Category Archives: Czech Republic

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Pavel Sliško

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Pavel Sliško

On August 21, 2025, at the age of 51, Romani activist, proud Romani and good person Pavel Sliško, whom we all knew as Pavel Krtek, left us forever. His passing saddened not only the Romani community in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also everyone who knew him.

May he rest in peace. Te ovel I phuv loki.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Jan Bendig

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Jan Bendig

Young Roma singer Jan Bendig is increasingly becoming known to the general public. He became famous thanks to a singing competition, but then he built his career as a solo singer practically on his own. He sings in Romanes, Czech, and English.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Commemoration

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Czechia: Commemoration

Yesterday, a commemoration for the Romane victims of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust was held at the Hodonín u Kunštátu Memorial.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Remembrance

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Czechia: Remembrance

On August 2, artists symbolically named one of the nameless streets in Česká Bříza “Serinkova”. It was named after the Romano partisan Josef Serinek. The artists are reacting to the decision of the Liberec city council, which refused to officially rename part of Kunratická Street.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Michal Šamko

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Michal Šamko

The Romano writer Michal Šamko did not have an easy childhood. His parents and siblings came from Svidník in Northeastern Slovakia, but he was born in Jičín, Czech Republic. “Gypsy filth,” they shouted at him in elementary school, where he was the only Rom among 23 children in their class. The biggest punishment for his classmates was to be made to sit next to him. Michal Šamko was determined to achieve something in life, and in the end he succeeded.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Mixed Family

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Mixed Family

The story of a Czech Romni married to a non-Roma man. She starts by saying that a strange woman shouted at me not to speak Romani to my son in a shop!

She says:

I am a Romani woman. For some, it is just a word, for me it is my identity, my history and my pride. My husband Petr is Czech, a “gadžo”, and together we are raising our two-year-old son Davídek. Our home is a place where two worlds, two cultures meet. We speak Czech together, but I have also spoken Romani to Davídek since birth. I want him to know the language of his grandparents, to understand the songs and stories that shaped our family. I want him to be proud of both halves of his body.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Festival “Romský Bašavel”

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Festival “Romský Bašavel”

The sixth annual cultural event Roma Bašavel will take place on Thursday, August 14, 2025, from 5 p.m. at the Novodvorská Cultural Centre in Prague 4. The festival will present both traditional and modern Roma music and dance, and visitors can also look forward to a rich accompanying program and specialties of Roma cuisine. The Romea.cz news server was informed about this by Anna Chválová, the officer for national minorities and integration of foreigners of the Prague 4 Municipal District.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Tomio Okamura

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Tomio Okamura

The Czech politician Tomio Okamura and his SPD party are facing charges of inciting hatred. The case is related to last year’s election posters in which the party attacked migrants and Roma.

Would be good if this goes to court before the upcoming elections…

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Commemorations

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Czechia: Commemorations

Several articles in the Czech press on the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust.

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe

IHRA: Michaela Küchler

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IHRA: Michaela Küchler

The secretary general of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust and the need to remember.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Commemoration

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Commemoration

The Museum of Romani Culture will commemorate the victims of the Genocide of the Romano during the Holocaust on August 2nd in Hodonín u Kunštátu and Lety u Písek with a series of commemorative events.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Poland

Dikh i na Bistrer

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Dikh i na Bistrer

Several ROMEA Fellows are participating in the international educational event Dikh He Na Bister 2025 (“Look and Remember”), which takes place in Poland from July 29 to August 4. The gathering of young people from all over Europe commemorates the genocide of Roma and Sinti during World War II and offers education in human rights and the fight against racism.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

A good story?

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A good story?

Martin Halík, a successful IT worker, left all behind an moved to a Roma settlement in Gemer. He does concrete help, charity, but also is a priest and as such also preaches.

Nice intentions, one needs to understand more.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

10 Minutes

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10 Minutes

After more than a year, the talk show Desetiminutovka returns to ROMEA TV, which has been in existence since 2009 and is one of the oldest formats of the first Roma internet television. The new presenter is Nikola Kokyová, a former Miss Czech Republic and model who studied economics and now works in the non-profit sector. Her first guest is psychology student and young activist Robin Balog.

Czech Republic

Pilsen Brawl

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Pilsen Brawl

A brawl between Roma families in Pilsen saw the intervention of the police, and cast a shadow on this event.

Bad.

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Festivals …

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Roma Festivals …

An editorial one can only agree with. There is a multiplication of events called “Roma festivals”. This article focuses on the ones created in Slovakia, but this is a phenomenon that exists across Europe. Quality, impact, and meaningfulness are seldom discussed. We have basic folklore, unfortunately pandering to the usual stereotypes.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Folklore …

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Folklore …

Another one of those kinds of articles. All stereotypes included. Good musicians who “migrated through Europe for thousands of years”, and so on. Well meant, but full of stereotypes.

As one says: Hell is paved with good intentions.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brawl

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Brawl

In the centre of Pilsen, Czechia, after the AraFest 2025 Roma culture festival, which took place on Republic Square in the very centre of the city, police had to intervene because of a fight between tow Romani families.

Shame.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Political Racism

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Political Racism

The police have closed the investigation into the case of racist Czech political extremist party SPD posters from last year’s election campaign, in which the chairman of this opposition movement, MP Tomio Okamura, and the SPD as a legal entity are accused. The Novinky server wrote on Thursday evening that criminal investigators are now waiting for the party’s new representative to familiarize themselves with the investigation file. The police are accusing Okamura and the SPD of inciting hatred, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

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