Each year, on August 2, the memory of the victims of the Nazi genocide of the Roma is commemorated. On this day in 1944, approximately 3,000 Roma were murdered in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp solely because of their ethnic origin.

During World War II, the Roma people suffered devastating losses. The extermination of the Roma was part of the Nazi policy of genocide — between 600,000 and 1.5 million Roma perished across Europe during the Holocaust.

In Crimea, several unique Roma ethnic groups have historically formed, known by the Crimean Tatar term Çingeneler (čingene) as well as by their self-designations krymitká romá and krymurâ. In the steppe regions of Crimea, they were also referred to as dayfular or tayfalar, while other names included urmaçel, qrımı, and tataçe. On the peninsula, entire districts and localities existed where Crimean Roma lived, most often on the outskirts of major cities.

The Crimean Roma had sedentary or semi-sedentary lifestyles and practiced various crafts, including jewelry-making, music, small-scale trade, and blacksmithing. The more prosperous among them opened their workshops, both within their communities and in Crimean Tatar neighborhoods. According to the 2001 census, approximately 1,900 Roma resided in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, including Crimean Roma, comprising about 0.1% of the peninsula’s total population.