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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Matthew Dresch

"Nazis raped and killed my family in Roma Holocaust but Jimmy Carr thinks it's funny"

A Roma woman who lost eight of her relatives in the Holocaust was 'heartbroken' when she heard Jimmy Carr's joke about the genocide.

Daniela Abraham, 41, from London, said her great-grandmother Helena was raped by the Nazis when they stormed into her town in Slovakia.

Helena's siblings were dragged away to labour camps and the rest of the family never heard from them again.

The ordeal still haunts Daniela and she could not believe it when Carr decided to joke about the atrocity in his latest Netflix special.

She is now calling on the comedian to publicly apologise and wants him to travel with her to Auschwitz concentration camp so he can 'pay his respects'.

Daniela's great-grandmother survived the Holocaust (pictured here with her daughter after the war) (Daniela Abraham)

However, Carr appears unrepentant and refused to say sorry for his joke over the weekend, telling a stand-up audience 'I am going down swinging'.

Daniela, who burst into tears as she spoke to The Mirror, said: "When I heard Jimmy Carr's joke it broke my heart. On my mother's side eight relatives were killed in the Holocaust.

"I want him to publicly apologise. If he has any human feelings or compassion I want to tell him to contact me and I will take him to Auschwitz so he can see what happened to our people.

Daniela, who lives in London, has offered to take Jimmy Carr to Auschwitz (Daniela Abraham)
Hundreds of thousands of Roma were killed in the Holocaust (Getty Images)

"He can pay his respects to those who were killed there. If he doesn't do this I don't believe any Roma will forgive him."

Daniela's great-grandmother, who she called her 'mama', was raped by the Nazis when the Roma deportations started in her area.

She said: "A public order was issued saying all Roma had to stand in front of their houses and when the Gestapo came they took the men.

Carr has refused to apologise for his joke, saying he is 'going down swinging' (GC Images)
Daniela placing a candle in the Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hyde Park (Daniela Abraham)

"They raped my great-grandmother. My great-grandfather managed to escape and they went into hiding.

"Her siblings were taken away to the labour camp."

Daniela, who was raised by Helena as a child, recalls that she once asked her 'mama' about the fate of her eight brothers and sisters.

She said: "She just started crying and shouted 'why are you asking these questions?'

Roma and Sinti women pictured in a barrack block in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (Getty Images)
Daniela said her great-grandmother was scarred by the ordeal for the rest of her life (Phil Harris)

"There was a big scar in her heart. We never heard from her siblings again. They all died. She had beautiful sisters and we think they had the same fate as my great-grandmother but they were not able to escape like her."

Her great grandparents changed their names and relocated to a different part of Slovakia after the war.

Daniela, who founded the Sinti Roma Holocaust Memorial Trust after moving to the UK in 2007, believes the true number of Roma killed in the genocide is far higher than the established figure of 500,000 people.

Daniela (centre) previously met Prince William during the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony in London (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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She instead points to more recent research which estimates that as many as 1.5 million Roma were killed.

Carr refused to answer any questions about the uproar over his joke as he arrived at the Whitley Bay Playhouse for his Terribly Funny Show on Saturday night.

He remained silent as he entered the venue - but seemingly addressed the furore when on stage.

He was heckled by a woman who yelled: "Are we going to talk about the holocaust?"

Carr replied: "We are going to talk about cancel culture, the whole thing."

He later added: "I am going to get cancelled, that's the bad news. The good news is, I am going down swinging.

"The joke that ends my career it's already out there. It's on YouTube, Netflix, or whatever, and it's fine until one day it f***ing isn't."

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