Name: Roma Holocaust Memorial Day
Start: 2023-08-05T00:00:00
End: 2023-08-05T23:59:59
Location: IWM London

Saturday 5 August 2023

11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm

This is a past event

IWM London

Parkview Room

Everyone

Free event

Drop-in, open to all visitors

Tickets Not Available

Join us for a very special live performance by two British-Polish Roma artists.

2 August marks Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. Commissioned by IWM and in collaboration with Music Action International, Sindy and Ben Czureja have written an original song inspired by an object on display; a poetry book written in a concentration camp by a teenage Austrian Roma called Johann Stojka.

Throughout the day on Saturday 5 August, Ben and Sindy will perform this original song, as well as a more traditional song titled ‘Where are the Mountains?' to highlight Roma stories and experiences.

The songs will be performed at various times throughout the day. These are free, drop-in sessions and open to all visitors.

Who are the artists?

The original song is written and performed by Sindy and Ben Czureja.

Sindy Czureja is a young Roma singer/songwriter, actor, and beatboxer. She is a key member of the Music Action International facilitation team working in schools through Harmonise and with teenage refugees through Everyday People: LDN.

Ben is a Roma guitarist who has performed on many national and international stages and festivals. He has worked as a Roma assistant in schools, and on a number of programmes with Music Action International.

The ability to play different instruments, sing, dance and beatbox has been passed down through Ben and Sindy's family for generations. They are part of a family band called Romany Diamonds, who are one of the leading bands in the Roma community.

Artist interview

IWM

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Transcript

[Benjamin Czureja plays "Have You Been to Buchenwald?"]

Ben: My name is Benjamin Czureja, a.k.a. Ben Jazzy and I am a Roma from Poland.

Sindy: My name is Sindy and I am also Roma from Poland and this is my brother Benjamin.

Ben: So we come from a very special musical family. Five dynasties of Gypsy generations of musician, mainly violinists.
We are very proud of this because this is the only thing we have

Sindy sings: They got treated just like prisoners
doing everything they had told
though they had to call this place
their home

Ben: Visiting the museum.It kind of hurt, hurt to see what they had to really go through, and especially when I saw the the train,the carrier train, I almost cried to be honest, I just ...very emotional, very emotional, but very also inspiring. I have learned a lot as well about myself,about my culture, and about my heritage. It was great.

Sindy: You hear about the stories, but you don't actually, you know, see these different elements of it. When we saw the bracelets and we saw the book,it was a bit emotional and it was something amazing because a lot of Roma people don't really talk about what happened during the Holocaust times.

Sindy sings: Buchenwald
Buchenwald
So many silenced and others fight for their lives.

Sindy: We got the object, which was the book written by a Roma,a young boy who went through many, many horrendous things during the Holocaust, and he managed to write it down in German in a little notebook. And that just the notebook itself, even if it didn't had even if it had his drawings in it, that would have been something very amazing to see,because not a lot of things were retracted from the Roma people.
We managed to see what they went through in Buchenwald,so we use that as mast, as the starting point.

Sindy sings: We hear the stories of Buchenwald
Makes us cry touches our hearts

Sindy: In this piece, we tried to focus on the fact that no matter what happens to the Roma community, we are not letting go of our culture.

Sindy sings: Buchenwald

Buchenwald

You’ve tried taking their Roma ways

from them

Ben: From the music side and the melodic side. I tried to make it very emotional and it's more of a ballad. And tried to fit the chords in such a way to get the best out of the story. The genre that we played this music comes under the genre of gypsy jazz.

Sindy: Working on a piece was a bit of a challenge for me,and I think the reason why and it's also in the piece that we've created, I've touched on it a little bit, where it says:that ‘’Roma people don't really get involved,as nothing much has changed from the past’’, meaning that we still go through prejudicism, we still go through racism, we still go through hard times. Being put down all the time, even by the news and the stereotypes that people have for Roma people,even the way people call us gypsies.

Ben: This is not a name that we could also.It was called from the outside. We are known obviously as gypsies because, you know, gypsy music, Gypsy jazz. We were called a Romani or Sinti or like you say, in France, Manouche. This is something that kind of personal for me that I would like to change it in the future and, and have it changed to to just Roma. But I think it takes time and progress,inform people about it and educate people about it. We need more of that, definitely.

Sindy: We come from a long line of musicians. I am not a musician. I am a singer.So what I try to do is get gathered the old songs, the old Roma, songs that have been passed on from generation to generation. I try my best to kind of add a little bit of a modern twist into the really, really old songs.

Sindy sings: We hear stories from the war how Roma lives changed so fast
Buchenwald is just one place where Roma lost trust
that’s why we don’t get involved as nothing much has changed
from the past

Ben: Should we give it another go?

Sindy: Yes.

Ben: Ok

Sindy and Ben Czureja reflect on creating their original song inspired by an object on display in The Holocaust Galleries at IWM London.

Johann Stojka's Poetry Book

Credit: Kazerne Dossin, Booklet Lagergedichte Johann Stojka, Buchenwald

Poetry book written by Johann Stojka in Buchenwald, on loan from Kazerne Dossin.

