Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma Projects

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Slovenia and Roma Projects

The Slovene government is opening 9 new multi-purpose centres for Roma in August. In addition to the 20 million, an additional 5.5 million euros will be allocated for this. This article is a violent diatribe against these projects, saying that they do nothing to prevent “Roma criminality” and are a waste of money.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Attack

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Slovenia: Attack

In early July, three Roma brutally beat-up a 72-year-old farmer Anton Čemažar in a field on the outskirts of Ljubljana. This caused a great deal of controversy. Now, the farmer and his family have suffered their first disappointment: the Ljubljana District Court has rejected a request to investigate a fourth person involved, who led the attackers to Čemažar’s field and drove them away after the violent act, in a vehicle without license plates. The investigating judge and the pre-trial panel believe that the driver did not know what was really happening, but was merely taking the perpetrators fishing, so there is no reasonable suspicion of his complicity.

This is the law, but here the result is that in Slovenia, they say that Roma are not subject to it. Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma King

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Roma King

Bad on both sides… the story of a self-declared king Róbert I. Botoš, who took his symbolic throne in the spring of 2014. There is no such thing among Roma. No hierarchy whatsoever. But this perdures due to stereotypes on both sides.

Bulgaria North Macedonia Serbia

Balkan, Work, and Roma

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Balkan, Work, and Roma

The labour market situation in the countries of the Western Balkans is bad – the population of Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina is aging.

The other big problem for these countries is migration – many young people of working age emigrate and prefer to build a career in EU countries – for example, in Germany, Austria or Italy. This creates a serious shortage of qualified labour in the Western Balkans.

By 2050, Serbia is expected to lose over 40 percent of its citizens of working age. The situation is similar in neighbouring Bulgaria, where according to UN data, the country will shrink by 23% by 2050. Similar forecasts are made for other countries in the region.

Roma can solve part of these issues in the labour market.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Wedding turning sour

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Wedding turning sour

An evening celebration of a wedding in Sereď, Slovakia, turned into a mass fight, which required police intervention. The incident was preceded by a verbal conflict during the wedding in one of the family homes. According to initial information, a group of Roma participated in the fight, who were supposed to disrupt public order. The seriousness of the situation is also confirmed by the fact that several injured people were treated in the hospital in Galanta.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Edward Dȩbicki

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Edward Dȩbicki

An article about Edward Dȩbicki, a 90 year old Polska Roma who spoke at this year’s commemoration on August 2nd in Auschwitz. Dębicki, is not only a musician and composer but also a writer. He wrote the book “Birds of the Dead” about that time over two decades ago, which recounts the tragedy of Roma families during the war.

“When the Roma camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was being liquidated in 1944, I was nine years old. We hid in the forests, lived in dugouts in constant fear, and saw death at every turn. I survived because fate had it so. But I carry within me the memory of all those who were not so fortunate,” says Edward Dębicki.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Commemorations

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Slovenia: Commemorations

Several articles in Slovenia about the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. With an interesting one as to whether use “porajmos” (don’t) or “Samudaripen” (better) top denote it.

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.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Romani Music

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Slovak Romani Music

The most famous Slovak musician of Roma origin, Igor Kmeťo Jr., joined forces with Tina and treated his fans to a colorful video clip for the song Av ke mande – come to me. According to the articles, the song is a celebration of temperament, love and the connection of cultures.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Martin Korčok

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Martin Korčok

On the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, which the world commemorates on August 2, the Director of the Holocaust Museum in Sereď – Martin Korčok, received the honorary recognition “Friend of the Roma”. The award was presented to him by Csaba Horváth from the Opre Roma Slovensko civic association, which since 2022 has been granting this symbolic recognition to people who, although not from the Roma community, actively contribute to the fight against prejudice and discrimination.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Commemoration

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Slovakia and Commemoration

Many articles about the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and Segregation

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Hungary and Segregation

The Budapest Francophone Journal met with Gábor Erőss, a 52-year-old Hungarian sociologist, researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Center for Social Sciences (TK SzI) and former deputy mayor of Budapest’s 8th district (Józsefváros) between 2019 and 2024. A member of the Párbeszéd Green Party, he exercised his mandate with a clear priority: to combat school segregation in a long-marginalized neighborhood. Trained in France, at Paris Descartes University, then at the EHESS, Gábor Erőss reflects on the educational policies he has implemented and his vision of school as a tool for social emancipation.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro: Mediators

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Montenegro: Mediators

The Montenegro Ministry of Education and Science has announced that a competition has been launched for the recruitment of educational mediators to support the education of Roma students for the 2025/2026 school year. The plan is to recruit 85 people, including 50 mediators for primary education and 35 for secondary education.

Well, nice intentions, but will it suffice?

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.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Commemoration

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Poland: Commemoration

Commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust have been held throughout Poland on August 2nd. The main one was held on the site of the former Roma camp in the KZ Auschwitz Birkenau in the presence of many European politicians, Romani Rose, chairman of the German Council of Sinti and Roma, as well as many survivors.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Commemoration

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Slovenia: Commemoration

A long article about the background of the August 2nd commemoration of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. This in a country where Roma are definitively discriminated against, and a country which claims not having persecuted them during the war.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Attack

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Slovenia: Attack

Another one of those articles, where the government is accused of not doing anything against Roma criminals. In this case, this followed another attack – apparently by Roma – in the Šentjernej area. The government is accused of not maintaining order, not arresting the perpetrators, etc.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Commemoration

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Slovakia: Commemoration

The Community Organizing Center, the Nie v našom mesto initiative, the Bystricka Christian Platform and the OZ Nádej deťom invite the public to a memorial service for the victims of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. It will take place on Thursday, July 31st at the SNP Square in Banská Bystrica.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Moldova nad Bodvou

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Moldova nad Bodvou

This is a never-ending story. 12 years ago, Roma were beaten up by the police in Moldova nad Bodvou. The Roma sued and found themselves accused of false testimony and condemned. They appealed and finally, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Slovakia in 2020.

They case against the police was reopened but assigned to the very same prosecutor who condemned the Roma. Now, finally, a new investigator has been assigned to the case.

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