On April 24-25, 1945, 43 Sinti members of a traveling circus called Braca Winter (led by Stephan Winter) were brutally murdered by the Ustase just days before the end of World War II. The atrocity is known as the Hrastina Massacre and took place near the Croatian-Slovenian border, in the village of Hrastina near Marija Gorica. The Hrastina Massacre is likely the last mass murder of Roma and Sinti people in Europe during World War II.

On March 21, 1945, 200 members of an Ustase unit settled in the school in Marija Gorica.

A month after the Ustasha arrived in Marija Gorica, a Roma/Sinti group of 58 members came from 12 families temporarily settled in the same area on April 23, 1945. They were on their way to Slovenia. The artists traveled with a big tent, 13 horses, 13 wagons, a cinema, and musical instruments. The artists were musicians, dancers, and performers. There were a large number of children within the group. They were able to travel across borders as they had authorization from the third Reich to travel.

On April 23, 1945, the circus performers held their first show in Kraji Donji, where they settled, and the next day in Marija Gorica. After the show, when they returned to Kraj Donji, half of the Ustasha crew (about 90 of them) came to pick up the "Gypsies" because they allegedly received an order from the SS stating the group were spies who hid weapons. The women were immediately ordered to disrobe and they were raped in their wagons.

The circus performers were then taken to the school in Marija Gorica, where the Ustase maintained their base. Locals who lived near the school heard children's voices begging them not to be beaten. After gathering them all, they took them to the abandoned estate of Mihalj Jančić in neighboring Hrastina. Mihaljo Jančić was with the partisans with his whole family, and the isolated house was suitable for the slaughter they were preparing for them.

Local farmers reported hearing horrific screams of children and women all night from the barn as the Ustase sang songs.

The following morning, the locals were told that the circus performers had been taken to a concentration camp, but the locals did not believe the Ustase as they saw the near abandoned barn in flames as the soldiers guarded the property for three days. Locals saw the Ustase soldiers riding the circus performers' horses and wearing their nice clothes. After the Ustashas left for Zagreb with the stolen clothes, horses and wagons from the circus performers, Gestapo officers and another group of Ustashas came to the village and went to the scene of the crime to investigate.

The local residents could not visit the horrific crime scene until after the liberation (three days later). The residents discovered human bones on the ground as well a buckets of blood. The farmers dug up the remaining corpses that had been buried shallowly in manure. The locals discovered women who were stabbed in the back, chest, and head. A pregnant victim had her stomach cut open with the unborn child removed and replaced with a dead dog into her stomach. The men had their hands tied behind their backs. Locals found the corpses of many children. A woman's head wrapped in a cloth was also found. The farmers transported the bodies to a nearby cemetery in Marija Gorica.

By pure luck, due to a combination of circumstances, but also because of the assumption that the Ustashas would liquidate them after their performance, eight members of the circus group, who hid in Kraj Donje, were saved. Stephan Winter, the leader of the circus, was one of the survivors.

The victim list indicates at least 43 Sinti were killed that night, and possibly as many as 46. Among them were many children. Two children of Max Bamberger and Bertha Bamberger: Angelika Bamberger (b. 1941) and Roswitha Bamberger (b. 1935). Mariška Friedrich (b. 1943), Adelheid Hedel (b. 1941), Juliška Schmidt (b. 1942), Linda Winter (b. 1942), Mendi Winter (b. 1941) and Willi Winter (b. 1944), Marija (b.1932), Alfred Winter (b. 1933), Anna Winter (b. 1933), Adolf Winter (b. 1936), Svhanic Winter (b. 1939).

The following names are mentioned among the participants in the massacre: commander Josip Kušan (23 years old from Ivanec, Jasenovac camp guard), Antun Barbarić, Mato Bešlić, Ante Jurišić, N. Maćan, Mile Matijević, Grga N. (20 years old from Šibenik), Petar Pinjuh (23 years old from Široki Brije), Tomislav Šremer (22 years old from Mostar), N. Vlaho. After the crime, they fled through Slovenia, where some of them were captured by the partisans. Petar Pinjuh, who admitted that he stood guard while the massacre was being carried out, was sentenced to three years of forced labor, and was assigned to work on Mihalj Jančić's property where the crime took place.

Although the names of most of the victims were known during the past decades, wrong information had been circulated for years. For example, the date of this mass crime was listed incorrectly as 1942 and not 1945. The victims were listed as a group of Jews whereas only one of the families was Jewish (Max Bamberger, his wife, Bertha, and two small children). Additionally, many documents contained incorrect information about the perpetrators of the crime. Specifically, the perpetrators were incorrectly identified as members of the SS even though the crime was verified to be committed by one of the Ustasha units from Jasenovac, i.e. the I Ustaški Defense Association, the so-called Luburić family. The Ustaste likely received a tip from the SS about the circus group.

In 1977, SUBNOR erected a monument at the local cemetery in Marija Gorica. Source: https://www.antifasisticki-vjesnik.org/hr/kalendar/4/24/321/

In 2021, Mario Šimunković published an in depth book in Croatian about the Hrastina Massacre called "MASAKR NAD ROMIMA I SINTIMA U HRASTINI 1945. GODINE: zločini luburićevaca u zaprešićkom kraju": https://www.knjizara-dominovic.hr/de/masakr-nad-romima-i-sintima-u-hrastini-1945-godine-zlocini-luburicevaca-u-zapresickom-kraju-product-37522/

On Sunday, April 24, 2022, a commemorative ceremony was held for the first time at the cemetery in Marija Gorica cemetery. Source: https://rmcu.hr/komemorativni-skup-u-mariji-gorici/

Oral interview of Harry Franz who was part of the traveling circus. He speaks about the Hrastina Massacre in which his bride was one of the victims. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn86040

I am translating the phrase - Never Again! - to several languages, and to me it's of major relevance to have it translated to Romani, please it would be great to get some help from native speakers, Thanks.

I'm doing a reading of names of victims of the Nazis and I of course intend to include the Roma and Sinti. If there is such a list, can anyone link me to it? Much appreciated.

Come join us on Tuesday, 24 March, from 18:00 - 20:00 EDT for a great AMA with the Assistant Director and a student leader of the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre!

You can read more here.

It finally came together: /r/HaShoah's second official AMA!

We are thrilled to announce that curators and staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will be joining us on Tuesday, 27 January 2015 @ 2:00p EST to discuss their work, their mission, their lives, and - most importantly - the symbolism of the day.

We would love for you to join us, too.

You can read their last AMA here. The two curators from that AMA will be joining us, as well as a few more of their colleagues.

To prepare, you can review some of their work here, or search their catalogue.