Category Archives: News Western Europe

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Quite a few articles this week in the French press about Roma. Mostly about a Roma camp near Nantes in Western France. Roma in this camp, in Carquefou have been summoned to leave. The issue, they cannot leave with their 131 caravans, as the access road is blocked. No comment.

In Nantes, in another camp, a fire started and in the same city, an organisation is worried about the living conditions in Roma camps. Still in Western France, an exhibition aims at building bridges between Roma and the local population. In Annecy, in the Alps, a camp reopened. In South of France, a German tourist geolocalised his stolen iPad in a Roma camp.

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/nantes/des-roms-sommes-de-quitter-les-lieux-alors-que-la-route-est-barree-60-familles-dans-une-situation-kafkaienne-3125824.html

Finland News Western Europe

Black Butterfly

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Black Butterfly

Kiba Lumberg’s novel entitled Black Butterfly (Musta perhonen)., describes the oppression of women in the patriarchal community of Finnish Roma.

“My curse and blessing is that I was born a Roma woman,” begins the story of Memesa Grönlund, the main character of the novel. It tells the story of a girl growing up in the Kale Roma community in the city of Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. Memesa describes life in their patriarchal community, the relationships between her and the rest of her family, but also the bullying she encounters at home and at school.

Austria News Western Europe

Kateřina Čapková

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Kateřina Čapková

Kateřina Čapková currently works at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, where she researches the various political strategies towards Roma and Romnja during the Nazi era. In the future, Austria will also increasingly be a focus of her work. Her goal: to finally make historical findings accessible to the general public.

Čapková is a Czech historian and university professor specializing in the history of Roma. Her academic career began in the 1990s at Charles University in Prague. While still a student, she worked in the Department of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

In Paris on March 26th, Alina Şerban will present her new theatre piece titled “the big shame”. Near Nantes in Western France, Roma who live on a site called “la Montagne” talk to the press. On the same site, an initiative invited the Roma and neighbours for two events.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Almost no news in France this week about Roma. A conference to be held on March 11th about “Roms et Gens du Voyage” (the usual French mess in terms of names), in Western France, and the tons of garbage that are left after the closure of a Roma camp near Paris.

Italy News Western Europe

Rome: A New Course

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Rome: A New Course

At La Sapienza University of Rome, the course “Romani Language and Culture” will begin on March 5th. It aims to offer a complete overview of the language, traditions and history of the Romani population with a multidisciplinary approach that combines theory, practice and critical reflection. The course is aimed at students of humanities, social sciences and history, but also at anyone who wishes to deepen their knowledge of Romani culture and its current challenges, as well as all those who work in the field of cultural mediation, human rights and social inclusion.

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

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Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

The representation of people in schools says a lot about their condition. In this regard, that of the Roma raises questions in the Balkan countries: despite some real efforts, school textbooks remain very incomplete and perpetuate false ideas, as in Romania and Greece.

Good article, false history… Roma left earlier than indicated.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

This week, an article looks at the difficult living conditions in a Roma camp in Western France; one article tells about neighbours of a Roma camp in Southern France complaining about dirt and garbage; and finally, two articles about an altercation between Roma that left 2 people with knife wounds.

Europe Finland Ireland News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovakia

Council of Europe and Roma

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Council of Europe and Roma

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty released today three Memoranda examining the human rights situation of Roma and Traveller communities in Finland, Ireland and Slovakia. Each Memorandum presents country-specific findings and recommendations based on the Commissioner’s visits to these countries, addressing pressing human rights concerns faced by the communities.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Racism

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Germany and Racism

In the last ZDF political talk show “Markus Lanz” on February 25, 2025, one of the topics discussed was how the AfD managed to win the constituency in Gelsenkirchen (In the Ruhr). The Moderator and journalist Markus Lanz quickly found a clear answer: He talked about how many problems foreigners cause locally: the young Sinti and Roma are criminals, drop out of school, many of them are unemployed. Completely generalizing and ignoring the fact that structural problems like these are very closely linked to racism and discrimination, Lanz reproduces racist language towards a group that is already exposed to discrimination almost unnoticed to this day.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Racism

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Germany: Racism

In Neumünster, the shop windows of the Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein office were smeared with a swastika and other nazi symbols. This happened, according to Kelly Laubinger, the managing director of the office during the night to Saturday.

Well, reminder: Tomorrow there are elections in Germany and the AfD candidate once stated that Roma and Sinti are alien to Germany… Does it remind you of anything?

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Unku

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Germany: Unku
Erna Lauenburger (1920-1943), a Sintiza from Berlin, became known under the name Unku. In 1931, the children’s book “Ede and Unku” by the author Alex Wedding (1905-1966) was published. The story is set in the Berlin working-class milieu and deals with poverty and labour disputes in the Weimar Republic. At the centre of the story is the friendship between the two children of the title.

Together with descendants of Erna Lauenburger, Margitta and Manolito Steinbach from the Menda Yek e.V. association and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation as well as the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma, the Berlin City Museum has expanded the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition to include the biography of Erna Lauenburger.

Europe Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Ukraine

Ukrainian Roma

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Ukrainian Roma

Roma who fled from Ukraine to Germany and the European Union after the Russian attack want to network better. In Göttingen, Roma representatives living in exile founded the association “Ukrainian Roma Advocacy Alliance” (Aura) on Tuesday. “Many Ukrainian Roma abroad do not even know what kind of help is available here,” said Aura board member Janush Panchenko. “We want to inform people about these offers and also advocate for the interests of the Ukrainian Roma in our host countries.” Projects in the areas of political education, culture, humanitarian and legal aid are also planned. In Germany, the association wants to work closely with the Society for Threatened Peoples, among others.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: 5 years

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Germany: 5 years

Five years ago, on February 19th 2020, a gunman with far-right views killed 9 people in Hanau, Germany. There were Roma among them.

In view of the upcoming elections where the AfD candidate once said that immigrants and Roma have no place in Germany, one should maybe remember to what this leads.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Very little this week in France about Roma. Between French politics and Trump, papers did not need to fill pages with Roma …

In Nantes, in Western France, the municipality is working closely with all actors to close a camp. Near Paris, after a camp was closed, there are tons of garbage that need to be cleaned out.

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