Guests at a major ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day last evening heard a live musical tribute from world-renowned jazz musician Harri Stojka. Harri performed ‘Song For My Daddy’ in honour of his father Johann, who, as a young Austrian-born Roma boy, survived two years in Nazi concentration camps before escaping on a death march in April 1945.

The ceremony, hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), took place yesterday, Wednesday 24 January, at 4 pm at Guildhall. Excerpts from the ceremony will also be screened online to tens of thousands of people across the UK on 27 January at 07:30 pm. Members of the public can register to view the ceremony here: https://www.hmd.org.uk/take-part-in-holocaust-memorial-day/ukhmd

Based in Vienna, Harri has played in rock and jazz bands worldwide since the 1970s and now specialises in ‘Gypsy Swing’, a style of jazz music pioneered by Roma musicians in the early 20th century.

Harri’s father Johann, known as ‘Mongo’ to his friends and family, aged 14, kept a sketchbook during his imprisonment at Buchenwald Concentration Camp, filling it with poignant drawings and poems during his captivity. How Mongo managed to get hold of a notebook and pencil at Buchenwald remains a mystery. However, the book was found among the belongings of Georges Hebbelinck, a political prisoner and former inmate of Buchenwald, following his death in 1964. It is now on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Harri’s sisters, Sissi and Doris, travelled to the UK from Vienna to recite one of their fathers' poems at the ceremony. Although the siblings were born long after Mongo’s liberation, they grew up hearing stories of their parents’ grief and suffering.

The persecution of Roma and Sinti people took place alongside the Holocaust. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in what is now known as the Roma genocide.

As the pain of the Roma genocide was felt through generations, Harri recorded the album, Garude Apsa, meaning "hidden tears", in 2005. The album was dedicated to those who faced Nazi persecution and pays tribute to the musical roots of the Roma people.

To commemorate Roma Genocide Remembrance Day on the 2nd of August 2023, HMDT added a digitised version of Mongo’s sketchbook to its Ordinary Objects Extraordinary Journeys (OOEJ) website, which was developed through a collaboration between the Trust and the National Holocaust Centre and Museum.

Harri and his sisters were unaware of the existence of their father’s book until HMDT reached out to them in 2023. As part of their visit to the UK, the three siblings visited Imperial War Museum London to view Mongo’s poems in person for the very first time today, Thursday 25 January. Imperial War Museums is also taking part in HMD’s national ‘Light the Darkness’ moment, where iconic landmarks and billboards across the UK will light up in purple as an act of solidarity at 8:00 PM on January 27th.

HMDT Chief Executive Oliva Marks-Woldman said: “We are so pleased that Harri could perform as part of our commemorations for Holocaust Memorial Day this year to honour his father and Roma heritage. Mongo’s book, with its sketches and the straightforward perspective of a young person, is entirely unique. This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme is the Fragility of Freedom. Mongo lost his freedoms at an early age, and his work highlights the impact on future generations when prejudice and hatred are allowed to take over.”

Mag. Phil. Bernhard Wrabetz, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, said: “The fate of the Stojka family is a stark reminder of the horrors of Nazi persecution. It also is a reminder that the human spirit and creativity are stronger than criminal and murderous ideologies. The discovery of the poems of Johann Mongo Stojka in the Imperial War Museum shows how relevant research and remembrance are and what surprising and unexpected finds still can be made.”

IWM’s Head of Public History James Bulgin said: “We were delighted to welcome Harri and his sisters to The Holocaust Galleries ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day to view their father’s sketchbook for the first time. The book paints a poignant picture of what his life was like as a prisoner in Buchenwald and the brutality and violence he faced on a daily basis, but also shows the inner strength that he retained, and his determination to document what had been done to him and many others. It is through objects and stories such as these that IWM can highlight the devastating human cost of this history, and why it remains important for us to understand it today.”

Marc Cave, Director of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, added: "Mongo Stojka's beautifully crafted book of poetry is an artefact to treasure and to learn from. His was - and is - an artistic family. It is a reminder of the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to eradicate the Roma & Sinti people with systematic horror, and also to rob Europe of the civilisational beauty they have given us."

ENDS

Mongo‘s sketchbook can be found in the Imperial War Museum London and can be credited as follows: Kazerne Dossin, Mechelen, KD_00205, Lagergedichte von J.S. in KLB. Sketchbook

Links:

Harri Stojka’s official website: http://www.harristojka.at

HMDT website: https://www.hmd.org.uk

Ordinary Objects Extraordinary Journeys website: https://ooej.org

More about Mongo, his sketchbook, and his journey: https://ooej.org/people/johann-stojka

More about the Roma Genocide: https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/nazi-persecution/the-roma-genocide

More about The Holocaust Galleries at IWM London: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/the-holocaust-galleries

Johann ‘Mongo’ Stojka Bio:

Mongo was born on 20 March into a Roma family in Vienna, Austria. He spent his early years travelling in a trailer alongside his parents and five siblings. In 1943, he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where he and his family were confined in a section of Birkenau designated for Roma and Sinti prisoners. Due to his age of 14 at the time, Mongo was deemed fit for work and subjected to forced labour.

In 1944, Mongo and his brother were first transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp and then, a year later, to the Flossenburg concentration camp. In April 1945, as the war drew to a close, the two brothers managed to escape from a death march from Flossenburg towards Dachau before being rescued by American troops. Although Mongo's parents and sisters survived, his youngest brother died in Auschwitz. Of Mongo’s 200 family members, only six survived the concentration camps. Following liberation, Mongo returned to Vienna.

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