An article in the Czech press about Čeija Stojka, who survived the Holocaust, and went to write a book about it and paint.
She was a great woman.
An impressive program in Vienna for the International Roma day and the 30th anniversary of the recognition of Roma in Austria. Podium discussion with Dieter Halwachs, Emmerich Gartner-Horvath, Erika Thurner, Mirjam Karoly, and Ursula Hemetek; Roma Tales and concert, and an after party.
The monument commemorating the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Salzburg, Austria, was again damaged by vandals over the weekend. This is unfortunately not the first time.
The three sisters Snezana (Simonida Selimović), Tanja (Jasmin Behnawa) and Melisa (Zeynep Alan) travel to their mother’s Serbian home village and thus begin to confront their own identity. Jelena, the mother of the siblings, who could hardly be more different, went to Boljevac to celebrate Bibijako Dive (“Aunt’s Day”) and died shortly afterwards. The festival is celebrated every year on January 31st, the same day on which the play in WERK X was first performed in Vienna.
In “Bibi Sara Kali” the confrontation with the alienated Roma culture and its customs is brought to the stage in a self-deprecating, humorous and authentic way.
“It’s always wonderful to see the audience so enthusiastic. Being able to tell our stories is of course something special,” says director Simonida Selimović in an interview with KURIER. She herself was born in Serbia, but came to Vienna at the age of seven. Growing up in two cultures, I can identify with my siblings’ struggle for identity.
Austrian TV Station ORF Burgenland will start a new series on Sunday, February 12, 2023 as part of the TV folk group program “Romano Dikipe”. “In the footsteps of vanished Roma settlements” is the title of the series that investigates the situation of the Roma in Burgenland today. In each program, a different location is visited in order to talk to Burgenland Roma and Romnja about their lives, but also about the past. The reports are in Burgenland Romani, the language of the Roma in Burgenland, and have German subtitles throughout. The new series is based on the comprehensive historical work of the two Burgenland historians Herbert Brettl and Gerhard Baumgartner. The latter is also a studio guest on “Burgenland heute” on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Yesterday evening, the National Council unanimously passed a motion for a resolution to the government with the aim of recognizing the genocide of Roma and Sinti during National Socialism as a historical fact and establishing August 2 as a national day of remembrance for all victims of this genocide.
The premiere of Sara Bibi Kali in Vienna.
The Austrian constitutional committee voted unanimously in favour of a motion for a resolution by the coalition parties aimed at introducing a National Day of Remembrance for Roma and Sinti. Specifically, it is proposed that the Roma and who were persecuted and murdered under the Nazi regime be commemorated on August 2nd. On this day, the Holocaust victims of this ethnic minority are already being commemorated at European level.
The EU project “Dream Road” dealt with strategies to improve the living conditions of the Roma in Europe. Austria, represented by the Roma adult education center in Burgenland, dealt, among other things, with the inclusion of Roma in politics. A great success is the commitment for a central memorial for the Roma Holocaust in Vienna.
A commemoration of the Roma victims in the former concentration camp of Lackenbach was held this week.
Austria has had a national strategy for the inclusion of Roma and Romnja in society for more than a decade. Viennese scientists have now evaluated it: the results are mixed – discrimination is “deeply rooted” in Austria and has not decreased.
Thirty years ago, Austria recognised Sinti and Roma as a national minority.
The Austrian President Van der Bellen commemorated the Roma Holocaust on August 2nd.
Austria is discussing the establishment August 2nd as a national remembrance day for the Roma and Sinti victims of the Nazis.
The Baranka Park commemoration took place for the 14th time last Saturday. The association “Voice of Diversity” organises these to commemorate the Roma and Sinti victims of National Socialism and to celebrate and convey the life and culture of the Roma and Sinti as well as Jewish and Viennese culture.
The Romani singer Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos passed away yesterday at the age of 77. May she rest in peace.
Born in Hungary in 1945, she grew up in a traditional and musical Lovara family who traded horses. Her musical talent was evident from early on. When she was 11, her family moved to Austria due to the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. There she met her husband Mišo Nikolić and had her first public appearance on the initiative of the music ethnologist Ursula Hemetek. She then founded the band “Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos and The Gypsy Family” with her husband and sons and gained international fame. Passing on the song tradition to younger generations was particularly important to her. It is thanks to her that the songs of the Lovara in Austria were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.
Note the date: April 21-24, 2022, in Vienna, Austria.
Ein Festival in Vienna – not to be missed.
On April 8, 2022, the Roma community officially submitted a position paper on the erection of a memorial to the Roma and Sinti murdered during the Nazi era in the Vienna Parliament. The politicians promised support.
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