A long article in the New York Times on Małgorzata Mirga-Tass, a Romani artist who represented Poland at the last Biennale in Venice.
Gerard and Sylwia Linder are a married couple working for the integration of the Roma-Polish community. They run the Jamaro Association, thanks to which children from both communities can go on holidays or holidays together. On Dzien Dobry TVN they told what their life together looks like and how the combination of two families from different cultures (Polish and Romani) looks like from their perspective.
An online educational session prepared by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust will be devoted to the Roma Holocaust. It will take place on February 23, the Auschwitz Museum announced.
“The Roma were recognized by the German Nazis as enemies of the Third Reich, therefore they were sentenced to isolation and extermination. In February 1943, their deportation to KL Auschwitz began. A family camp called Zigeunerlager was established in Birkenau. The Roma incarcerated there came mainly from territories of Germany, Austria, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and occupied Poland. The Zigeunerlager existed until August 2, 1944. At that time, about 4,200-4,300 men, women and children were loaded onto trucks and taken to the gas chamber” – reminded Dr. Maria Martyniak, responsible for the projects educational in the museum.
On February 2, 1943, in Imbramowice, near Wrocław, the Germans murdered 43 Roma, including women and children from families who lived there with Polish families at the time. It is also known that seven people escaped, the Germans caught them and murdered them the next day in Wolbrom. There were 50 victims in total.
The secretary of the Roma Association in Poland, Władysław Kwiatkowski is related to the families of the victims of the German murder and commemorates this murder 80 years ago.
May they rest in peace.
“Survivor Marian Turski warned: “Auschwitz did not fall from the sky”. The survivor Halina Birenbaum wrote: “It’s not rain, it’s people”. Auschwitz arose out of lust for power and megalomania. Paradoxically, it was the quintessence of the great progress, industrialization of the 20th century. The camp was thought out, planned, designed, sketched, drawn and expanded. Architects, planners, designers and surveyors worked on it,” said Cywiński, the director of the Auschwitz Museum.
The director of the museum recalled that in this place “German Nazis dehumanized, humiliated and murdered Jews, Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and many others.” “Here are the authentic remnants of the misalliance of Viennese Romanticism and Prussian Positivism. We see how fragile our civilization is. Our world turned out to be fragile in the era of murderous anti-Semitism, uebermensch ideology and the desire for the so-called Lebensraum. Our world is still fragile.
Piotr Cywiński, addressing former prisoners, recalled that they had gone through “the darkest path of war”. “And it’s hard for us to stand here. Harder than previous years. War first violates treaties, then borders, then people. Civilian victims, dehumanized, intimidated, humiliated, do not die accidentally. They are hostages of this wartime megalomania. Warsaw Wola, Zamojszczyzna, Oradour and Lidice today are called Bucza, Irpień, Hostomel, Mariupol and Donetsk,” he stressed.
The director of the Memorial pointed out that today ‘written in Russian’ is similar to the one from over 78 years ago, sick megalomania, lust for power. The myths about uniqueness, greatness and primacy sound similar.
As Cywiński said, “the period that we used to call the post-war era is clearly ending before our eyes.” “For many decades, the post-war period looked different in the east than in the west of Europe. But on the one hand and on the other hand, our thoughts and identity were held together by the overriding awareness of the post-war period. And here it is today, it all passes. Again, innocent people are dying en masse in Europe. Russia, unable to seize Ukraine, decided to destroy it. We see it every day, even now – standing here. So it’s hard to stay here today,” he said.
The director of the Auschwitz Museum appealed that “we, the free people, should be able to behave differently today”. “To be silent is to give voice to the perpetrators. To remain neutral means to reach out to the rapist. Remaining indifferent is nothing more than giving permission to murderers,” he stressed.
The director emphasized that today, in front of our eyes, memory tells us: I’m checking! “Today you can see very clearly whose doors are opening and whose doors are closed. (…) Let us be aware that our every gesture counts just as every lack of a gesture counts. There is a choice in everything. Today the time has come again for necessary human choices. And only in memory can we find the keys that will guide us through our own choices,” he said.
The director’s speech was the final word at the main anniversary ceremony. Former prisoners spoke in front of him: Eva Umlauf, a Jewess, and a Pole, Zdzisława Włodarczyk.
The Germans established the Auschwitz camp in 1940 to imprison Poles there. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was established two years later. It became a place of extermination of Jews. There was also a network of sub-camps in the camp complex. In Auschwitz, the Germans killed at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, as well as Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities.
On January 27, 1945, Red Army soldiers opened the gates of the camp. Extremely exhausted prisoners, of whom there were still about 7,000. – including half a thousand children – greeted them as liberators.
The Parish Polish-Roma Primary School in Suwałki received a grant from the program of social and civic integration of the Roma in Poland. Thanks to this, the school will enrich its offer for Roma students.
They have been teaching Roma for nearly 30 years. Thanks to the small parish school, the Roma community in Suwałki is perceived better and better. As Fr. Jarema Sykulski, pastor of the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Suwałki – Roma in Suwałki are not treated as intruders, as some group that would threaten someone. They are simply part of this climate, the landscape of Suwałki.
