Category Archives: Poland

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Exhibition

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Poland: Exhibition

The opening of the exhibition “The Great Wagon. A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan at a Stopover Near Łomża” will take place on Friday, November 7, 2025, at 6:00 PM. The gathering will be an opportunity to discover a world that has almost disappeared.

It focuses on the more stereotypical aspects of travellers, and showcases the poetry of Papusza, a Romani poet.

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

Movie on Hate

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Movie on Hate

As part of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) conference in Warsaw on October 13 focusing on Roma human rights the screening of the movie That Boy follows the journey of Toby, a former Roma refugee, and Mirek, a former neo-Nazi, as they confront the roots of hate and explore the possibilities of dialogue and reconciliation. It revisits the largely untold story of anti-Roma violence that spread across parts of Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s.

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

Warsaw Conference

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Warsaw Conference

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) organised a conference in Warsaw on October 13 focusing on Roma human rights.

Ðorđe Jovanović, President of the European Roma Rights Centre, said that ”Sustained funding for human rights monitoring, advocacy and litigation must be urgently restored, along with institutional funding allowing Roma human rights organizations to function and operate independently,” and added that “Donors need to remove bureaucratic barriers and support civil society in protecting rights and holding institutions to account.”

News Eastern Europe Poland

Integration Picnic

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Integration Picnic

The “Breaking Stereotypes” Integration Picnic will take place this Friday (September 26) in Suwałki, Poland.

The event aims to build bridges between cultures and generations and to break down stereotypes. During the picnic, participants will have the opportunity to sample traditional Roma dishes prepared during culinary workshops, participate in educational activities exploring the history, culture, and language of the Roma, and have fun together during activities and integration competitions.

Unfortunately, all pictures here are stereotypical …

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Exhibition

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Poland: Exhibition

“The Great Wagon. A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan at a Rest Stop near Łomża” is the latest cultural offering from the North Mazovian Museum in Łomża. The opening took place on September 12th in the Cultural Hall. Currently, photographs by Zygmunt Dudo are on display in the Old Market Square; the exhibition will later move to a new location.

Unfortunately, quite stereotypical.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Exhibition

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Poland: Exhibition

The North Mazovian Museum in Łomża is opening the exhibition “The Great Wagon: A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan Stopping Near Łomża,” on September 12, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Łomża Cultural Centre.

The exhibition explores belonging – one of the most important and challenging issues in the contemporary world. In an era of migration, displacement, and integration challenges, questions about identity, diversity, and acceptance of otherness are becoming crucial to our shared lives.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Edward Dębicki

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Edward Dębicki

Edward Dębicki, a renowned Polsko Rom musician and Holocaust survivor is at the centre of a controversy in Gorzów Wiełkopolski. This is not his hometown, as he comes from former Eastern Poland, and was resettled when Poland was shifted 300 km westward.

The controversy was whether he could be granted a municipal apartment at a significant discount. Ultimately, the resolution was rejected. The vast majority of councillors voted against it.

So much for survivors …

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

An Omission?

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An Omission?

During the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust in Auschwitz, Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma gave a speech in German in which he not only spoke about the genocide of the Roma but also of human right violations, and he specifically mentioned children starving in Gaza.

The issue: the Gaza mention was not translated in English, Polish, or Czech according to the people we spoke to right after the ceremony in Auschwitz.

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 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.

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.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Minorities

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Poland and Minorities

President Andrzej Duda has signed the amendment to the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and on Regional Language, his office announced on Friday.

The purpose of the amendment to the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and on Regional Language is for the Chancellery of the Sejm to provide substantive and administrative support to representatives of minorities and communities whose members speak a regional language on the Joint Committee of the Government and National and Ethnic Minorities (Joint Committee). The costs will be covered by the state budget – funds at the disposal of the Head of the Chancellery of the Sejm.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Letter to the Editor

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Letter to the Editor

A letter to the editor on a Roma musician who gave a concert below the windows of an apartment block in Sopot, a Polish town on the Baltic sea. The author of the letter takes it with humour, saying it is not Roma, it is the noise, and adds other sources of disturbance including nationalist marches…

News Eastern Europe Poland

Racism in Poland

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Racism in Poland

Izabela Jaśkowiak, president of the Harangos Romani Educational Association of Poland on her experiences with Racism against Roma in Poland.

Being ostracised in school and university, racist comments, she had to endure all.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Funerals

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Funerals

Two more article about a lavish funeral of a Polish Romni who died in the UK and was buried in Poland. Again they stress how “different” the Roma customs are from the general population.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Funeral

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Poland: Funeral

An article about the funeral of a 33 years old Polish Romni who was buried in Poland, although she lived in the UK. The article insists on the fact that the funeral rites are different from that of the Poles. They mentioned the night vigil over the coffin, and the hearth that had to be brought from Warsaw.

News Eastern Europe Poland Slovakia

Slovak Polish Concert

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Slovak Polish Concert

The House of Culture Foundation and ETP Slovensko invite you to the Romani Polish-Slovak Concert – a common space of culture in Europe. It will take place next Saturday (June 14) at the Office of Art Exhibitions in Krosno, Poland, starting at 5:00 p.m.

The programme includes: A performance by the “Sila v mladosti” band from Stara Lubovna, which will present the music of the Slovak Roma from the Prešov region (historical Spiš); a concert by the “Romano Iło” band, led by Łukasz Andrasz, representing traditional Roma music from the Podkarpacie region in a modern version; a jam session, during which musicians from Poland and Slovakia will jointly create a space for improvisation and exchange of artistic experiences; as well as dances.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Resistance Day

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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.

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

Roma Resistance Day

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Roma Resistance Day

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

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