Germany’s upper house remembers Nazi-persecuted populations

The Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house of parliament, on Friday commemorated Sinti, Roma and Yenish people murdered by the National Socialists with a minute’s silence.

Around 500,000 members of these communities had fallen victim to the National Socialists’ racial mania, Bundesrat President Andreas Bovenschulte said at the start of the session.

“Their cultural heritage was largely destroyed.”

The three groups were itinerant peoples who were brutally persecuted by the Nazis during World War II.

Coming to terms with these crimes took a long time in Germany, he said

Bovenschulte, who head’s the Bremen state government, called for decisive action today against authoritarian, far-right and sometimes openly fascist politicians who damage the core values of liberal democracy, such as the unconditional protection of human dignity.

“Wherever inhumane ideologies – whether anti-Roma racism, anti-Semitism or anti-Muslim racism – are propagated, we must take a clear stance and raise our voice for a free, democratic and solidarity-based society,” he said.