In the midd­le of sum­mer, we began to obser­ve a situa­ti­on when refu­gees began to return en mas­se back to Ukrai­ne. This hap­pens for various reasons, someone deci­ded to return to their rela­ti­ves, someone’s sett­le­ment was de-occu­p­ied, and someone suc­cum­bed to dis­cri­mi­na­ti­on and did not find asyl­um in Euro­pe and deci­ded to return back. But at many venues whe­re we were invi­ted to per­form, we repeat like a man­tra one fear that with the approach of cold wea­ther we will have a new wave of refu­gees from Ukrai­ne and Euro­pe should be rea­dy for this. The­se refu­gees will flee not only from the war, but also from the cold, as infra­struc­tu­re has been des­troy­ed in many sett­le­ments.

So in my city of Kre­men­chug, after rocket bom­bings, the­re is a thre­at that half of the city will be left wit­hout hea­ting apart­ments, sin­ce the hea­ting sys­tem was des­troy­ed. Local aut­ho­ri­ties tried to res­to­re it, but a repea­ted rocket attack was car­ri­ed out and ever­y­thing that was res­to­red was again des­troy­ed. Such a pic­tu­re is also obser­ved in other cities, espe­ci­al­ly after Octo­ber 10, when for almost a day all lar­ge sett­le­ments (which are far from the front line) suc­cum­bed to rocket attacks and cri­ti­cal infra­struc­tu­re suf­fe­r­ed. Now we are forced to save elec­tri­ci­ty.

Now we are try­ing to help peo­p­le who sur­vi­ved the hor­rors of World War II. All the­se peo­p­le are quite advan­ced in age, some of them are forced to evacua­te, some have lost their homes, but most of them remain at home due to poor health and again, like many years ago, endu­re all the hor­rors of war. On behalf of our orga­niza­ti­on, on my own behalf, I want to thank all the peo­p­le who are not indif­fe­rent. And also I want to con­vey the words of gra­ti­tu­de from the elder­ly who recei­ve this help. Every time I hear words of gra­ti­tu­de and pray­ers for all people!!” 

Das Hilfs­netz­werk konn­te bis­lang 141.000 Euro Spen­den­gel­der für Über­le­ben­de, Ange­hö­ri­ge und Fachkolleg:innen ein­set­zen. Die­se Woche konn­ten wir 50 Über­le­ben­de des Geno­zids an den Rom:nja mit einer finan­zi­el­len Sofort­hil­fe unter­stüt­zen. Unser Dank gilt den Spender:innen, aber auch unse­ren Partner:innen in der Ukrai­ne, ohne deren Arbeit die­se Unter­stüt­zung nicht mög­lich wäre.

Wer direkt unter­stüt­zen will, kann dies im Rah­men einer Spen­de­kam­pa­gne des Zen­tral­rat Deut­scher Sin­ti und Roma und des Hilfs­netz­werks anläss­lich des Euro­päi­schen Holo­caust Gedenk­ta­ges für Sin­ti und Roma: Hil­fe für Über­le­ben­de Roma der NS-Ver­fol­gung in der Ukrai­ne – Zen­tral­rat Deut­scher Sin­ti und Roma – betterplace.org