An article about the life of Romnja in Poland and their constant fight against stereotypes. This is presented through interviews with two Polish Romnja, one who stile lives in a traditional way (whatever that may effectively mean) and one which doesn’t.
But the stereotypes are the same: Dirty thieves.
An interview on Polish TV of the Romani artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas. She talks openly about her inspirations in art, Roma women who are important to her, and about stereotypes she would like to fight against. She admits that the Roma have to “try twice as hard, prove twice as hard”. “We are second-class citizen,” says Mirga-Tas. The artist is involved in many social projects counteracting exclusion, racial discrimination and xenophobia. She also participated in the reconstruction of the monument commemorating the Genocide of the Roma.
A somewhat confusing article about Roma in the Polish Press. On the one hand, the story of Ukrainian Roma and some of the stories that are told about them which are mostly false, and on the other hand, the story of Roam in Norway, with the strong discrimination, removal of children etc. that was the norm in that country. All with a mention of the Swiss policies amounting to the same.
A large group of war refugees cannot be accommodated in the reception desk at the railway station in Przemyśl in Eastern Poland, and the time of stay, at the Humanitarian Aid Centre limited to 48 hours, is too short for them to find another place of accommodation or decide on their further journey. The problem mainly affects the Roma. Only people with a valid train ticket can enter the accommodation at the reception desk at the PKP railway station in Przemyśl. This was criticised by the Ombudsman.
The premiere of Stanisław Moniuszka’s “Jawnuta” took place Friday in Pozna. The opera is directed by the Italian director Ilaria Lanzino, who is known for her unconventional and innovative performance.
For her, “Jawnuta” is a story about Polish Roma with a difficult history, the power of prejudices and finding a way to avoid them. She thus invited artists of Roma origin to cooperate.
The opera can be watched on you tube:
The exhibition of Małgorzata Mirgi-Tas’ works, entitled “Wędrujemy images”, will be open to visitors from December 2nd at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow. This is the first exhibition of a Roma artist after her success at this year’s 59th Venice Biennale.
A book on Polish racism has been published and is reviewed in the Polish edition of Vogue. The book, called „Odejdź” [Leave] authored by Agnieszka Kościańska and Michał Petryk is insightful, written with exposing passion, painfully interesting and just as necessary. Because Poland is not a tolerant country, but rather a structurally racist one, and has been for many decades. Contempt for the Other is part of our culture.
Polish racism is doing well. It peeks out from almost every corner and withered bush. It is clearly visible on our border with Belarus, where people are dying as a result of the illegal decisions of the Polish government and the joyful consent of many Poles. It can even be seen in relation to some Ukrainians (it is not – so far – fashionable, but who knows what will happen in a moment)
Another article on the Roma musician who has recently been accused of plagiarism. Two Poles, whom Don Vasyl acknowledge helped him on the Polish words of some song claim he infringed on their rights. One of the songs they deposited in the Polish Author’s rights is the Roma National Anthem, in a part Polish version, with Romanes words that tey do not even understand …
Not the first such case.
Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is a new member of the International Auschwitz Council. The Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki appointed him to the committee. The Council advises the Polish government on all matters relating to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. Other members include Yad Vashem Chairman Dayan and World Jewish Congress President Lauder. Rose warned that nationalists and right-wing extremists in many European countries were trying to deny and relativize the crimes of the Holocaust against six million Jews and 500,000 Sinti and Roma. Every form of Holocaust denial and falsification of history must be opposed. Education programs specifically for young people at historical sites of persecution and extermination are important “to counteract anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism and racism in our societies,” Rose explained.
An article in the Polish press about the Lithuanian Roma group “Sare Roma”. The group is led by the Kwik family, Lithuanian Lovara and was founded 70 years ago by the grandfather of Isztwan Kwik.
The graves of the Roma from Świebodzice in Southwestern Poland stand out in the cemetery. The locals are used to seeing human figures made of marble with golden signet rings on the squares and a cell phone in their hand. Visitors, especially those visiting the cemetery for the first time, cannot pass by indifferently. They take pictures and look at the monuments with interest.
The International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust organised a meeting devoted to the extermination of the Roma for the inhabitants of Oświęcim and its vicinity. It will be held on November 4.
The Centre announced that the meeting is part of the “Around the History of Auschwitz” series. Classes have been conducted since May this year.
An article about Bronisława Wajs, better known under the name of Papuša, a Polish Romni and poet who lived till the end of her live for 30 years in Gorzow.
On October 18, 2022 in Lublin, an educational and cultural event will be held: It is entitled “Contest of Knowledge about Roma Culture” implemented thanks to a grant awarded by the Minister of the Interior and Administration as part of the “Program of social and civic integration of the Roma in Poland for the years 2021-2030”. The project will be an opportunity to establish mutual contacts between representatives of the Roma and Polish communities of the younger generation, strengthen the already existing ties and learn about the Roma traditions and customs.
As part of the task, a Competition on the Knowledge of Roma Culture will be organized, during which students of Lublin secondary schools will prepare multimedia presentations on the traditions, customs, everyday life of the Roma, their education, culture, cuisine and sports initiatives or prepare artistic performances. It is the first initiative of this type in Lublin.
DE 
EN 
FR