Author Archives: Roma Foundation

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Fire

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Slovakia: Fire

Many articles in the Slovak and in the Czech press about the fire in the Roma settlement of Veľkém Šariši which killed 4 children and a woman and destroyed several houses. Alexander Daško, the government’s plenipotentiary for Roma communities, went in the settlement in the Prešov region. He wants to go to Brussels and provide modular housing for the Roma in the settlements.

Up till now, he hasn’t done much to help and is heavily criticised.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Prague – International Roma Day

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Prague – International Roma Day

The International Roma Day celebrations will begin in Prague on April 4th, offering concerts, exhibitions, discussions and a gala evening. This year’s 11th year will be held in the spirit of the theme FUTUROMA, which focuses on the future of Roma culture in society. The celebrations are organized by the ARA ART organization and will culminate on April 8th with a gala evening.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia, the Web and Neo-Nazis

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Czechia, the Web and Neo-Nazis

The Brno Municipal Court today began hearing the case of Igor Mižák, who, according to the indictment, was supposed to have founded and managed the neo-Nazi website White Media. In the past, the website published hundreds to thousands of private documents and personal data, including e-mail correspondence between former prime ministers Bohuslav Sobotka and Vladimír Špidla. Among the victims are also activists fighting against racism and xenophobia, including several Roma. However, the court is not addressing the website’s hateful content due to the US position. Mižák defends himself by claiming that he only rented the website. If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Fire

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Slovakia: Fire

The fire in a Roma settlement in Veľký Šariš on March 19th claimed the lives of four young children and one adult woman and burnt 8 homes to the ground. It has severely affected not only the local Roma community, but also the general public. Roma activists, politicians and representatives of institutions are reacting to the tragedy. Roma leader Jozef Stojka called on Roma in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and throughout the European Union to light a candle in memory of the victims on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. According to him, the tragedy revealed a long-term crisis in the state’s approach to marginalized Roma communities.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Czechia, Roma, and Ukrainians

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Czechia, Roma, and Ukrainians

An interview with the coordinator of a facility for children in unfavourable situation who explains that they now have Roma and Ukrainians amongst their client, and that they had to deal with prejudice towards Roma.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Neo-Nazi Threats

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Czechia: Neo-Nazi Threats

A video about physical violence against Roma has caused great concern in Písek. The author of the video, who is a teenager who has been identified, and about which the police cannot provide more information, claimed in it that about a hundred extremists would arrive in Písek on Monday, March 17, and would bring order to the city.

“It’s Písek on Monday. At seven in the evening. There were skinheads everywhere here and it was quiet. Now they’re not here and it’s a mess,” the video, which has already been removed from social media, said.

Some Roma did not want to be liked by the threats and wanted to organize their own rally via social media. Michal Mižigár from Písek, however, called for prudence. “Please be prudent, let’s not be scared by the provocateurs from Tiktok,” he said on the social network Facebook.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Displaced

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Slovakia: Displaced

The mayor of the municipality of Dolné Vestenice in Slovakia, Viliam Šuhajda, declared an emergency situation for the territory of the municipality, specifically in the Kopanice part, with effect from March 19, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. The reason for this decision is slope deformation, which poses a serious risk to residents and infrastructure in the area.

The issue: Below that slope lies a Roma settlement. And the municipality said they had no alternative place to resettle them…

News Americas

Ballerina

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Ballerina

The upcoming John Wick film “Ballerina”, featuring actors Ana de Armas, Ian McShane, Norman Reedus and Anjelica Huston. What does this have to do with Roma?

Well, the main character “has been trained in the assassin methods of the Russian Roma”. This is de-facto profiling Roma and misrepresenting them.

Besides the fact that killing people is not part of Romani culture.

PROTEST

Finland News Western Europe

Black Butterfly

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Black Butterfly

Kiba Lumberg’s novel entitled Black Butterfly (Musta perhonen)., describes the oppression of women in the patriarchal community of Finnish Roma.

