Requiem for Auschwitz Comes to Hungary

?Requiem for Auschwitz: a monument in music, film, images and words. Requiem for Auschwitz will be a shared moment for representatives of the Jewish, Roma, Sinti and other victim groups in the light of recent developments in Europe. It is a living proof of the power of culture against discrimination and exclusion,? the organisers of the initiative say on their website.

 

The event is based on the composition Requiem for Auschwitz (2009) by the self-educated Dutch Sinto musician Roger 'Moreno' Rahtgeb. It will be performed by the Roma- und Sinti Philharmoniker from Frankfurt am Main, conducted by Roma conductor Riccardo M Sahiti. Performances are accompanied by special exhibitions, debates, a conference and a film and documentary program.

 

The piece will be performed in Budapest on November 6.

 

In the run-up to the concert, the Uránia National Film Theatre will host a documentary film festival that focuses on the Holocaust as well as genocides in othe places such as Cambodia and Rwanda. All of the screenings, to take place on October 26-28, will be free of charge.

 

Budapest?s French Institute will host an exhibition of work by the German expressionist artist Otto Pankok, whose depictions of Roma and Sinti families were banned by the Nazis, and the Roma artist Ceija Stojka, who is a Holocaust survivor, on November 15-22.

 

The Alfa Foundation of the Netherlands will present a digital exhibition that deals with the persecution of Roma and Sinti during the Nazi period.

 

The Romedia Foundation, which researches the Pharrajimos, the attempt by Nazi Germany and its allies to destroy the Romani people of Europe during WWII, has worked for more than twenty years to dispel stereotypes and prejudices.