Living with the Holocaust
In her book, German Sintezza, civil rights activist and author Anita Awosusi gives an insight into her family biography and the historical events and aftereffects of National Socialism. Based on conversations with her father, the musician and violin maker Hermann Weiß, Awosusi tells of his life and survival, of deportation, forced labour, Soviet captivity and his return to his hometown of Karlsruhe. At the same time, she reflects her own development from a child of the post-war period to a publicist and active civil rights activist of the German Sinti and Roma. Awosusi’s book impressively demonstrates the importance that survivors of National Socialism and their descendants have for communicating historical events.
Anita Awosusi was born in Karlsruhe in 1956. She participated in the establishment of the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, a worldwide unique specialised institution, which was opened in Heidelberg in 1997 after many years of preliminary work. There she became head of the Dialogue Department. As part of her many years of work as a political educator, she organizes more than 1,300 guided tours. She coordinated projects and collaborations in the national and international Sinti and Roma youth work, drafted documentaries and teaching materials and gave countless workshops on commemorative politics and working out the genocide. She also made a name for herself as an author and editor. Anita Awosusi is now a retired and continues to be active in memory politics in the inirromnja and the association RomaniPhen e.V.
The Holocaust also affects the lives of the grandgeneration according to Anita Awosusi’s daughter, Tayo Awosusi-Onutor, reported on the podium on the history of her parents and grandparents generation. The musician and author Tayo Awosusi-Onutor is committed to combating racism in the present with her works. She founded the children’s book publisher Omobooks and published the book Jekh, Duj, Drin, three friends in Berlin. Besides their friendship, the 3 friends have something else in common. Jovanka and Kemi’s family are Roma. Sina’s family are Sinti. The 3 girlfriends go to the 4th grade of a primary school in Berlin and experience adventure together.