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21.10.2022

Auschwitz survivor Zilli Schmidt has died at the age of 98.

 
 
Zilli Schmidt was born as Cäsilie Reichmann in Thuringia in 1924. She survived the concentration camps of Lety in Bohemia and the so-called Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her daughter, her parents and her relatives were gassed there in 1944. On the same day Zilli was deported to Ravensbrück as a forced labourer. Together with her cousin she managed to escape from the concentration camp, found her way to an uncle in Berlin and acquired false documents that enabled her to move freely until the end of the war. She lived in Mannheim. Zilli Schmidt rarely spoke publicly about her life. Image: IMAGO / Mike Schmidt

Zilli Schmidt was born as Cäsilie Reichmann in Thuringia in 1924. She survived the concentration camps of Lety in Bohemia and the so-called Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her daughter, her parents and her relatives were gassed there in 1944. On the same day Zilli was deported to Ravensbrück as a forced labourer. Together with her cousin she managed to escape from the concentration camp, found her way to an uncle in Berlin and acquired false documents that enabled her to move freely until the end of the war. She lived in Mannheim. Zilli Schmidt rarely spoke publicly about her life. Image: IMAGO / Mike Schmidt

 

 

 

Zilli Schmidt, who died today aged 98, was one of the last witnesses of the genocide against the Sinti and Roma. Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Zilli as follows:

"Auschwitz survivors around the world are filled with sadness and gratitude as they bid farewell to their fellow sufferer and friend Zilli Schmidt. She was one of the great, and deeply moving, witnesses of the genocide against the Sinti and Roma. In 1943, Zilli Schmidt was deported to Auschwitz, where her young daughter and the majority of her family were murdered in the gas chambers of Birkenau. She also experienced discrimination and exclusion in post-war Germany after being liberated from the hands of the murderers. Her struggle for compensation for the crimes committed against her and her family lasted for many years. Despite these bitter experiences and the pain they caused, Zilli Schmidt was a strong believer in her faith and trusted in the ability of her fellow human beings to learn from history and stand up against racism and hatred. The world has become a little darker without Zilli Schmidt. We will miss her greatly, especially in these times."