Author Archives: Roma Foundation

Romani Literature in Croatia

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Romani Literature in Croatia

Romani literature is not small, it is just not taken seriously enough, said author Ruždija Russo Sejdović in an interview at the opening of the Review of Small Literature on Tuesday in Booksa, Croatia, this year dedicated to Romani literature in Europe.

Czechia, Elections, and Roma

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Czechia, Elections, and Roma

According to the findings of Romea.cz, at least sixteen Romani men and women ran for the Chamber of Deputies in this year’s elections, which represents the highest number since the beginning of systematic monitoring of Romani participation in elections. Nevertheless, none of them managed to penetrate the lower chamber of Parliament. The most successful Roma candidate was Josef Tokár (SPOLU, South Bohemia), who received 1,335 preferential votes. Jaroslav Miko (STAN, Prague) finished in second place with 818 votes, and Milan Sýs (Stačilo!, Pardubice Region) took the imaginary third place, who received 598 votes.

Bulgaria: Houses Destruction

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Bulgaria: Houses Destruction

An investment decision by the Vratsa municipality is forcing some of the residents of the “Mladost” district to leave their homes. The demolition of some of the houses in the neighborhood began this morning.

Initially, four of the buildings that are no longer habitable will be destroyed. The rest are being given a grace period so that people can find new homes. New houses will be built on the site instead.

Roma families live in some of the properties being demolished by the municipality. However, people in the neighbourhood claim that the place has been an arena of tension for more than 20 years.

Bulgaria and Local Elections

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Bulgaria and Local Elections

In Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, there are local mayoral elections. Apparently, the DPS party has not been doing well recently in the town, but their candidate is “activating” the Roma vote. Whatever this means, as in Bulgaria, there have been allegations of vote buying among Roma since a long time.

Dolores Dori

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Dolores Dori

Dolores Dori, a 44 year old Sintica/Romni who was killed in a feud in Lonato del Garda, Brescia is the subject of numerous articles in the Italian press. He mother and her son were apparently arrested. At the core of the story is the daughter who eloped with a boy from the Roma camp in which Dolores was killed.

Italy: Feud

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Italy: Feud

A feud between Roma resulted in the killing of a 44 year old woman. According to the latest reports, she arrived to collect her daughter, who had moved to the camp against her parents’ wishes. The woman is said to have been having an affair with a boy from the camp, but, according to Brescia Today, she has already been promised in marriage to another man.

She was later shot and wounded and died in a hospital where she was found at the entrance of the emergency room.

Bad.

Slovenia and Roma Criminality

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Slovenia and Roma Criminality

Another one of these articles about young Roma robbing a man in the Novo Mesto region. The facts are not to be denied, as the Roma, aged 14 to 16 were arrested by the police and will be indicted. The issue here is that the general trend is to lump all Roma as criminals. This is bad and dangerous.

Greece, Police, and Roma

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Greece, Police, and Roma

With 24-hour patrols by the Greek Police in Roma camps and the announcement of the recruitment of 50 gypsy police officers, the Ministry of Citizen Protection is attempting to present a new policing and mediation plan. It started all with a claim that effectively, Roma are basically criminals.

Roma in Greece are protesting against those measures and say that those measures will not build trust.

The Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis clarified that “the police will hire approximately 50 uniformed police officers, unarmed, with special duties, who will be close to the Police Departments of the areas where these vulnerable groups live and will play the role of social mediator, this will be their mission.”\

So basically not really police, and not a role that can be sustained.

Europe, Bulgaria, and Roma

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Europe, Bulgaria, and Roma

The headline says it all: Praise of “Roma” in Brussels, and here: A mother gave birth to 6 children by different fathers, keeps them hungry!

First we hope that he 6 children did not happen in one go … and then, this kind of pandering to the worst negative stereotypes against Roma but also against Europe is really bad. Let’s just remind these people that without Europe, they would have a lot more to complain about.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much in France this week … A fire in a Roma camp near Nantes, in Western France; one site also in Wenstern France needs rehabilitation, as it has been too degraded; and one camp being dismantled near Paris. 

Czech Elections

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Czech Elections

Czech Roma are becoming more interested in elections every year. According to estimates, about 150 thousand of them have the opportunity to vote. The prevailing opinion in society is that many mainly vote for Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, but Ľavica is also popular.

Slovak Action Plan

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Slovak Action Plan

The SaS opposition party draws attention to the allegedly inefficient use of public funds within the government’s action plan to address the issue of excluded Roma communities. According to SaS MP Vladimír Ledecký, the document is expected to cost more than a billion euros, with 60 million of them going to planting trees around Roma settlements.

World War Two Murder

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World War Two Murder

Towards the end of the war, at least 47 people including at least 37 Roma were brutally murdered by Hungarian Nyilas soldiers near Dunajská Streda on the Klátovský branch of the Little Danube at the end of World War II. They do not have their own grave.

Amico Rom

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Amico Rom

The 32nd edition of Amico Rom, an event combining a competition, awards, music, cultural events, and celebrations, will get underway on October 3, 2025. Following the well-attended and moving celebration in memory of the deported Roma and Sinti children held on September 30, this Friday there will be three events in Lanciano: at 10:30 a.m., in the Parco delle Memorie, the solemn ceremony for the Samudaripen (Roma and Sinti genocide) will be held, with the laying of a laurel wreath and speeches by the authorities; At 4:00 pm, the Casa di Conversazione will screen the documentary “A Roma’s Dream,” starring Croatian MP Veljko Kajtazi.

Catalogna: Exhibition

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Catalogna: Exhibition

Mercedes Porras, a Romani activist and curator of the exhibition The Roma people in Catalonia: history and culture, which can be seen at the Museum of the History of Catalonia until August 2, 2026 is part of the commemoration of the 275th anniversary of the Great Raid of 1749 and the 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Roma people to the peninsula.

Final Rest

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Final Rest

Three Roma remains collected for racist research purposes around 150 years ago have been interred at Leipzig’s Südfriedhof Cemetery. “In the best case scenario, we can succeed in alleviating some of the suffering that was committed long ago in the here and now,” said Prof. Martin Gericke, who heads provenance research at the Institute of Anatomy in Leipzig.

“Zigeuner”

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“Zigeuner”

The Zurich Anti-Racism Office removed the book title “Zigeuner” from an event. Isabella Huser, a Yenish author speaks of absurd censorship. The issue there is that Yenish, a traveller minority in German speaking lands (mostly Switzerland and Rhine valley) often denote themselves as “Zigenuer”. But for Sinti and Roma, the use of this term is akin to the N-word.

Ake Dikhea

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Ake Dikhea

The film festival “Ake Dikhea” is starting. Two films currently highlighted are “Reaching for the rope”, and “The earth beneath Margaret’s feet”.

Georges Soros and Roma

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Georges Soros and Roma

The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is awarding this year’s European Civil Rights Prize to George Soros (95). The US founder, investor, and philanthropist is being honored for his decades-long international commitment to Sinti and Roma, the association announced in Heidelberg on Tuesday. The award is also intended to draw attention to the dangers of growing antigypsyism, which is once again manifesting itself in Germany and many European countries through violence against the minority by nationalists and right-wing extremists.

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