Category Archives: News Western Europe

News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Remembrance of victims of the Holocaust

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HNA reports on the research of a history teacher, Arndt Böttcher, who has been researching the history of a Rroma family in Battenberg, the Klein. The family settled in Battenberg in the 18th century and was deported to Auschwitz and other camps during the war. Many died but apparently 4 sons survived the horrors of the war.

Germany News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Foreign in one’s own country: Sinti in Germany

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MiGazin speaks about Ricardo Laubinger, a Sinto from Hildesheim, a town where Rroma are documented since 1407. His family lived there since generations and travelled during the summer to earn a living as a trader or handyman. He clearly says “We are German” and says that after all, his forebears lived there for the last 600 years!

News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Commemoration of the Attacks in Oberwarth

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An Article in the “Standard” in Austria speaks about the attacks 20 years ago in Oberwarth, and also about the Rroma who were deported to concentration camps during the war. Politicians attended the commemorations and spoke about a “peaceful coexistence”, something that is unfortunately still a dream, as an article of the same newspaper from a week ago showed.

France Italy News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Italy: An official says Rroma are good at sorting garbage

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08.02.2015 Italy: An official says Rroma are good at sorting garbage

An Italian social Policy councillor Francesca Danese, has suggested that Rroma in Italy should be hired to sort garbage, adding that they have the “skills to rummage through waste”.  We are not sure on which facts she bases her statement but are positive that it shows a total misunderstanding of the minority, and constitutes a racist act. This is not acceptable from a government official.

News Western Europe

08.02.2015 Two Rroma exhibited in an Art Gallery

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A contemporary art museum, the Malmö Konstall has an exhibition consisting of two homeless Rroma in a room begging. They are paid, and are not accepting any money from the visitors. The exhibition has been criticised by several organisations as being demeaning and as being an exploitation of human misery.

We would just say that in this particular case, the artist and the gallery have done their share to perpetuate age old stereotypes… This is clearly not acceptable.

 

 

France News Western Europe

08.02.2015 France expulsed a Rroma camp every third day in 2014

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The French Press reports on a report from the European Roma Right Center (ERRC) and the League for Human Rights (LDH) on the expulsion policies of the French state. According to them, France expulsed ca. 13’000 of the estimated 17’000 Rroma living in deplorable conditions in camps around the big French cities. Evictions occurred on average every third day. (Le Monde). L’Humanité adds that the state does nothing for an equality of chances for this population and denounces the underlying racism behind these policies. (L’Humanité). France Bleu notes that nearly 67% of these evictions were done in and around Paris. (France Bleu). The magazine Politis, on the same subject, notes that nearly 4 out of 5 people interviewed (around 100 people) were evicted up to 5 or 6 times. They stress that these policies are dehumanising and criticise that these evictions mostly occur around Paris. (Politis)

All journalists as usual missed the key point: The press only actually speaks about 17 to 20’000 Rroma in illegal settlement, and not of the overwhelming majority of Rroma who live in France and whose number is estimated at half a million.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: A few timid attempts at integration

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In spite of the constant evictions of Rroma that make the headlines in French Newspapers, there are a few attempts at finding longer term solutions. The law requiring evicted people to be relocated is being reluctantly applied, for example in Nimes, in St. Gilles, or in Choisy, while activists are pushing the case further by occupying empty or official buildings as in Noisiel. This is literally a drop of water on a hot stone, and the French state should rather try to definitively integrate these 15’000 migrant Rroma who have now been in France for several years.

Hungary News Americas News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

01.02.2015 Canada: The Hungarian Rroma Family has to leave

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The Hungarian Rroma family who was fighting the deportation order in Canada have lost their last appeal in Canada’s Federal Court. They now have to leave the country and go back to Hungary where they say they are at risk due to right wing extremists.

