A Roma man was for the first time guest of honour at official Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations in Germany Thursday and made a poignant call for better treatment of his people in Europe.
Speaking before the Bundestag lower house of parliament in Berlin, Dutch-born Holocaust survivor Zoni Weisz, 73, said Europe had still failed to learn crucial lessons from the Nazi era.
"In western European countries such as Italy and France, (Roma) are again facing discrimination and exclusion and living in inhumane conditions in ghettos," he said, while noting chronic problems in eastern Europe as well.
"We are Europeans, let me remind you, and must have the same rights as any other resident, with the same opportunities available to every European.
"It is unacceptable that a people that has been discriminated against and oppressed for centuries is today, in the 21st century, still shut out and robbed of any honest chance for a better future."
Weisz was speaking on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945, which Germany has marked since 1996 with official memorial ceremonies for Holocaust victims.
But it was the first time that a Roma was the keynote speaker at the commemoration, which was also attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Historians say the Nazis exterminated between 220,000 and 500,000 of the around one million Roma in Europe during World War II. But West Germany did not recognise the genocide until 1982.
Weisz, the son of an instrument maker, recounted his own harrowing story in what he called the "forgotten Holocaust".
He is one of the sole survivors of his family, which was deported in 1944 when he was seven.
Weisz owes his escape to a policeman who helped him and his aunt flee during the raid, as he watched his relatives packed into cattle cars for Auschwitz.
"My father called out from the car to my aunt, 'Moezla, take good care of my boy!'," he said as he fought back tears.
"That was the last I saw of my loved ones."
Weisz's parents, sisters and younger brother were murdered at Auschwitz while he survived in hiding.
The speaker of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert, said he welcomed plans by Hungary to tackle current problems facing Roma during its European Union presidency in the first half of this year.
"Sinti and Roma still face discrimination and stigmatisation today -- here in Germany too," he said. "Because we understand little of their culture and way of life, cliches and prejudice against 'gypsies' are still prevalent."
Italy and France have drawn international criticism for their treatment of Roma, with Paris under fire last year for rounding up thousands of Roma from illegal camps and sending them back to Romania and Bulgaria.
European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding sparked a row with Paris in September in which she drew parallels with World War II.
In October, the European Commission dropped a threat of legal action against France over the expulsions after Paris vowed to change its freedom of movement laws.
About 10 million Roma live in Europe, 70,000 of whom have a German passport, according to the Central Council of Sinti and Roma in Germany.
Tens of thousands of others live in Germany, most of them refugees from Bosnia and Kosovo.
Germany is to inaugurate this year near the Reichstag parliament building a memorial to Roma murdered by the Nazis, and a gymnasium and street in Berlin were renamed Thursday after prominent Roma victims.
Meanwhile in Strasbourg Thursday Romanian President Traian Basescu echoed Weisz's words, telling Council of Europe parliamentarians that European states had obligations towards the Roma, whose traditions and nomadic lifestyle should be respected.