Monthly Archives: February 2023

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Forced Sterilisations

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Slovakia still has not voted a law to compensate the victims of forced sterilisations in the country. The Czech Republic has already done so. A politician, Peter Pollak is pushing for it and comments it. Right now, with the upcoming parliamentary elections, the probability the law will be voted is small.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Larry

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The Hungarian movie “Larry” was one of the cinema surprises at the end of 2022 and perhaps the biggest Hungarian film success. This is not a Roma movie, but it is refreshingly different in the way Roma appear in this movie. In addition, a part of the film takes place in the Edeleny Roma settlement with its residents.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Segregation

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Another article about the recent condemnation of the Slovak state and the town of Stará Ľubovňa-Podsadek for having run a segregated school for Roma. The decision was made by the Supreme Court based on the appeal of the non-governmental organization Counselling for Civil and Human Rights, which confirmed that the state is responsible for segregation even if it arises only because the state neglects its obligations or fails to act. According to the Advisory Board, this judgment is ground-breaking.

“When these children finished primary education, they had very limited options of where to go. One of them wanted to be a car mechanic, but since he attended a special school, he had no chance to get the necessary education,” says Vanda Durbáková, a lawyer from the consulting firm, about the case.

Well done!

News Eastern Europe Poland

80 Years

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80 years ago, the Germans established in Auschwitz II-Birkenau the so-called Zigeunerlager – Gypsy family camp. The first transport of prisoners arrived on February 26, 1943 from Germany. On Sunday, at the memorial site, the anniversary was commemorated by representatives of Roma communities.

The Zigeunerlager existed until August 2, 1944 with 23,000 registered inmates.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic and Roma Refugees

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The umbrella organization RomanoNet protested against the statement of the government commissioner for human rights, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, who stated that the Czech Republic managed the influx of refugees from Ukraine last year. According to 15 Roma and pro-Roma organizations that RomanoNet brings together, the Czech Republic has failed to help Roma refugees from Ukraine.

“From the point of view of Roma civil society, the state as a whole has failed in providing assistance to people with a different skin colour. Many of them have been forced to return to a country where the war conflict is still ongoing, or to go to the West, where the colour of the skin is not a decisive factor in the provision of aid. In view of the above, it cannot be claimed that the situation has been managed or solved,” says the statement of the RomanoNet organization, which was provided to the news server Romea.cz by its director Michal Miko.

Germany News Western Europe

Willi Kreutz

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The Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, together with the Central Council, mourns the loss of Holocaust survivor Willi Kreutz, who died in Mannheim on February 11, 2023 at the age of 90. He was closely connected to both organizations and accompanied the delegations of the Central Council to the international commemoration ceremonies on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day for Sinti and Roma on August 2 in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

Willi Kreutz was born on July 6, 1932 in Düsseldorf. In the course of the May deportations of thousands of Sinti and Roma to the so-called General Government of Poland, his older sister, who later became a civil rights activist, Hildegard Lagrenne, was deported. A few months later Willi Kreutz and his parents followed her.

May he rest in peace.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany, Sinti and Roma

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While Sinti and Roma would like to conclude a state treaty with the German Federal Government, there is a disagreement within the minority as to which organisation should represent them in the negotiations. Why should there be only one?

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week, which is not surprising: Roma make news only if there are no news …

Nevertheless, a small scandal of a TV journalist who on BFM TV, qualified the French Assembly of being a “Gypsy Camp”. No comments. In Bordeaux, an exhibition about “Gitans, Tsiganes, Roms, Gens du Voyage” showing once again that France is totally confused about names. Finally, a more standard news of an open air illegal garbage dump near Nantes, where not only Roma are dumping things.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Book Launch

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The Romani actress Alžbeta Ferencová was present at the launch of Elena Lacková’s book entitled “I was born under a lucky star” which was published for the first time in Slovak, 30 years after its first publication. Alžbeta is Elena’s great-grand daughter. Elena was the first Romni to publish a book in Romanes in Slovakia.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Repression during the War

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A new book was recently published on the World War Two history of the Rivne region in the Ukraine. It presents the repression by the Soviet NKVD (the FSB and KGB) predecessor against Roma who had fled from Poland. In particular, the Lovara family Kwek (or Kvivk).

They were accused to be spies for the German.

Germany News Western Europe

Racism against Roma in Germany

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Attacks against Sinti and Roma have increased in Germany. Last year, the authorities registered a total of 145 crimes against Sinti and Roma – the highest number in six years. This emerges from the response of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from the left-wing faction.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Roma IDPs in the Ukraine

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A reportage of Roma from the Donetsk region who were displaced by the war and who settled in Vinnytsia region (Central Ukraine).  They bought houses and were allowed to use some others in the village of Potoky. All in all 68 Roma moved there.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Commemoration

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Soldiers of the honour guard of the President of the Slovak Republic laid a wreath at the Roma Holocaust memorial in Dubnica nad Váhom during the commemorative event of the civil association In Minorita as part of the project “Ma bisteren!”. This was done on the  78th anniversary of the tragic events in which 26 Roma from the detention camp in Dubnica nad Váhom were murderedThe monument stands on the site of the cemetery where the victims of the detention camp for Roma in are buried.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

A Portrait

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A portrait of Alžbeta Ferencová, a Slovak Romni whose great grandmother was Elena Lacková, the first author in Romanes in Slovakia. Alžbeta is a model, actress and singer, but moved from Slovakia to the Czech Republic, as she found that with her dark looks, she couldn’t get jobs in Slovakia. She says Prague is more tolerant.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia, Roma, and Employment

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An initiative called “Open day”  whose goal is to introduce young Roma to potential employers, so that they can learn more about different occupations and motivate themselves to continue their education and choose an adequate profession. “Open door day” is implemented within the project “Promoting the employability of young Roma men and women – phase II”. The mentioned project is supported through the program of German financial cooperation, which is implemented by the German development bank KfW on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Germany – the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and the Holocaust

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A new survey in Germany found out that young people know very little about the Nazi period and the Holocaust. For example, less than half of the respondents mentioned the sick and disabled as victims of persecution, and less than a third mentioned Sinti and/or Roma.

For the Memo Youth Study, approximately 3,500 young people aged 16 to 25 were surveyed online by the University of Bielefeld in September/October 2021, and 838 participants were re-tested in September 2022.

Its authors point out that despite insufficient knowledge of the facts, National Socialism and World War II are the main points of reference in the culture of remembrance for teenagers and young adults.

Thus, 63 percent of young adults, but on average only 53 percent across all age groups, reported being interested in events from the National Socialist era. In addition, around three-quarters of those aged 16 to 25 did not question the desirability of dealing with this period in German history.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Segregation

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The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic decided that children who attend a purely Romani elementary school in the Stará Ľubovňa – Podsadek district are segregated in education. The Slovak state and the city of Stará Ľubovňa were condemned by the court for not having taken sufficient measures to prevent and remediate this discrimination.

The author of the article says that the topic of segregation is a complex one in Slovakia, mostly due to the existence of segregated Roma settlements.

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