Category Archives: Ukraine

23.04.2014“Ukrainian Roma Face Threats and Violence”

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Osipova/Ou (2014) report on threats and acts of violence against Ukrainian Rroma in Sloviansk, in the eastern Ukraine. Seven of about one hundred and fifty houses of Rroma families in Sloviansk were looted by armed men. A Rromni, Natasha Cheripovskaya, showed the journalists how the looting exactly took place. They were wearing masks and first shot at the windows, to spread fear. They asked for money and gold. Her family had to respond that they had neither gold nor money. The neighbours watched everything, also in a state of shock. Then the masked men ransacked the family’s flat. Cheripovskaya emphasizes that they had no problem with Russians or Ukrainians before the riots in the Ukraine. The young Rrom Pyotr Povolsky also expressed grave concerns over the events. They have many children here, he states. Out of fear they no longer sleep in the houses and no longer go into the city, although they have been living there since years. Minorities such as Rroma are regularly the victims in countries with political upheavals and the associated, unclear power relations.

11.10.2013 Rroma in Ukraine

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Tschabanowa (2013) reports on Rroma in Ukraine. Like many before her, she limits herself to reporting on visible Rroma, which can be relatively easily found in ghettos. That she from the outset sets Rroma as lepers and victims, does not seem to bother her. She begins the article by stating: “To learn how Roma live and what they do for a living in Kiev, we went to their camp.” Many of the Rroma that Tschabanowa meets in Ukraine come from the district of Transcarpathia (former Hungarian/Slovakian region). Looking for work, many of them come to the capital during the summer. The image that Tschabanowa paints of them is one of large families, widespread illiteracy and exclusion. That she reinforces prejudices about Rroma in spite of the emphatic perspective about them, she does not seem to be aware of.

12.04.2013 New Rroma Office in Freiburg

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The Rroma office in Freiburg inaugurated its new office in conjunction with the International Rroma day. Its aim is to better integrate local Rroma through language training and to sensitize mainstream society on minority issues and prejudices. Paradoxically, the Rroma office itself used some stereotypes, as traditional Rroma music was played, and visitors were able to ask a fortune-teller to predict their future. An exhibition about Rroma in the Ukraine during World War II allowed a historical reflection. Posters talked about the suffering and persecution of Rroma under the Nazi terror.

URL: http://www.roma-buero-freiburg.eu

Source:

  • Gesell, Sina (2013) Roma-Büro Freiburg weiht seine neuen Geschäftsräume ein. In: Badische Zeitung vom 10.4.2013.   
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