Rudolf Sárközi

Born: Unknown 1944, Lachenbach concentration camp, Austria

Rudolf was born in 1944 to Paula Sárközi and Rudolf Weinrich at the Gypsy camp at Lachenbach. The camp was liberated by the Russians in 1945 and the family moved to Unterschützen, Austria where Rudolf’s only sister, Paula, was born. His parents soon got divorced and the children were raised by their mother. Because of his Gypsy origin, Rudolf was not taken to high school, so he had to start working at the age of 14. He worked in construction, first doing physical work and then as an electro-technician.

In 1964 he got married and moved to Vienna where his son Andreas was born. He continued working as an electro-technician and later as an electro-technical consultant, but started to become more and more involved in social causes. In 1991 he established the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma which was then supported by the four Austrian parliamentary parties. The Association went on to petition and establish recognition of the Roma as an acknowledged ethnic minority in Austria. In 1995 Rudolf established the Roma Education Fund whose mission is to close the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma.