Category Archives: Austria

Austria News Western Europe

Austria and Roma

Published by:

Austria and Roma

Following the statement from the police regarding travelling Roma in Austria’s Burgenland, which contained a wealth of sterotypes, there was an outcry in the press and among the Roma from the country.

This article is a reportage within this group of mostly french pentacostal Roma and comments by Roma activists. Worth reading!

Austria News Western Europe

Roma Resistance Day

Published by:

Roma Resistance Day

May 16th marks the 82nd anniversary of Romani Resistance Day. In 1944, Roma and Sinti resisted the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

What is not quite correct in the ORF Program is their statement that this uprising “saved thoudans of lives”. We simply do not know, and it did not prevent the destruction of the “Zigeunerlager” on August 2nd, 1944.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

Published by:

Austria, the Police, and Roma

The Austrian Equal Treatment Commission has intervened following a letter from employees of the Neusiedl am See district police command warning the public about Roma and Sinti. Intended as crime prevention information to combat fraud, the now-deleted text of a Facebook post used “a term perceived as discriminatory regarding the Roma ethnic group,” the ministry stated.

Now the interior Ministry is also investigating.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

Published by:

Austria, the Police, and Roma

Representatives of the Roma community have sharply criticized a letter from the Neusiedl am See district police command. The letter warns of criminal activities by the traveller community. The state police command condemns the wording of the letter and intends to conduct an internal investigation.

Austria Germany News Western Europe

Zentralrat on Austria

Published by:

Zentralrat on Austria

The Chairman of the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, pointed out that the National Socialists called on the population in 1933 not to buy from Jews and had police and SS troops march in front of Jewish businesses. He was criticising a letter by the Austrian police of the Burgenland warning the population about Sinti and Roma.

Rose appealed to Interior Minister Karner of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) to initiate disciplinary proceedings against those responsible within the police force. He emphasized that the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities entered into force in Austria in 1998. This obligates the state to counteract all forms of anti-Gypsyism. The Central Council stated that the Europe-wide rise of nationalist forces, which often base their political program on racism and incitement and have now become the strongest political force in Austria, is alarming.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

Published by:

Austria, the Police, and Roma

The Austrian Equal Treatment Commission criticized a letter issued by the Burgenland police authority in Neusiedl on Friday, in which the police warned the population about Roma and Sinti. The letter, the Commissioner argued, perpetuates historical anti-Roma stereotypes. The letter’s instruction not to accept services from members of this ethnic group could constitute an incitement to discrimination, emphasized Sandra Konstatzky, head of the Equal Treatment Commission.

Austria Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Burgtheater Vienna

Published by:

Burgtheater Vienna

A theater director is commissioned by the Burgtheater Vienna to stage a play by and with Roma actors. He promptly decides to use the real-life biographies of the participants for his piece and has a house from their village dismantled into 3,000 individual pieces in order to rebuild it on the stage of the Akademietheater. Audience and press eagerly anticipate the extraordinary production and hope for maximum authenticity.

Austria News Western Europe

Vienna Memorial

Published by:

Vienna Memorial

After a very long time, Vienna will erect a memorial to the Roma and Sinti victim of the Holocaust in the Weghuberpark in Vienna-Neubau, built in front of the Ministry of Justice.

Austria Croatia Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Burgenland

Published by:

Burgenland

On the occasion of International Roma Day, the Roma National High School last week invited young people to a youth event in the Borta Open House (OHO). Young members of the Roma, Croatian and Hungarian ethnic groups participated. The main topic was networking and involving young people in political processes.

Austria News Western Europe

Austrian Memorial

Published by:

Austrian Memorial

Half a million Romani and Sinti people were persecuted and murdered in Europe by the Nazi regime. Many thousands of them came from Austria. However, there is still no nationwide memorial in Austria for the victims of the genocide. Now it seems within reach, but the location is still under discussion.

Austria Germany News Western Europe

Study on Deportations

Published by:

Study on Deportations

The European University of Flensburg presented the results of a two-year study on the history of Sinti and Roma in Schleswig-Holstein to the state parliament, thus filling a previously under-researched historical gap. They focused on Deportations of Sinti and Roma in Schleswig-Holstein during the Nazi Era.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria and Racism

Published by:

Austria and Racism

A special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council criticized the lack of awareness of racism in Austria following a visit there. “There is a widespread reluctance to fully acknowledge the existence of racism,” Indian political scientist Ashwini K. P. told the APA news agency on Monday at the UN headquarters in Vienna. She clearly stated her opposition to the planned headscarf ban for girls, arguing that it would reinforce prejudices.

She had also received “disturbing reports and accounts” of discrimination against Roma and Sinti. She was also “deeply concerned” about the increase in anti-Semitic incidents.

Austria News Western Europe

Austrian Memorial

Published by:

Austrian Memorial

The musician and activist Harri Stojka is calling for the swift construction of a memorial for Roma and Sinti in Austria at Schmerlingplatz in Vienna. “There, at a historically significant location in the heart of Vienna, a visible symbol of remembrance and recognition should be erected.”

Austria News Western Europe

Lackenbach

Published by:

Lackenbach

On Saturday, the Roma and Sinti who were murdered during the National Socialist regime were commemorated in Lackenbach. Along with numerous state politicians, the Minister of Justice, Anna Sporrer (SPÖ), participated. Of the 4,000 Roma and Sinti who were interned in the Lackenbach camp since the summer of 1940, only 300 to 400 survived the liberation of the camp in the summer of 1945.

Austria News Western Europe

Poverty Migrants

Published by:

Poverty Migrants

A study on poverty driven migration examines the topic of poverty migration from a sociological perspective in order to understand the situation of those affected from a scientific perspective. ITts focus is on the everyday lives of those in need and how they deal with potential stigmatization. Using key question-based interviews with Slovak and Romanian citizens, the living conditions of those in need were examined. The results show that those in need lack vital basic necessities in their countries of origin, which is why commuter migration to Western Europe is the only option.

Austria News Western Europe

Early Weddings, Virginity, and Stereotypes

Published by:

Early Weddings, Virginity, and Stereotypes

A scandal currently seems to be on the front pages of several Austrian newspapers. The case of a wedding of 12 years old who, according to the press was no longer a virgin.

As usual, this is being described as common practice among all Roma. This is not the case, and concerns mostly a minority of all Roma communities.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN