Auschwitz survivor and Sinti and Roma advocate dies at 98

BERLIN (AP) — Zilli Schmidt, a survivor of the Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck concentration camps, has died at 98. She had become a vocal advocate for the recognition of the Nazi genocide of Sinti and Roma. Schmidt died Friday, according to the foundation of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial. The organization said she “leaves behind a deep void” as one of the last survivors of the Sinti and Roma genocide. Born to a Sinti family in the eastern German state of Thuringia, Schmidt was sent to a concentration camp in 1942. Large parts of her family were murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. In 2021, she received the Federal Cross of Merit, which recognizes those who have made notable contributions to German society.