“My curse and blessing is that I was born a Roma woman,” begins the story of Memesa Grönlund, the main character of the novel. It tells the story of a girl growing up in the Kale Roma community in the city of Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. Memesa describes life in their patriarchal community, the relationships between her and the rest of her family, but also the bullying she encounters at home and at school.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Roma, and Schools

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Slovenia, Roma, and Schools

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Luka Mesec presented a package of measures to address Roma issues in Novo mesto. Among the measures, a new one will allow  to consider failure to attend primary school as child neglect. The minister said that this can have serious legal consequences. The proposal also envisages the mandatory inclusion of Roma children in kindergarten one year before entering school.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Deaf Roma

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Slovakia: Deaf Roma

A conference entitled We Create a Community of Deaf Roma Together: Deaf Roma as an Invisible Minority was dedicated to discussing the challenges faced by the deaf Roma community, as well as finding concrete solutions supporting inclusion. It will took place on Tuesday in a café on Svätopluková Street in Prešov. As the director of the civic association Svet ticha Tomáš Dunko it also highlighted the results of mapping deaf Roma living in socially excluded localities.

According to Dunko, who is deaf and sign language Roma, this is a relatively new topic that is little known in Slovakia. But it affects a large number of people who experience linguistic and social isolation without sufficient support from the state and society.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia, Roma, and the Genocide

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Czechia, Roma, and the Genocide

March 11, 1943, 642 Roma men, women and children were deported to Auschwitz Birkenau from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. This was the beginning of the systematic extermination of Roma in that region.

For the majority of Czechoslovak society at the time, this remained on the fringes of interest. Although there were cases where local residents showed sympathy or tried to help, in general, there was little awareness of the fate of the Roma. And after the war, the tragedy of the Roma Holocaust was neglected for a long time. The participation of Czech gendarmes and camp commanders in the genocide of the Roma during World War II was denied for forty years under communism. The taboo was broken after the revolution by historian Ctibor Nečas and journalist Markus Pape, and courageous activists from among Roma also played their part. For example, Jan Hauer, Antonín Lagryn or Čeněk Růžička, all sons of Leti prisoners.

Austria News Western Europe

Kateřina Čapková

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Kateřina Čapková

Kateřina Čapková currently works at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, where she researches the various political strategies towards Roma and Romnja during the Nazi era. In the future, Austria will also increasingly be a focus of her work. Her goal: to finally make historical findings accessible to the general public.

Čapková is a Czech historian and university professor specializing in the history of Roma. Her academic career began in the 1990s at Charles University in Prague. While still a student, she worked in the Department of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Neo-Nazi Threats

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Czechia: Neo-Nazi Threats

A young neo-Nazi openly threatens Roma with violence in a video on TikTok. He says that a group of extremists will arrive in Písek on Monday evening and want to attack Roma. The video quickly began to spread among Roma and raised concerns. The situation is already being handled by the Government Commissioner for Roma Affairs, Lucie Fuková, who is in contact with the police. In response to the threats, some Roma are calling for their own meeting in Písek.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Famous Photo

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Slovakia: Famous Photo

David Neff won the Czech Press Photo for his photo of the tragic floods in a Roma settlement in eastern Slovakia, but his main protagonist, Sister Atanázie Holubová, was not too thrilled with the photo. “I was a little angry with him. Why do you still have to take pictures of it?”

The flood occurred in Jarovnice on July 20th, 1998.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Roma Ball

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Czechia: Roma Ball

The Czech National Roma Ball took place at the House of Culture in Mladá Boleslav on Saturday, March 15. Slavo Gaži, Duo band Kladno, Gipsy Mekenzi/Gipsy Kubo and Valerie Stojková provided entertainment for dancing and listening.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Racism Stories in Slovakia

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Racism Stories in Slovakia

An article with testimonies of racism towards Roma, but also Ukrainians, Moslems, etc.

“He shouted at us that we gypsies should not be here, that we stink, that we should sit in the back and not in the front, that they treat us like gypsies, that we are dirty gypsies.”

“I faced discrimination when they refused to serve me in a café and a bar because of my Romani origin. It was very humiliating and embarrassing for me.”

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Erika Rein

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Erika Rein

Young singer Erika Rein is a prominent figure in the Slovak music scene and could win the Debut of the Year and Album of the Year awards. She sings in Slovak, English and Romanes and makes catchy pop songs.

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