© Dokuz
Christian Pfeil was born in 1944 in the Lublin Ghetto in the German-occupied “General Government”, where his family had been deported in May 1940. There they were put into forced labor under orders from the SS and the police. While he and his closest relatives survived this ordeal, many other family members were murdered.
After liberation, the family returned to their hometown of Trier, where Christian Pfeil built a successful career in gastronomy – though repeatedly overshadowed by right-wing extremist and racist attacks. For many years, he has been committed to boosting local remembrance efforts in the city. Pfeil has previously represented the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma on the International Auschwitz Committee, and he delivered the keynote address on European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma on August 2, 2022 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
When you look back today at your family history and your own childhood, what do you believe is most important for younger generations to understand about your family’s fate and the genocide against the Sinti and Roma?
Young people – including young Sinti – know far too little about what happened and about what my family and all Sinti had to endure under the Nazi regime. Explaining this to them and speaking to them about it is absolutely essential.
The EVZ Foundation was established 25 years ago. What has this meant to you personally – as a survivor and as someone who has been engaged in remembrance work for many years?
For me, the encounters with young people are the most important thing – as on August 2 in Oświęcim, for example. These encounters between survivors and the younger generation have been strongly supported by the EVZ Foundation, and I believe that is absolutely crucial.
When you think about the next 25 years, what do you hope for the future – in terms of remembrance of the genocide against the Sinti and Roma and in terms of the fight against antigypsyism in our society?
I hope I’ll still be around for a long time to come and can continue to talk to young people, to explain to them what happened and share my experience wherever I am invited. That’s incredibly important to me, because as a Holocaust survivor it is my duty to tell my story and that of my family again and again.
