Category Archives: Poland

News Eastern Europe Poland

82 years

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On January 12, 1942, the Germans completed the liquidation of the Roma camp located in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto in Łódź. The Germans took 5,000 people to Łódź. Mostly Roma from the border of Austria and Hungary. Many of them died in the camp, the rest were murdered in the gas chambers.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Litzmannstadt: 82 years

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On Tuesday, January 9, Łódź commemorated the 82nd anniversary of the liquidation of the Roma and Sinti camp established in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Litzmannstadt – Łodz – Ghetto

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In November 1941, in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, Nazis established a sub-camp to which Roma and Sinti were brought from the Burgenland. After several weeks, on January 5, 1942, the deportation of prisoners to the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem began, where several thousand people were brutally murdered.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Ukrainian Roma Refugees

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Natalia Yuzypchuk, a Ukrainian Romni, fled to Warsaw from Lutsk, Ukraine, seeking safety for her grandchildren. A year and a half later, Natalia is the driving force behind the Roma Community Centre in Warsaw, run by the W Stroną Dialogu Foundation and supported by UNICEF.

Since the first months of the war, the situation of Roma refugees has been much worse than that of other groups of refugees from Ukraine. Roma refugee families face many barriers in accessing basic services due to administrative obstacles and lack of documents. This leads to bigger obstacles, including: in access to financial support, health care, education, housing and the labour market. Many people also tell us that they have faced overt discrimination as a result of prejudice and stereotypes.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poznan Roma Camp

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Roma settled in the area of former allotment gardens near Lechicka Street in Poznan in 2014. The area had previously had to be abandoned by the Polish Allotment Owners’ Association following its purchase by a private person. Now, a request for building several apartments in the are has been submitted, which could mean the end of this camp.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland, Social Housing, and Roma

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Another article in a long series about Roma in the city of Pułlawy, Poland. This time about Roma who illegally live in vacant premises in social housing…

The real questions i.e. why are there vacant premises, and why can’t the Roma get to them legally are not addressed here.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Interview

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An interview with Sonia Styrkacz, a psychologist from a Silesian Roma family married to a Carpathian Polish Rom.On Christmas traditions, she says: “On Christmas Eve, various traditions mix in our house – Romani, Polish, Catholic, Silesian, highlander. I am a Silesian Roma, my husband is a mountain Roma from Podhale, so our family traditions are different. In my family home, holidays were a time of meeting, peace and conversation. Religious aspects receded into the background. For my husband, there are no holidays without mass. We also have different culinary traditions – my husband’s family fasted on Christmas Eve, while mine ate meat. We weren’t preparing maybe 12 dishes, but there had to be a lot of food – stuffed cabbage rolls, pork chops and minced meat, roulades, which we took over from Silesian cuisine.”

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland, Prisons, and Roma

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Reports and complaints about the improper treatment of Roma in Poland’s prisons have reached the ombudsman’s desk and indicate the widespread use of stereotypes and violations of prisoners’ rights.

Bad, but not surprising.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Romnja in Poland

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“Being a Roma woman is being a warrior.” Racism is everyday life for Roma. “We are independent, we are strong and we make our dreams come true” – this is how 28-year-old Olena, a lawyer from Ukraine, replied to the question about what Romani women are like. Olena is one of the 6 heroines of the second instalment of the series of portraits of Roma women prepared by the W Torona Dialogu Foundation. The goal of the campaign is clear – it’s time for Roma women to come out of the shadows and talk about themselves on their own terms and in their own words.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Sobibor

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The Museum and Memorial Site in Sobibór has been nominated for the prestigious title of European Museum of the Year 2024. The competition is organized by the European Museum Forum – an independent, non-governmental organization operating under the auspices of the Council of Europe, whose mission is to promote innovation in museology. The winners will be announced in early May 2024. The European Museum of the Year Award is considered the most important distinction for European museums.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Katowice: Festival

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For the twelfth time, the “Chemik” Cultural Centre will host the Days of Roma Culture and Tradition organized by Public Primary School No. 1. Dance groups will perform on the stage, and Romanes poems will be recited. The star of the event will be Angelo Ciureja, a Roma singer from Wałbrzych, scholarship holder and winner of the National Competition for talented Roma youth in Poland.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Poland and Roma Refugees

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According to the article, roughly 25’000 Roma from Ukraine fled to Poland, and these were overwhelmingly illiterate. This probably means they missed quite of few Roma who did not conform to the stereotypes.

A book on this exodus, called “The War of our Times” was published.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Roma

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The Pomeranian Voivode invites representatives of non-governmental organizations to participate in the work of the commission assessing applications for 2024 – submitted under the “Program for the social and civic integration of Roma in Poland for 2021-2030”.

Let’s see what the outcome will be …

News Eastern Europe Poland

Clichés

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An amusing story of a German Gadže family who decided to travel through Europe with horse-drawn carriages. And of course, in the article, the analogy to the cliché of a Roma camp comes up…

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Conflict

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Another article in the Polish press about the conflict between the residents of Koszary,  a large village in Limanowa County and its Roma populations, which apparently settled there in the 1970s.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Conflict

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In the town of Koszary, the conflict between the Roma community and other residents is escalating. The dispute has become so serious that the Ombudsman will look into it.

Let’s see if this brings anything.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Conflict

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Koszary is a small town near Limanowa in Lesser Poland. In the 1970s, the Roma settled here. Over time, the Romani settlement began to expand. This sparked opposition from the Limanowa community.

This began to escalate a dozen or so years ago. Cables, electronic waste and started being burnt. These fumes, this smell of plastic in the air quite far. People within a two kilometres radius are complaining. In addition, the soil is being contaminated. Violence is also on the rise.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Polish Campaign

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An article in the Ukrainian press about the polish campaign calling on tech giants Google, Meta and Netflix to improve their services and products to be more inclusive of Roma people.

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