018 marks two anniversaries. It is the 75th anniversary of the mass deportation of Germany’s Sinti and Roma (‘Gypsies’) to Auschwitz concentration camp. By the end of World War Two in 1945 hundreds of thousands of Sinti and Roma had been murdered by the Nazis and their allies all over Europe. This exhibition tells the story of nine interconnected German families, about 70 men, women and children, whose persecution began when they were forced to move from the town of Dessau-Roßlau in Central Germany and sent to an internment camp at the beginning of 1938 – our second anniversary. Their experiences represent the full range of forms of persecution and abuse suffered by Sinti and Roma under the Nazis: internment in municipal camps and concentration camps, forced and slave labour, compulsory sterilisation, medical experiments, death from disease, starvation, exhaustion and murder in Auschwitz, death marches – and for some escape, rescue or survival. Astonishingly, the first clues to their identity and their histories came from a collection of photographs found in Liverpool. The exhibition tells their story using those photos alongside other photographs and documents. Remembering the genocide is an important step towards securing respect and civil rights for Europe’s Sinti and Roma.

The original sound of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli meets 21st-century Gypsy-Jazz: a new sound for a new age from a new city. Led by Janko Stachlengro Lauenberger, grandson of a Sinto Holocaust survivor who figures in the exhibition, and featuring Max Hartmann, Daniel Weltlinger, Giovanni Steinbach and Santino Bamberger, this string band is a popular fixture on the Berlin jazz scene, playing swing favourites in their own style with commitment, passion – and cool.

Event Date: Saturday 5th May 2018

Categories: exhibition | Liverpool | Liverpool Library | Photography | Ticketed

Contact Details: Writing on the Wall, Tel: 01517030020

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