During his time in Buchenwald concentration camp, fifteen-year-old Austrian Roma Johann Stojka risked his life by writing a book of poems. The poems, written in German, and the accompanying illustrations, describe his ongoing hunger and maltreatment during his time in Buchenwald.

In May 2023, Sindy and Ben were invited to IWM London and given a tour of the Holocaust Galleries by one of IWM’s curators. They were introduced to objects, images, and resources relating to Roma experiences, including Johann's poetry book, which inspired their creative response.

The object is on loan from Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights, Mechelen, and this project is made possible by their kind assistance.

IWM

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Transcript

Roma kamen te dzidziol te Bach I sastypen
(Roma want to live in luck and health)

Lauren Wilmott, curator: We mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day to commemorate the genocide against the Roma. It falls on the 2nd of August when in 1944 the SS sent remaining Roma men, women and children from the so-called Zigeunerlager or Gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau to the gas chambers. Somewhere between 2897 to 4300 men, women and children were murdered on this night.

Sindy: We got the object, which was the book written by a Roma, a young boy who went through many, many horrendous things during the Holocaust. And he managed to write it down
in German in a little notebook, and we managed to see what they went for in Buchenwald. So we use that as mast, as the starts of points.

Ben: My name is Benjamin Czureja a.k.a Ben Jazzy, and I am a Roma from Poland.

Sindy: My name is Sindy and I'm also Roma from Poland and this is my brother Benjamin.

Ben: And from the music side, and the melodic side, I tried to make it very emotional. And...It's more of a ballad and try to fit the chords in such a way to get the best of the story.

Lauren: So it's great to have the opportunity to show Ben and Sindy around the Holocaust galleries at IWM and to show how we've integrated the experiences in the stories
of the Roma throughout the galleries.

Sindy: When we saw the bracelets and we saw the book it was a bit emotional and it was something amazing because a lot of Roma people don't really talk about what happened during the Holocaust times.

Lauren: It was really great for me as a curator on the subject to be able to share the experiences in the narrative of what happened with Ben and Sindy, because it's their history and their heritage. And it was really nice to hear that Ben said he learned a lot about himself as well
in the process.

Ben: Visiting the museum, it kind of hurt to see what they had to really go through. I almost cried to be honest. I just ... very emotional, very emotional, but
very also inspiring at the same time. And I've learned a lot as well about myself, about my culture, and about my heritage. It was great.

Lauren: Historically, the Roma have been called gypsies, a name given to the Roma by non Roma people. The word ‘’Roma’’ encompasses all different groups including, Sinti, Lovara, Kalderash and Manouche. These groups have some shared traditions and histories, but also different identities and beliefs.

Sindy: We still go through prejudicism, We still go through racism. We still go through hard times. Being put down all the time, even by the news and the stereotypes that people have for Roma people.

Ben: We are known obviously as gypsies because, you know, gypsy music, Gypsy jazz, this is not a name that we code ourselves. It was called from the outside.

Lauren: While some Roma are proud to identify as gypsies, others find the term deeply offensive and derogatory. The Nazis use the word ‘’Zigeuner’’ the German word for Gypsy, and this term remains deeply offensive today. The Roma were persecuted before the Nazis, but this persecution intensified during the period of the Third Reich when the Roma were persecuted
on racial grounds. So at Imperial War Museums and in the Holocaust galleries,we use the word gypsy only in a historical context. Nazis believe that ‘’Zigeuner’’ or ‘’Gypsies’’ posed a threat to the very existence of the German folk or
German people. The Nazis idea of a nation that was aligned with their ideas of race and belief. The Roma were considered racially inferior. As a result, in Germany, approximately 20,000 Roma were forced to undergo racial examinations. They were registered with police, fingerprinted and photographed, much in the same way as
criminals were. Across Nazi occupied Europe, thousands were arrested and some deported to ghettos, labor camps and concentration camps.

In Eastern Europe, thousands more were shot by Nazi Einsatzgruppen or mobile killing units. In Germany, some were forcibly sterilized. And in December 1942, the Nazis ordered that all remaining Roma in Germany and Austria
be sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.Here, thousands died because of the atrocious living conditions. And on the 2nd of August, 1944, those who remained in the camp were sent to the gas chambers and murdered.

At least 200,000 Roma were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators although the true number remains unknown and it could be much higher.

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is a day to remember what happened on the 2nd of August 1944. But it's also a dayto remember the genocide against the Roma and all of the men,
women and children who were murdered and persecuted by the Nazis
during the Second World War.

Sindy sings:

...Kaj fedyr lenge te jawel
( ...so that it could be better)
bibachcia bare len zarakenas
(but bad luck had found them)

a romanipen na zanaszade
(but they didn’t loose their roma culture)
duredyr dzipnaskro ciacipen siklakirde
(they continued to teach their life’s truth)

IWM Curator Lauren Wilmott and artists Sindy and Ben talk about the experiences of Roma people during the Second World War.

They also discuss how this story is told in the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London and in the song written by Ben and Sindy to mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day 2023.