Category Archives: News Western Europe

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Social Innovation

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Germany: Social Innovation

For the first time, projects in the “Social Innovation” funding line are being supported in Baden-Württemberg through the European Social Fund (ESF) Plus. “Almost half of all 77 applications received in 22 urban and rural districts can be funded with European Union (EU) funds. This means that ‘Social Innovation’ is already a great success,” said Social Affairs Minister Manne Lucha in Stuttgart. In addition, due to the large number of applications, the funding has been increased from the original 1.5 million euros to over two million euros.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria: Oberwart Commemoration

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Austria: Oberwart Commemoration

The commemoration of the Oberwart attack which killed 4 Roma in that town exactly 30 years ago was held on Tuesday evening in this town.

On the night of February 5, 1995, a pipe bomb killed four Roma in Oberwart: Josef Simon, Peter Sarközi and Karl and Erwin Horvath. The men wanted to remove a sign with the inscription “Roma back to India”

May they rest in peace.

Germany News Western Europe

Racism in the Church

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Racism in the Church

A Protestant pastor in Hamburg who was suspended for racist statements against Sinti and Roma (he used the Z-word) has been back on duty since the beginning of January. The man had filed a lawsuit against his suspension before the church court, the disciplinary chamber of the Evangelical Churches in Germany (EKD) and was successful at the end of last year on labour law grounds.

Shame …

Germany News Western Europe

Hamburg: Graves Desecrated

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Hamburg: Graves Desecrated

Unknown perpetrators have desecrated graves of Sinti and Roma in a cemetery in the Altona district of Hamburg. Graves were damaged and materials such as copper were stolen. According to the Sinti Association of Hamburg, a gravestone was even sawn into pieces. In a joint statement, all parties in Altona City Hall, except for the AfD, (surprise?) condemned the acts. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Quite a few articles this week in France about Roma. First, the mayor and five inhabitants from Volleron, near Paris, had to appear in front of a judge, being accused of destruction of property and racist violence. They had violently dispersed a Roma camp two years ago. We have omitted another article on the subject, as this was clearly biased.

Several articles about the evacuation of a Roma camp in Verneuil, and of another one in Persan, both near Paris. An upcoming debate on the movie “A bras Ouverts”, a movie that panders to racist stereotypes about Roma. Finally, in Nantes in Western France, the arrestation of 6 Roma teenagers who apparently are behind the burglaries of  around 15 pharmacies in the region.

Germany News Western Europe

Alice Weidel

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Alice Weidel

At first glance, there is nothing to suggest that Alice Weidel, the official AfD candidate once wrote an email in which she said, among other things: “These pigs [the German government under Angela Merkel] are nothing more than puppets of the victorious powers of World War II and their job is to keep the German people down (…).” Or that she described Sinti, Roma and Arabs as “culturally alien peoples” who “are inundating us”.

Well, we knew where we stand.

Europe Germany News Western Europe

Philomena Franz

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Philomena Franz

The Nazis would never have imagined that she would outlive them. The almost centenarian Philomena Franz, who escaped certain death several times, in an extermination camp and four concentration camps, delivers these words to the director, producer and film actor Detlev Buck, who meets her in her Berlin home to arrange an interview. It was 2020, Buck had decided to shoot a documentary on the Holocaust for the Arte TV network. Until then he had never dared to make a film about the Nazi persecutions. It was the survivors who encouraged him. They feared that future generations would forget what happened. Among them Philomena Franz, a Sinti, born in 1922 and died a hundred years later, on December 28, 2022.

Italy News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Fascists, and Roma

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Slovenia, Fascists, and Roma

In Lonjer, a then entirely Slovenian village on the outskirts of Trieste, the fascist authorities interned six Roma and Sinti between September 1940 and September 1943. The fascists confined them there after the Italian Ministry of the Interior ordered all prefects on September 11, 1940, to register Roma who were citizens of Italy and to confine those without permanent residence.

This fact as well as others were presented by Paola Trevisan in the Gopčević Palace. The historian and anthropologist dedicated her first scientific monograph to the persecution of Roma and Sinti in fascist Italy, which she presented in Trieste as part of the events marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. The author was interviewed by historian Michele Sarfatti.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much on Roma nowadays in the French press. One teacher who helps young Roma in their education in Nantes, and a fire in a camp in the Southeast of France.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Trump and Roma

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Greece: Trump and Roma

What does Trump have to do with Roma? Well, according to this Greek article, American Presidential Inaugurations are very much like Roma weddings. Actually not like Roma weddings, but what the journalist thinks Roma wedding are like.

Bad, as it perpetuates stereotypes.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Very little this week. Only three articles, all on the same topic, terh genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. At least they speak about it. This is new.

Austria Bosnia News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Muharem Serbezovski

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Muharem Serbezovski

in Skopje, Muharem is deeply attached to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially Sarajevo, which he often calls his “soulmate”.

His name is well-known in the former Yugoslavia, where he gained the status of one of the most famous singers, whose music, inspired by Roma and oriental styles, left an indelible mark on the art scene. He released his first album at the age of only 12. He is also an author and he published a translation of the Bible in Romanes.

Italy News Western Europe

Bari, Italy: Integration

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Bari, Italy: Integration

The Municipality of Bari has published the call for proposals to implement an Inclusion and integration project for Roma, Sinti and Caminanti children and adolescents, funded under the National Inclusion and Fight against Poverty Program 2021-2027 with over 457 thousand euros. The specific objective is the.

Inclusion of Roma children and young people at school in Bari.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much this week. A really bad news about a 23-year-old Rom who was arrested for reaping his 13 years old cousin that had been promised to him in marriage. The girl, from Romania, managed to escape and is now under protection. This is really bad as it enforces the stereotypes. Other than that, the extreme rightist Alain Soral who is being investigated for antisemitism is now also under investigations for rabid statements about Roma.

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