Honored to accept the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma on behalf of my father, in recognition of his tireless work advancing the rights of the Sinti and Roma — Europe’s largest ethnic minority.
Oct 23, 2025 15:46My father saw early on that Europe’s march to freedom had to include the protection of all its citizens.
Having survived persecution himself as a Jew during the Holocaust, he understood that the test for Europe’s new democracies would be measured not only by their constitutions, but by how they treat all their people. He believed deeply in the dictum: “None of us are free until all of us are free.”
When the rights of one group are threatened, it endangers the rights of everyone. Too few see it that way today, as political rhetoric increasingly reverts to zero-sum thinking — as if rights and freedoms were a finite resource rather than a shared foundation enshrined in law.
Today, we continue that mission through the Roma Foundation for Europe, which I’m proud to support. The Foundation makes a simple but profound case: the future of Europe depends on the full participation of its Roma citizens.
The Roma make up one of Europe’s youngest and fastest-growing populations. Their contribution to Europe is not a burden, but a source of strength.
I would like to personally thank Romani Rose for his tireless advocacy, State Secretary Michael Brand and Dr. Manfred Lautenschläger for their remarks and for making this moment possible, and Jewish community leaders in Germany who came to express their support and solidarity.
