The Requiem for Auschwitz

September 8, 2024, St. Jans Church, ’s-Hertogenbosch

Kom vanavond met verhalen Hoe de oorlog is verdwenen En herhaal ze duizend malen Telkens weer zal ik wenen Leo Vroman

Come and tell what’s oft been told Of how the war went by And repeat it thousandfold Each time again I’ll cry Translation: Arnold Schunck

On May 19, 1944, 245 Dutch Sinti and other Romani were deported from Camp Westerbork to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. For these deportees and all other victims, Sinto Roger “Moreno” Rathgeb composed the widely acclaimed Requiem for Auschwitz.

The Requiem was performed at various places in the Netherlands width the support of, among others, the Remembrance Center Camp Westerbork by the Projectkoor Brabant under the direction of conductor Lex Wiersma.

Roger Moreno is connected to Valkenburg through many commemorations and lectures. He himself is a Sinto and an advocate of his Romani culture. In Den Bosch on Sunday, September 8, 2024 the Requiem for Auschwitz, composed by him, was performed. Among the many spectators were also the former queen, princess Beatrix, with her son Constantijn and daughter-in-law Laurentien Brinkhorst.

Listen to the Requiem for Auschwitz by Roger Moreno-Rathgeb, complete concert registration of the world premiere in Amsterdam on May 3, 2012, played by the Roma and Sinti Philharmonics under direction of Riccardo M. Sahiti.
For informations about CD’s or DVD’s you can consult the ALFA foundation via the official Requiem-website https://www.requiemforauschwitz.eu or via the website of the International Gipsy Festival Tilburg.

| resistance in Valkenburg | genocide of the Jews in Limburg | genocide of the Romani in Limburg and elsewhere | Germans killed in action in Valkenburg-Houthem |