News Western Europe

01.02.2015 Daily Racism: A dire view on the Austrian situation

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An Article in the “Standard” in Austria analyses the daily racism against Rroma that still exist 20 years after the attacks against this minority in Oberwarth. They explicitly state that as soon as an “invisible” Rroma, that is a Rroma who is integrated and does not says he is one, outs himself, he or she is immediately confronted to racism. The old stereotypes, stereotypes that have never really been accurate are difficult to eradicate.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: A few timid attempts at integration

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In spite of the constant evictions of Rroma that make the headlines in French Newspapers, there are a few attempts at finding longer term solutions. The law requiring evicted people to be relocated is being reluctantly applied, for example in Nimes, in St. Gilles, or in Choisy, while activists are pushing the case further by occupying empty or official buildings as in Noisiel. This is literally a drop of water on a hot stone, and the French state should rather try to definitively integrate these 15’000 migrant Rroma who have now been in France for several years.

France News Western Europe

01.02.2015 France: Evictions in spite of the Winter

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Normally, Republican France refrains from deporting migrants and from evicting illegal settlement in the Winter. This is no longer the case. Evictions continue, and the problem is being shifted from one community to the next. It is as if, one can argue, that the authorities want to maximise the exposure of the general population to poor migrants, guaranteeing an increased racism. This has to stop. Evictions this week, as an example occurred in Cannes and in Chellois.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

01.02.2015 Paul Polanski and the Lety Concentration Camp

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The Lety Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic, a camp on which site there currently still is a pig farm is once again in the actualities. In this article, it is claimed that Paul Polansky, an amateur historian, brought the facts and existence of this camp to the world’s attention. While Paul Polanski effectively wrote two books on the topic, these were by far not the first ones about Lety (See for example Wickipedia.de on this topic). Fact is, this was one of the early Rroma camps where from many Rroma were deported to death camps.

News Western Europe

25.01.2015 Exhibition in Trier on the Nazi persecutions of Rroma and Sinti

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For the remembrance day of the victims of the Nazis on January 27th, a series of NGOs in Trier organises an exhibition and series of conference on the topics of the persecutions of Rroma and Sinti under the Nazis.

News Western Europe

25.01.2015 Exhibition in Trier on the Nazi persecutions of Rroma and Sinti

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For the remembrance day of the victims of the Nazis on January 27th, a series of NGOs in Trier organises an exhibition and series of conference on the topics of the persecutions of Rroma and Sinti under the Nazis.

News Western Europe

25.01.2015 ‘Gypsies and travellers are hard-working, proud people – they are not criminals’

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The Town Council of Hull, in Britain, decided against allowing Travellers a transit site on that commune. The article is an interview of Shay Gibson of the traveller and romany – Gypsies consultancy. He explicitely state that Rroma are the UK oldest minority and that contrary to the beliefs of the population, Rroma are hard working and not criminals.

Germany News Western Europe

25.01.2015 Murder of Rroma and Sinti: Did we learn anything?

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Romani Rose, president of the Zentralrat der deutschen Sinti und Roma ponders about the aftermath and the collective conscience on the murder of Rroma and Sinti during the Holocaust. The fact that besides Jews, Rroma were singled out for racial reasons and murdered during the Holcaust is still not widely acknowledged or known. More work and more information is still required on this topic.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

25.01.2015 Perpignan: Gitans and North Africans Traders at a market.

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Street press reports on the Perpigna market in the South of France where Rroma (Gitan) trades work alongside North African immigrants and where both communities make sure the market is safe for visitors. The article, while positive on the whole, still dishes out a few standard clichés: The Gitans were sedentarised (they always were sendentary), both communities are extremely “masculine” with little space for women, etc. As usual, the Rroma realities are not reflected in the press.

Czech Republic Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovakia

25.01.2015 Remembrance for the liberation of Auschwitz 70 years ago

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The “Förderverein Roma” organises a march on January 27th in Frankfurt to mark the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau (Frankfurter Neue Presse). In that camp, with the special Rroma camp in Birkenau, countless Rroma from several countries were killed. The official number is fairly low, as is the case with Jews, as people that were gassed straight away were not registered. However, many Rroma from Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany and other countries were murdered there.

The Bishop Conference of Germany, for that same commemoration of the liberation liberation of the camp, issued a lengthy statement acknowledging the murder of minorities and other in Auschwitz and appealing for tolerance and help towards others.

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