives of people who were murdered during genocide.

Europe’s Roma and Sinti people were targeted by the Nazis for total destruction. Watch our film to learn more about their experiences and the discrimination they still face today.