Skopje, 3 August 2022 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski on the occasion of European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day said that it is concerning that historic injustices toward Roma people are still alive alongside denial of the genocide of Roma, racism, anti-Romani sentiment, hate speech and discrimination, which is growing in intensity even in modern democratic societies. "Remembering and paying respect to the millions of victims in WWII, we must not forget the over 4,300 Roma children, women and men, killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. In that atrocious period in history, laws that devaluate human lives and the innate dignity of various groups, including the Roma, had been in effect. The ideology then allowed their labor to be exploit, inhumane medical experiments, forced sterilization, and finally, mass killings in the death camps," said Pendarovski. He mentioned that over 500,000 Roma had been killed during WWII in Europe and the Balkans. "It is concerning that historic injustices toward Roma people are still alive alongside denial of the genocide of Roma, racism, anti-Romani sentiment, hate speech and discrimination, which is growing in intensity even in modern democratic societies. All of this is pushing Roma people further on the margins hindering their fight for human rights and freedoms. The Roma are an unbreakable part of the Macedonian social mosaic that share the desire and sacrifices in the fight for free society. This coexistence should resume in the spirit of solidarity, humanity and mutual respect," the President said in his message. It is our joint historical and civilization duty to publicly stand up to such phenomena for the tragedies from World War II to never happen again, he pledged. Marking European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, a commemoration took place Wednesday at the President's office and a tree was planted in the yard alongside a memorial plaque reading "In honor and memory of Roma victims of the Second World War."