Reding did not mean the Holocaust, but the 'Great Devouring,' Andor says A Roma woman outside her home - the gypsies are to an extent the forgotten victims of WWII, Andor said (Photo: Council of Europe)
LEIGH PHILLIPS <l...@euobs.com> Today @ 17:43 CET EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Weighing into the bitter European Union debate over the Roma, the bloc's social affairs chief, Laszlo Andor, uniquely among his commission colleagues, has come to the defence of vice-president Viviane Reding's comparison of France's expulsions to the horrors that befell the continent during World War II. - Print <http://euobserver.com/9/30835?print=1> - Comment article <deb...@euobs.com> Although most leaders defended the commission's right to investigate France for a breach of EU law, almost uniformly, they have said Ms Reding went too far when she said: "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War." But Mr Andor, Hungary's representative in the commission, and by some degree its most left-wing member, has said her comparison is historically accurate and he "totally" supports her words. He is frustrated that much of the discourse over the past few days both by politicians and in the media has assumed that Ms Reding had likened French treatment of Roma with that of Jews, forgetting that for gypsies, the Holocaust was also known as "O Baro Porrajmos," or the Great Devouring. "Europe must not forget that the Roma suffered a great loss of lives during the Holocaust," he told Spanish daily La Razon on Thursday. This aspect of the Holocaust is infrequently recalled, and has not featured in much of the debate in the past few weeks. Some 250,000 gypsies died during the Porrajmos, a Romani term for the Holocaust, Mr Andor reminded the paper. While no government is massacring Roma, the commissioner noted that the round-ups and destruction of the camps themselves have very strong echoes within the community of the round-ups that took place across Europe 70 years ago. "This is part of their collective memory, and when there is a growing intolerance or xenophobia, we should be conscious of the historical context," he said. The Romani communities of Europe, being nomadic, were often less organised than the their Jewish counterparts, making accurate assessments of the true figures of those killed very difficult. However, researchers believe the range is between 220,000 and, according to Sybil Milton, of the US Holocaust Memorial Research Institute, 1.5 million. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's comments that he would be happy to see Luxembourg take in France's Roma are of particular historical resonance: After World War Two there were no gypsies left in the Grand Duchy, with almost the entire population having been eradicated, according to Ian Hancock, an academic specialising in research into the subject. An almost total annihilation also occcured in Croatia, Estonia, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Asked about the expulsions, Commissioner Andor said: "This has been an unfortunate event. Many hundreds of Roma have been forced to leave their homes and are not wanted. Viviane Reding has been very explicit in her statement and I totally support her." He added that Europe should focus now on what can be done to end the exclusion of the Roma instead of on the internal EU row, saying: "It's unfortunate how the controversy has developed because we have focused on it instead of us thinking what we can do." He stressed that Spain's integration actions have worked and other countries should try to emulate them: "The integration policies of Spanish gypsies have been a great success in Europe. When I have the opportunity, I think it will be important to praise these results and encourage the countries of central and eastern Europe and the Balkans to engage in similar actions." http://euobserver.com/9/30835/?rk=1 _______________________________________________ News mailing list n...@antic.org-snn http://lists.antic.org/mailman/listinfo/news
