Category Archives: Czech Republic

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Roma Spirit

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Roma Spirit

From Wednesday (May 21), people can submit exceptional personalities, strong stories and concrete solutions for the Roma community to the 17th edition of Roma Spirit.

Roma Spirit showcases successful Roma people, but also projects that help those living in excluded communities. “It is very difficult to choose the right actors so that they can be the right finalists. I think that everyone who submits applications has won in their own way,” said Alexander Daško, the Slovak government’s plenipotentiary for Roma communities.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Khamoro Festival

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Khamoro Festival

From May 25 to 31, Prague will once again become the capital of Romani culture. One of the largest and most recognized Romani festivals in the world – Khamoro 2025 – brings a varied program full of music, discussions, film and literature to the streets, libraries, theatres and clubs. The festival is traditionally organized by the Slovo 21 organization, and this year, visitors can look forward to performances by artists from the Czech Republic and abroad.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Roma Resistance

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Czechia and Roma Resistance

A memorial service was organized by the Roma and Sinti Association in the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Association of Christian Aid Brno. Its aim was to honour the memory of the Roma victims of Nazism and to commemorate the heroic uprising of the Roma and Sinti in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which took place on May 16, 1944 – 81 years ago.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Commemoration

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Lety Commemoration

Two articles on the commemoration in Lety last week end. Both stress the fact that hatred against Roma is on the rise again.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Museum

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Lety Museum

The Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Bohemia was opened in Lety by the Museum of Roma Culture last April. According to the museum’s director, Jana Horváthová, the memorial’s indoor exhibition was visited by about 10,000 people in its first year of operation last year. And she emphasized that among them were numerous school trips.

“But the Museum of Romani Culture cannot function alone in this matter (education). A national education policy is essential. It is absolutely essential that the topic of Romani history and culture be included in the framework educational programs, that it be taught in schools at least from the second level (elementary school). It is not yet,” said Horváthová.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety: Commemoration

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Lety: Commemoration

The traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the memory of the Holocaust and its Romani and Sinti victims took place at the site of what was previously called the “Gypsy Camp” in Lety u Písku on Sunday, may 11th.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety: Commemoration

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Lety: Commemoration

On Sunday, May 11, 2025, at 12 noon, a traditional commemoration of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust victims will take place in Lety u Písku, which will take place at the site of the former so-called gypsy camp. The annual gathering commemorates the tragic fate of hundreds of Roma men, women and children who were deported from this place to extermination camps. The commemoration will also be possible to watch live this year thanks to the first Roma internet television, ROMEA TV, which will offer a live broadcast from the site.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Politics in Czechia

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Politics in Czechia

The umbrella platform of Roma and pro-Roma organizations RomanoNet and the civic members of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs sharply condemned the behaviour of Marek Cavali, the candidate of the STAČILO! movement in the Ústí nad Labem Region, who, according to the media and witnesses, has been threatening, insulting and dishonouring his opinion opponents for a long time. His behavior is being responded to by a joint statement from almost two dozen Roma organizations and individuals, according to whom Cavali’s actions create an atmosphere of fear and damage trust in the public representation of the Roma.

Bad, that this has no consequences…

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Amnesty on Czechia

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Amnesty on Czechia

The annual Amnesty International report on Czechia has just been published… It takes note of the incomplete compensation of the victims of forced sterilization among other things.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Trio Romano

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Trio Romano

The Roma band Trio Romano, which has been appearing regularly at the Balkan Fiesta for several years, will perform again this year – this time at the tenth anniversary edition of this event. The Fiesta will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 8:00 PM at Café Nona on Národní třída in Prague. It will also be the last year under the roof of the New Stage of the National Theatre.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Having a Dream

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Having a Dream

The second year of the Having a Dream project will take place on May 3, 2025 in Pardubice. Nine inspiring Roma personalities, including three ROMEA scholarship holders, will perform on stage. The aim of the event is to support education, personal development and intergenerational dialogue. The event is held under the auspices of the Deputy Governor of the Pardubice Region, Pavel Šotola, and the Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, Lucie Fuková. Visitors can look forward to panel discussions, workshops, cultural performances and a ceremonial procession through the city centre.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety: Memorial Service

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Lety: Memorial Service

On Sunday, May 11, 2025, a memorial service will be held at the Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial to honor the victims of the Nazi regime. The event is organized by the Roma Holocaust Compensation Committee under the auspices of the government commissioner Lucie Fuková.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Romania

Book

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Book

Soldiers. A Story from Ferentari  was only published in Czech this year. It tells the autobiographical story of a famous anthropologist Adrian, who is writing a dissertation on Romani music and moves into the Bucharest ghetto of Ferentari. There, former Romani prisoner Alberto becomes his guide, and the mismatched pair eventually becomes a couple facing the surprising twists and turns of an unexpected intimate relationship.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brno: Exhibition

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Brno: Exhibition

The new exhibition “Roma Rising” at the Brno Museum of Roma Culture is intended to be the antithesis of the traditional ideas about Roma. It presents a total of 60 black-and-white portraits of prominent Roma men and women from 13 European countries and Canada. They have been on display since the middle of last week.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

School Segregation

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School Segregation

On February 28, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a fundamental judgment that affects the lives of thousands of Roma children in Central Europe – and especially all of us who are trying to ensure that our children have a chance at a decent education. In the case of Salay vs. Slovakia, the court ruled in favour of a young Roma man who was unfairly placed in a special school for children with mental disabilities as a child, even though there was no reason for this.

All too common still.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brno: “Problematic” school

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Brno: “Problematic” school

It used to be an elite institution where no Roma students attended. However, after merging with a neighboring elementary school, Merhautova Elementary School became a school where most of the students are Roma and, in recent years, Ukrainian. Does this sound like a recipe for disaster? But that did not happen at the Brno elementary school. Children and parents expressed their opinion in a satisfaction survey that “Merhautka” has the best internal climate of all Brno schools.

The proof that integration works.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Prague: Concert

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Prague: Concert

Roma music from all over the world in one place at La Fabrika – real Roma cymbalum, authentic flamenco and for the first time ever, Roma artists from Greece. The Traditional Roma Music Concert will feature Lavutari di Praga, Kostas Pavlidis and Ballet Flamenco Sergio González. The concert will take plae on the 29th of May 2025.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brno: Scam

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Brno: Scam

A woman in her 40s approached an 80 years old man saying that she was from a Roma association helping seniors and offered to help him withdraw money. He agreed but she then took the envelope with 30,000 crowns from him and left. The police are looking for her.

This is bad for all.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

School Segregation in the Czech Republic

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School Segregation in the Czech Republic

The paradox of today’s Czech Republic is that a country that aspired to connect with the liberal West after the fall of communism, tolerates a system of educational segregation that would put to shame even the illiberal regimes it once condemned. According to PAQ Research, there are 130 schools in the Czech Republic that are de facto “only for Roma”, where Roma children make up more than a third of the students. There are still 130 segregated schools in the Czech Republic. A third of Roma children end up in them.

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