October 2023 Portrait of the Month — Rudolf Sárközi

Rudolf Sárközi

October’s Portrait of the Month features Rudolf Sárközi. Rudolf was Roma, a group that was heavily persecuted and targeted for death by the Nazis. Part of Rudolf's life's work was to establish both the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma and the Roma Education Fund. The Roma people have been persecuted throughout Europe's history and their plight is often overlooked, making Rudolf's work all the more difficult and important.

Sinti and Roma, often called by the derogatory name “Gypsy”, were were targeted by the Nazis because they were considered to be racially inferior; under the Nazi regime, an increasing number of anti-Gypsy laws subjected tens of thousands of Gypsies to sterilization, deportation to camps, forced labor, and mass murder. It is estimated that between 220,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people throughout Europe were killed during the Holocaust. Due in part to Rudolf's work, we know about these atrocities committed against the Roma people.