Zoni Weisz

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Zoni Weisz (1983)

Zoni Weisz (actually Johan Weisz ; born March 4, 1937 in The Hague ) is a Dutch Sinto , Holocaust survivor and florist .

Life

Weisz is the oldest child of Jacoba and Johannes Weisz, a musician and instrument maker who ran a music shop in Zutphen . He had three siblings.

When raids against the " Gypsies " took place in the Netherlands on May 16, 1944 , Weisz and his family were to be taken to the Westerbork Jewish transit camp .

Since Weisz was hiding with an aunt in a village outside the city, he initially escaped arrest, but was discovered a short time later and was supposed to be deported to the gypsy camp Auschwitz with the rest of the family . Since the deportation train known as the "Gypsy Transport" with 245 Dutch Sinti and Roma was already on its way to Auschwitz on May 19, 1944 , it was decided that the family should be brought to Assen to board the deportation train. With the help of a Dutch police officer who belonged to the resistance against National Socialism , Weisz managed to escape on another train while his family members were deported to Auschwitz and subsequently murdered there or in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp .

Weisz and his relatives first hid in the woods and then stayed with farmers. Finally Weisz reached his grandparents, with whom he could stay until the end of the war.

Weisz then went back to school, which he successfully completed, and initially worked as a temporary worker for a florist; then he attended the horticultural school. Weisz successfully applied for a training position as a gardener at the royal court. After completing his training, he did two years of military service in Suriname . After his return, Weisz worked for the well-known Dutch florist Georg Kirsch in Amsterdam and studied exhibition architecture and art history .

In 1958 Weisz took over the Kirsch company. He became internationally known through exhibitions and became one of the leading florists in the Netherlands. He received an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest flower arrangement in the world .

Weisz worked for the Dutch royal family and was a representative of the Dutch flower industry.

Commitment to the memory of the victims of National Socialism

As a victim of National Socialism, Weisz is active in the Dutch and in the International Auschwitz Committee and keeps the memory of the Holocaust alive in a variety of ways. In January 2007 he was the keynote speaker at the opening of the exhibition The Holocaust against the Roma and Sinti and present day racism in Europe at United Nations Headquarters .

Weisz is a member of the jury for the award of the European Citizenship Award for Sinti and Roma.

On January 27, 2011, Zoni Weisz was the first representative of the Sinti and Roma to give a speech in front of the German Bundestag on the occasion of the memorial service for the day of commemoration of the victims of National Socialism . In his speech he recalled the liberation of Auschwitz and described his personal experiences.

Award

Queen Beatrix made Zoni Weisz officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau . He received the order for his commitment to the Dutch flower industry and his commitment to the Sinti and Roma.

Works

  • Zoni. De vergeten holocaust: mijn leven als Sinto, ondernemer en overlevende (autobiography in Dutch), Luitingh-Sijthoff, Amsterdam 2016, ISBN 978-9-0245-6993-9 .
  • A good life: Zoni Weisz tells his biography (audio book). Verbrecher Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-957-32168-8 .
  • The forgotten holocaust. My life as a Sinto, entrepreneur and survivor , dtv, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-423-43362-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Portrait of Zoni Weisz
  2. ↑ Speech to the Bundestag ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundestag.de
  3. ↑ Bundestag.de: Zoni Weisz recalls the forgotten Holocaust
  4. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Roma appeal against discrimination on Holocaust Day
personal data
SURNAME Weisz, Zoni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weisz, Johan (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch Sinto, Holocaust survivor and florist
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague