“They only take away the criminals”

»They only take away the criminals«, Zilli Schmidt’s father said when the National Socialists arrested the first Sinti and Roma. He was wrong: Almost the entire »happy family«, as Zilli says – was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In the harrowing and at the same time touching animated short film, the 96-year-old Sinti woman tells of the murder of her daughter and most of her family in the gas chambers, of her struggle to survive, her way back to life and her faith after the genocide.

The short film, produced by Roma Trial and the Stiftung Denkmal, will be presented online for the first time on 16 December. On 16 December 1942, the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the Auschwitz Decree, after which the “family- ” deportation of Sinti and Roma from the German Reich to Auschwitz-Birkenau began at the beginning of 1943.

To the film:

“THEY ONLY TAKE AWAY THE CRIMINALS”
Germany: July 2019
Director: Hamze Bytyi
Script: Kristéf Horvath
Narrative: Zilli Schmidt
3D animations and illustrations: Norbert Olah
Animations and illustrations: Hannah Stragholz and Simon Steinhorst
Music: Dragan Cordes
Sound design and mixing: Marcus Zilz
Video recordings: Caspar Schleicher
Sound recordings: Veronika Patoskova
Production: Caspar Schleicher
Scientific advice: Jana Mechelhoff-Herezi
Written by Damian James Le Bas
Audio description: Silja Kron and Caspar Schleicher
Translation of Romanes: Edis Galushi, Benjamin Dislo Harter
Thanks to: Zilli Schmidt, Renate Franz, Uwe Neumärker, Jana Mechelhoff-Herezi, Barbara Hoven, Veronika Patozkova