A new book by the Historian Jiří Smlsal, relates how not only were the Czech Roma killed during the war, but their property was simply seized. No Roma were ever compensated for this.
A video from last Monday showed a Ukrainian speaking man attacking a Rom in Kutná Hora, Czechia. Some other Ukrainians dragged him away.
Roma demonstrated in the town following the attack.
The story of a Romni who is now a school teacher. That is really positive. What is less, is that they say that a rich wedding and a future as a housewife awaited her and Ildikó, a Roma a Vlach Romni, defied the rules.
According to the article, men have the decisive say and women’s role is to stay at home and take care of the household. Ildikó Kotlárová also grew up in the Vlach (called Olah in Slovakia) Roma community, refused to accept traditions – she did not want to get married without love in an arranged marriage and she did not want to be a woman whose word would not have weight in society. For not accepting the rules of her community, her life’s dream came true.
Again, the traditions of a very small group of Roma are generalised on all.
The infamous police raid in Moldov nad Bodvou, where Roma were beaten by the police, and then condemned for defamation against the very same police, is coming to an end, more than 9 years after the facts. Slovakia was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, and now has settled compensations for the victims of police violence.
But .. they did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. This is bad.
Again, an article about the alleged “abuses” of the special status for Ukrainian Refugees by Roma in Switzerland. This time, it is via an interview of the head of the refugee department of the canton Bern. He panders the usual allegations, false papers, criminal clans, and all the same unproven junk.
He is lobbying against the special status for Ukrainians, and is using Roma for that purpose. Bad and racist.
Does one really have to report on this? A brawl among Roma in a settlement in Slovakia makes it to CNN.
Bad for all.
A festival with Roma music in the Spa Park attracted crowds to Ciechocinek, close to Torun, Poland. There were over 9,000 people at the concert.
Klaudia Wioletta, an academic, and not a whistleblower learned that the Norwegian police had created a register of Roma, a national minority in Norway, and had no choice but to subject it to public and legal scrutiny.
She first came across the Norwegian Roma “family tree” compiled by police officers during a meeting she was invited to on crime prevention activities in Oslo in the fall of 2023. The police officers wanted to expand their knowledge about Roma and invited her because in her research she dealt with issues related to Roma. She photographed the “family tree” and, suspecting that there was a register behind the graphics, accepted the invitation to another meeting with the policemen who presented it.
Her suspicions were right. During the next meeting, the officer showed her the log on his computer and explained how he created it. The register includes 14 people who have been charged in ongoing criminal cases, 74 are their close relatives and 567 other people. The register even includes Holocaust survivors, deceased persons, and Roma children.
Just a reminder, a program from the Vojvodina, in Romanes.
The same article in both Ukrainian and Russian published in the Ukraine about Roma. It perpetuates some of the nastiest stereotypes, and of course generalises from some customs of Vlach Roma to all Roma all over the country.
Would one focus on ultra-orthodox Lubavitcher Jews and generalise on all Jews? Probably not. For Roma, though, this is the norm of reporting.
A view of the fate of Roma since the accession of Slovakia to the EU. Well, life was better for many Roma in Slovakia under communism than afterwards.
This is a sad commemoration after 20 years in the EU.
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