Byelorussian gypsies lit candles to commemorate their relatives perished during World War II

Minsk, April 9, Interfax – Byelorussian gypsies commemorated their relatives perished in the years of World War II on Tuesday, the day of Romany nation, head of CIS and Baltic gypsy communities and head of the gypsy diaspora Oleg Kozlovsky told Interfax.

They lit candles and let wreaths flow in the river in their memory.

According to Koslovsky, the question of World War II genocide is still very important for Byelorussian gypsies and all gypsies of the CIS countries. “Byelorussian gypsies murdered by the fascists should be recognized the same victims as Jews or representatives of other nationalities,” the interviewee of the agency stressed.

He explained that if gypsies killed during World War II had been recognized as genocide victims, then the question of moral and material compensation to the victims and their families would have been considered from “a different angle.”

“We are collecting historical documents about gypsies suffered from Nazism, but the process of finding the documents is very complicated, as no gypsy had a passport then. Historians say that only 1% of the total pre-war gypsy population survived the war in Byelorussia,” Koslovsky noted.

According to him, about 60, 000 gypsies live in Byelorussia today, the majority of them inhabits the Gomel region. All Byelorussian gypsies are settled, they ceased migrating about 50 years ago and live mainly in the cities, and 90% of them are Orthodox.