Category Archives: Czech Republic

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.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Musician’s Book

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Czechia: Musician’s Book

What is it like to lose your sight as a child? What if you have a disobedient guide dog? What does a blind musician have to deal with? And what did police bullying of Roma look like in the nineties? The most famous Czech Roma accordionist Mário Bihári tells about this in his new book.

The book is called “Music in Colour”.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Moravia: Roma Culture

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Moravia: Roma Culture

The Moravian-Silesian Region has increased funds for supporting cultural activities in the region by almost 3 million crowns (121500 euros).

This will contribute to stage readings, a Roma festival or improvisational theatre. “As part of the subsidy program for professional and non-professional activities in the field of culture, the region supported 54 projects in March this year, among which the councillors distributed 11 million crowns. We managed to allocate additional funds for culture, so we will be able to support another 9 interesting events, to which we will contribute a total of 2.8 million crowns. These include, for example, the Improtřesk festival, Sorfest or the multi-genre Roma festival ARA FEST Ostrava,” said Peter Harvánek, the Moravian-Silesian Region Councillor for Culture and Monument Preservation.

Will this help Roma?

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Sterilisations

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Czechia and Sterilisations

The Czech President Petr Pavel has signed a law extending the deadline for submitting compensation claims for forced sterilisations to January 2027.

Many Romnja who had been forced-sterilised had tried to get their claims registered, but the process was so slow that they would have seen their claims dismissed. Let’s hope this time it will work.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe United Kingdom

Glastonbury and Roma

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Glastonbury and Roma

The musical formation Songs of Roma will perform at one of the largest and most famous music festivals in the world in Glastonbury in the United Kingdom. They will present the Romani repertoire and will also lead a workshop on traditional singing. The festival takes place from June 25 to 29 and will offer a varied cultural program focused, among other things, on the Romani community.

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