Category Archives: News Western Europe

Europe Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Roma in Europe

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On German Television, Andreas Bönte talks with his guests about how Sinti and Roma live in Europe today, how prejudices can be broken down and how fairer coexistence can be shaped in the future. Among the prominent ones: Romani Rose, Dotschy Rienhardt, Mehmet Daimagüler.

They said it: The largest transnational minority in Europe.

BUT: Again, they speak of 600 years in Europe, forgetting that Bulgaria, Thrakia, Constantinople, and all the Balkan and Carpaths were and are also part of Europe and that Roma arrived there earlier. When will this stop.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Royaume-Uni

England and Wales Census

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For the first time in History, Roma in England and Wales had to possibility to declare themselves as such in a census. Over 100’000 did so, with many tens of thousands identifying themselves as Gypsies or Travellers.

Allemagne Moldavie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany, Moldova, and Refugees

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There is an ongoing controversy in Berlin currently where the Senate wants to send 600 Moldovan refugees back to Moldova before Christmas to make room for Ukrainian refugees. Some of those 600 are Roma so this is not good.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

French Chronicle …

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Two articles this week tackle the recurrent rumours of Roma stealing children in France. One documentary returns to the series of attacks perpetrated against the Roma community in Seine-Saint-Denis following fake news forcefully relayed on the internet. The other one looks at the many instances where this rumour made its mark: Marseilles in 2008, Paris region in 2018, in between Bordeaux, or even Naples in Italy.

Other news are more of the usual ones: 7 years of jail for Bulgarian Roma who smuggled tobacco; issues in a town near Geneva with Roma; and a film festival showing the movie “une jeunesse Rom”.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Pologne

Romani Rose and Auschwitz Council

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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.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany and Roma

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Germany Antitziganism representative Mehmet Daimagüler, asks for the creation of a “truth commission” to deal with the persecution of Sinti and Roma during and after the Nazis. He explains why “reconciliation” lags why memorial events are a lie and why the minority cannot feel safe.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Don Vasyl

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Don Vasyl, one of the best known Roma musicians in Poland, is being accused of plagiarism by two Polish artists who claim he stole some of their music and works. The conflict is apparently not new, dating back 16 years (!). One of the pieces is the song Dželem Dželem where Don Vasyl is accused of having used the Polish words written by the artists. A first court ruling dismissed the case, but the lawyers of the Polish artists decided to appeal this decision.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Flight …

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The flight escape of a Sinti family from the Holocaust will be the focus of a book presentation on November 28 in the Neubrandenburg regional library. The opera and operetta singer Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter wrote the book together with the historian Annette Leo. It’s called “Fleeing across the Balkans. The childhood experiences of a Sinto boy during the Nazi era” and was published by Metropol-Verlag in Berlin.

The 89-year-old Cavaljeti-Richter grew up in a traditional extended family of comedians who used caravans to perform their variety programs in small towns and villages in the 1930s. In 1939 the family fled Germany via Italy, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria. The singer was six years old at the time and describes how the family gradually lost everything but were able to save their lives.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week, which is always good. An extended family in Uzès, in the South is looking for a new place to stay after nearly 9 years in the same camp; a new camp being set up near Nantes and resulting protests; near Geneva, a mayor tries to find lodging for Roma; and finally, France being pointed out for racism by the UNO.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany: Condemned

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The district court of Neumünster sentenced the operator of a fitness studio to a one thousand Euros fine and thus agreed with Kelly Laubinger, a Sintica from Neumünster. She had suspected that she was denied membership of the fitness studio because of her last name – Laubinger which is a name that many Sinti bear. She hopes that her recent court victory will encourage others to take action against inequality.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Espagne

Cadix: The Day of the Andalusian Gitanos

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The Delegation of Ethnic Minorities presented a program for the Day of the Andalusian Gypsies. The Andalusian Roma Day, is celebrated on November 22.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

The Press and Roma

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The German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – short FAZ – was forced to remove a picture on one of its articles after critique from the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.

In FAZ’ November 1st issue, a photo showing a mountain of rubbish on Gutleutstrasse in Frankfurt am Main was used to illustrate the report “Fighting environmental crime more effectively”. In the caption, the focus was set on the Roma minority, although this had no relation to the text next to it. Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma commented: “Here a global crime is highligheted and the selection of images conveys that the Roma minority is involved in these environmental crimes through street garbage.” On Tuesday, the FAZ exchanged the picture for a photograph of EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius. Below the text, the addition was added: “This article appeared at times with an image that was not appropriate to the topic. We changed the illustration.”

This highlights how choices of pictures in articles in the press convey and further existing stereotypes regarding Roma.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Sachsenhausen: Exhibition

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Adolescents and younger adults from different countries, among them descendants of former prisoners, dealt with the history of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and with the question of how it can be remembered today and how the victims can be commemorated in artistic workshops. The results can be seen from Saturday.

The focus of the artistic interventions are the perspectives of the participants on today’s memorial and the question of which stories are missing. For example, the commemoration of Sinti and Roma, the memory of Spanish prisoners or also of female prisoners who had to work as forced prostitutes are discussed. The exhibition is interactive. Each work of art poses a question to the viewer and invites them to make their own statement.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Hamburg Commemoration

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The Hamburg Parliament and the Hamburg Senate commemorated the victims of war, Nazi tyranny and terrorism around the world on  the day of national mourning. The President of the Hamburg Parliament, Carola Veit, and Hamburg’s Deputy Mayor, Katharina Fegebank, laid wreaths at the international memorial of the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial site and at the memorial site “Denk.mal Hannoverscher Bahnhof”. A central hour of remembrance then took place in the main church of St. Michaelis.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Sinto Settlement in Kiel, Germany

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A reportage in the Sinto Settlement “Maro Temm” in Kiel. Well, with some stereotypes from the journalists too. Large families, feasts, etc.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany: Documentary

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The movie “Injustice and Resistance” (Germany/Austria 2022, 113 minutes) by Peter Nestler received the 3sat Documentary Film Award, endowed with 6000 euros, for the best German-language documentary at the 46th Duisburg Film Week.

In Peter Nestler’s film, civil rights activist Romani Rose talks about his family history and his experiences. As early as 1970 Nestler shot “Att vara zigenare” (“To be a gypsy”) for Swedish television. Back then it was the first film that didn’t talk about the minority, but rather let the people themselves have their say. 52 years later, Nestler shows how stubbornly prejudices and enemy stereotypes have persisted.

Autriche Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Austria: Commemoration

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A commemoration of the Roma victims in the former concentration camp of Lackenbach was held this week.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

French Chronicle …

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This week is more usual. An article about the effectiveness of the “transition village” that was set up in Montpellier, with more people finding jobs and housing, showing this is the better way to do things. In Nantes, a conference will be held on Roma and precarity. And the rest is the usual: A fire in a Roma camp near Paris; a closure of a camp in Villeurbane near Lyon and another one that neighbours would like to see closed in the same town.

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