Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Spirit

Published by:

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.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Vote Buying

Published by:

Bulgaria: Vote Buying

The Burgas District Court has overturned a verdict issued by the Pomorie District Court, by which the mayor of the Pomorie village of Bata, Georgi Georgiev, was found not guilty. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to ten months in prison, postponing the execution of the imposed sentence for a probationary period of three years.

Georgiev was found guilty of giving sums of money in the amount of 50 leva to S.R., I.Ch., Z.B. and M.S. in Bata in early April 2021, in order to persuade them to exercise their right to vote in the parliamentary elections in favour of a certain political coalition.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Roma Food

Published by:

Bulgarian Roma Food

Spring Roma dishes arepresented at the Ethnographic Museum in Burgas, Bulgaria for an unconventional offer – the Week of Roma Spring Feasts.

Cooking will be done in front of the general public by residents of the village of Rusokastro. They are old friends of the Burgas Museum, and during the summer months they work on the excavations of the medieval town of Rusokastro. Here, they will work as master chefs, and will reveal to us the secrets of Roma cuisine and more precisely – of spring Roma dishes.

On Wednesday (May 21), the recipe Ribnik without fish will be presented, which is prepared with the first spring green beans. On Thursday (May 22) we will enjoy lean sarmi from duckweed with an appetizing sauce, and on Friday (May 23) we will be able to try the unique lapadnik – bread with duckweed, green onions and gyozu.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Bratislava and Neo Nazis

Published by:

Bratislava and Neo Nazis

On Tuesday (20.05.), the regional criminal police intervened in several places in Bratislava as part of the case of a masked neo-Nazi group that was planning to attack people in the capital. According to noviny.sk, the police detained more than 20 people. Among them were juveniles. However, their number may not be final.

This group had been targeting migrants and Roma in the capital for months.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Arson in Serbia

Published by:

Arson in Serbia

The police did not protect a family who was attacked by a mob on May 3rd in the Serbian village of Travnik, shouting racist insults. The police then trivialised the event.

Shame.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

Published by:

Slovenia and Roma

When stereotypes mix with education… Music, songs, this is what Roma children are faced with in “integration”. According to the article, “Roma children actively participated the whole time, we checked on a regular basis whether they understood the stories presented, as some have difficulty understanding the Slovenian language. Smiling and motivated, they happily participated in the creative workshop and coloured a colouring book with fairy-tale characters from the show.”

This is not how one achieves integration…

News Eastern Europe Poland

Resistance Day

Published by:

Resistance Day

Roma honoured the memory of their ancestors who revolted 81 years ago in the Gypsy camp that was part of the German Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. Director of the Roma History and Culture Centre Władysław Kwiatkowski emphasized that it was an act of maintaining dignity in the face of death.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Romania, and the Extreme Right

Published by:

Romania, and the Extreme Right

Threats to the Roma minority have increased since the far-right won the presidential election, which was cancelled at the end of 2024. But on the second round on Sunday, May 18, many Roma are paradoxically ready to vote for these ultranationalist candidates.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Khamoro Festival

Published by:

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

Published by:

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.

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

Roma Resistance Day

Published by:

Roma Resistance Day

April 16th, Roma Resistance Day, commemorates the resistance of Roma inmates in the Auschwitz “Zigeunerlager” when the Nazis liquidated the camp.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe

New Book

Published by:

New Book

A new book on the history of Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina was recently published. It is a joint publication of the Sarajevo University institute for history and the Zagreb Ivo Pilar Institute. It is an important cross disciplinary work featuring many new research and facts about Roma history in the region.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Victim Remnants

Published by:

Slovenia: Victim Remnants

The parliamentary group of the Slovenian Democratic Party has submitted a request to convene an urgent session of the Committee for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities. At the session, they want to discuss the item entitled Piety and dignified burial of the murdered victims from the clandestine cemetery Jama pod Macesnova gorica.

The reason for the request is the decision of the Ministry of Défense to temporarily transfer more than 3,000 mortal remains of victims of interwar and post-war violence, some of them Roma, which have so far been stored in inappropriate conditions in the garage of Komunala Kočevje, to the ossuary near Škofja Loka. “Despite announcements about seeking consensus with relatives and the general public, the transfer was carried out unilaterally, without prior agreement on the final burial location,” the SDS parliamentary group warns.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Kindergarten, and Roma

Published by:

Slovakia, Kindergarten, and Roma

The intention of the Slovak Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker to introduce compulsory pre-primary education from the age of three is not only causing resentment among a group of parents who want to have their child at home at a young age, but also a consideration of whether it will be truly effective and quickly applicable in practice. Currently, it seems most likely that the ministry will need finances for this.

The Ministry of Education claims that it wants to help children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds with the law.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine: Condemnation

Published by:

Ukraine: Condemnation

Three perpetrators of the brutal attack on a Roma camp in Lviv in 2018 were sentenced to prison after seven years. The Sychov District Court sent two attackers to ten years in prison, the main organizer received a sentence of ten years and 6 months. The verdict is not yet final. The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) reports.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Commemoration

Published by:

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

Published by:

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.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Municipal Work

Published by:

Slovakia: Municipal Work

The Slovak ministry of Labour wants to push for so-called “activation work” for long term unemployed. This means doing some menial jobs for municipalities, and, according to statistics, only 1 to 2% of people in this scheme find a job afterwards.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN