Author Archives: Roma Foundation

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenian Settlements

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Slovenian Settlements

In the municipality of Metlika in Slovenia, there are approximately 400 Roma living in five Roma settlements, mostly on municipal land. Some have already purchased land from the municipality at a price of 7 euros per square meter. However, some issues in this area are still unresolved. In the municipality of Crnomelj, there are around 1,000 Roma.

Not much is done for integration there either.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

The director of Komunala Novo Mesto Bojan Kekec participated in a recent consultation on the employment of Roma. The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities presented a new program for the employment of the Roma population to mayors and employers in Novo Mesto.

“We are one of the few companies that also employs members of the Roma community. There are currently three Roma in regular employment at Komunala Novo Mesto,” explained director Bojan Kekec.

Better than nothing …

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma and Czechoslovak Socialism

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Roma and Czechoslovak Socialism

Efforts to resolve the issue of coexistence between the Roma community and the majority society started with the newly established independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. State policy was primarily bureaucratic and repressive in nature. After 1948 and the rise of the communist party, the position of the Roma in Czechoslovakia deteriorated significantly. This situation then escalated further during the era of so-called normalization. The socialist regime tried unsuccessfully to assimilate the Roma minority.

The article dwell on travellers, of which there were very few in the region, but does not speak much about the resettlement after the war.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Memoirs

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Czech Memoirs

An article about the memoirs of Karolína Kozáková, née Růžičková, published under the title Journey through life in a gypsy wagon. It represent a unique testimony about the internment of Roma in the Ruzyně forced labour camp and their subsequent transport to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp. It is from these memoirs published by the Museum of Romani Culture in the book Memoirs of Romani Women (2004) that the information leaflet prepared by the Prague Forum for Romani History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, for this year’s 82nd anniversary of this tragic event draws. It is the only known eyewitness testimony that captures the internment of Romani people in the Ruzyne forced labour camp.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Vlach Roma

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Vlach Roma

An article about Vlach Roma in Czechia (called Olah there). Full of generalisations and stereotypes. The article starts by saying “Women in colorful skirts, men hung with gold – a closed community with its own rules and judgments. Weddings at fifteen, a strict division of roles and its own dialect of Romanes.”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Commemoration

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Czechia: Commemoration

On Monday, March 10, 2025, dozens of people commemorated the 82nd anniversary of the mass deportation of Roma and Sinti from Prague to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp with a memorial service in Ruzyne, Prague. The participants, most of whom wore black clothing, laid floral wreaths at the wooden statue. The event, which has been held at this location for the third year and was initiated by the Roma and Sinti Center, is organized by the Prague 6 district in cooperation with the Museum of Roma Culture and the Prague Forum for Roma History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Documentary Festival

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Czechia: Documentary Festival

The One World International Documentary Film Festival will begin on Wednesday, March 12. Its program also includes the film Fakir, which looks into the family of a twenty-something Roma named Dalibor. He spent two years in prison for perjury, then he returns home and immediately has to face new problems. His younger brother Kevin grows up to be a domestic abuser and an alcoholic. Dalibor wants the boy to be entrusted to his mother. But the decision depends on the court.

He tries to succeed in a circus to give his brother and himself a better future.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Murder

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Bulgaria: Murder

A toddler was murdered in Kula, Bulgaria, close to the Serbian border. The suspects are two Roma who fled the country shortly after the murder.

Reasons are not given.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia: Roma Business Club

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Serbia: Roma Business Club

The Roma Business Club in Serbia is celebrating its first anniversary. “Our goal is to connect Roma entrepreneurs, gain access to more favourable financing, and have their voices heard at the national level,” says Žarko Savić, one of the founders of the club.

Right now, it connects over 2’000 entrepreneurs.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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Slovakia and Roma

Another article on the survey of attitudes towards Roma in Slovakia. Here, they say that 70% of the respondents would object if their child was to marry someone from the Romani community, and that 46% would object travelling next to Roma.

Unfortunately, not surprising.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and the Alo.bg Site

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Bulgaria and the Alo.bg Site

The Alo.bg site is showcasing classified ads. Now, more and more Romnja are advertising their services as prostitutes in the Varna region.

This has prompted discussions: Some believe that this is a serious problem that should be investigated by the authorities, while others believe that the situation has been exaggerated. They believe that this is a form of exploitation and that such practices should be stopped and are demanding stricter control over online platforms.

Sceptics believe that this is part of a broader social problem and that the focus should not be only on the ethnicity of the women, but on the reasons that make them engage in such activity. “This is not a problem of just one community, but of the whole society. We need to work for integration and providing opportunities for everyone to prevent exploitation,” said one expert.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Trump, USAID, and Slovenia

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Trump, USAID, and Slovenia

The near total stop in USAID grants affects quite a few NGOs in Slovenia. The article here details the ones affected in Pomurje.

Among those affected are also Roma projects, as well as areas such as strengthening democratic values, ensuring gender equality, respecting human rights, protecting the environment, eliminating the consequences of natural disasters, and providing humanitarian aid.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Interview

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Slovakia: Interview

An interview with Lana Gazov, an activist who created founded the Kamiben profile, which connects Roma and non-Roma about the belief in Slovakia, that social benefits are tilted towards Roma and about her life as a Romni in Slovakia and abroad.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia: Fire

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Croatia: Fire

Three children died in a fire in a Roma settlement in Croatia.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Almost no news in France this week about Roma. A conference to be held on March 11th about “Roms et Gens du Voyage” (the usual French mess in terms of names), in Western France, and the tons of garbage that are left after the closure of a Roma camp near Paris.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Poland and Roma Refugees

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Poland and Roma Refugees

25,000 Roma fled from Ukraine to Poland according to this article, which also states that “Most families were completely illiterate”… Both statements are definitively wrong. There are more Roma refugees, and many are well integrated.

Now four journalists and reporters have published a book describing their plight. “The War of Our Times” by Maria Kądzielska-Koper, Arleta Bojke, Michał Owerczuk and Tomasz Piechal is a collection of ten stories.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Edward Dębicki

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Poland: Edward Dębicki

Fr. Stanisław Opocki, the National Roma Chaplain, prayed on March 6 for the Gypsy artist, Honorary Citizen of Gorzów Wielkopolski Edward Dębicki on his 90th birthday. The Jubilarian and his wife Ewa also participated in the Holy Mass celebrated in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Edward Dębicki, a Roma activist is well known in Poland and beyond.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Road Show

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Czechia: Road Show

The Roma Road Show series of events, with which Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková is going to the regions, presents inspiring Roma projects focused on housing, community work, health, education or security. The aim is to support cooperation between Roma organizations, local governments and local leaders. The first meeting took place on March 5 in Šternberk, with further stops in Pardubice and Jihlava.

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