Forty charities have written to the government calling for the genocide of Roma and Sinti Gypsies to be included as a mandatory part of Holocaust teaching in schools in England, after a joke on the subject by comedian Jimmy Carr prompted outrage.
The letter to the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said better teaching was needed to address widespread ignorance about the murder and torture of more than 500,000 Roma and Sinti people by the Nazi regime, as well as the high levels of prejudice and hate against Roma communities today.
