A reportage about Roma in Europe nowadays.
- Die Roma in Europa (1/3) – Wie Sinti, Roma und Gitanes heute leben. In: SWR 2. 24.01.2023. https://www.swr.de/swr2/wissen/die-roma-in-europa-wie-sinti-roma-und-gitanes-heute-leben-100.html
Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Austrian constitutional committee voted unanimously in favour of a motion for a resolution by the coalition parties aimed at introducing a National Day of Remembrance for Roma and Sinti. Specifically, it is proposed that the Roma and who were persecuted and murdered under the Nazi regime be commemorated on August 2nd. On this day, the Holocaust victims of this ethnic minority are already being commemorated at European level.
- Verfassungsausschuss: Einstimmige Entschließung zur Einführung eines nationalen Gedenktags für Roma und Sinti. In: OTS. 24.01.2023. https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20230124_OTS0143/verfassungsausschuss-einstimmige-entschliessung-zur-einfuehrung-eines-nationalen-gedenktags-fuer-roma-und-sinti
German Trains
An article about the involvement of the German trains in the Holocaust and how they deal with the past.
- Deportationen in den Tod: Wie stellt sich die Bahn ihrem nationalsozialistischen Erbe? In: MDR. 25.01.2023. https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/ns-zeit/holocaust/bahn-reichsbahn-deportationen-profit-buchenwald-aufarbeitung102.html
Really????
Seems there is a problem if many Dutch citizen think that the Holocaust is a myth. This is really bad.
- Viele Niederländer halten Holocaust für einen Mythos. In: Forschung und Lehre. 25.01.2023. https://www.forschung-und-lehre.de/zeitfragen/viele-niederlaender-halten-holocaust-fuer-einen-mythos-5348
Bulgaria: Problems
In the village of Kravoder, villagers complain about Roma stealing from their properties. In a surveillance video, three Roma are caught trying to enter an empty property before fleeing realizing that they were filmed. It seems that the authorities do not intervene, which has apparently a reason: Locals claim that the Roma regularly do work for free for the village head, who in turn turns a blind eye to their actions, so they feel free to do whatever they want with impunity.
Anyhow, this is not good.
- В Краводер пропищяха от ромски набези, ето какво заснеха камери ВИДЕО. In: Blitz. 23.01.2023. https://blitz.bg/obshtestvo/pak-bezchinstvo-v-kravoder-propishchyakha-ot-romski-nabezi-eto-kakvo-zasnekha-kameri-video_news932951.html
German’s Financial Administration and the Holocaust
In January 2023, a research and exhibition project called “Robbed before deportation. People persecuted by the Nazis in the focus of the Hamburg financial administration” will be started. The Hamburg tax authority is funding it with 203,000. The Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centers Foundation to commemorate the victims of Nazi crimes will research the role played by the Hamburg tax authorities in the disenfranchisement, exploitation and deportation of Sintize and Sinti, Romnja and Roma Jews. The results will be made available to the public in the form of a traveling exhibition, which will be on view in Hamburg City Hall and in the Leo Lippmann Hall in the tax authority in 2025.
- „Ausgeraubt vor der Deportation“. Start des Forschungs- und Ausstellungsprojekts über die Rolle der Hamburger Finanzverwaltung im Nationalsozialismus. In: Hamburg.de. 23.01.2023. https://www.hamburg.de/pressearchiv-fhh/16849648/2023-01-23-fb-forschungsprojekt/
Thessaloniki: Restaurant
The first restaurant with Romani cuisine will open in the centre of Thessaloniki in February! Its name will be Amalin and is the culmination of years of effort by the Roma Women’s Association of Dendropotamos.
Amalin will be the 1st Non-Profit Romano Restaurant in the city, in which women from the settlement of Dendropotamos will cook and serve. “It was a lifelong dream for us. The Association has been fighting for 20 years for inclusion and the promotion of good practices. What could be better, then, than to highlight the traditional Romani cuisine” said the head of the effort, President of the Dendropotamos Roma Women’s Association, Giannoula Magga, speaking on TV100’s Check in events show.
- Amalin: “Έρχεται” στη Θεσσαλονίκη το πρώτο εστιατόριο με την κουζίνα των Ρομά! In: Thestival. 23.01.2023. https://www.thestival.gr/eidiseis/koinonia/amalin-erchetai-sti-thessaloniki-to-proto-es/?fbclid=IwAR1935jLP2jyVW8k5llhEtxR4hU933aKspI4GQX215bp3agUEi-sWp_Io38
Slovenia and Minorities
On January 13, the inter-municipal Roma association Romano Vozo organized a round table entitled Ethnic minorities in Slovenia, their cooperation and integration. This covered Roma, Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians. Regarding Roma, though, the usual views and statements were made: Jožek Horvat Muc, president of the Association of Roma of Slovenia. First of all, he explained that the Roma live in different regions, where they are accepted and organized in different ways depending on the economic, social and social situation of the region.
“Conditions regarding integration, cooperation, political participation and employment are the best in Prekmurje, and the worst in SE Slovenia. Part of the blame also lies with the Roma, who are not sufficiently organized, do not want to integrate into society, cooperate, take care of the development of the Roma community, and part of their worse situation is also the fact that they live in Roma settlements.
Part of the blame???
- Drugačnost kultur bogati celotno družbo. In: Naš Čas. 22.01.2023. https://novice.najdi.si/predogled/novica/8474053ef755b0758efe90ca073ea041/Novice-Velenje-Šoštanj-Šmartno-ob-Paki-Naš-čas/Savinjska/Drugačnost-kultur-bogati-celotno-družbo
Germany and the Holocaust of the Roma
The “forgotten Holocaust” – that’s what Zoni Weisz, who was the first Sinto to speak before the Bundestag on January 27, 2011, called the genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe. His speech and the inauguration of the memorial for the murdered in 2012 stand for the late recognition of this story by the Federal Republic. But German society had not simply forgotten the Nazi genocide. She deliberately refused to recognize the minority that had lived in Germany for centuries.
A new book by Sebastian Lotto-Kusche: called “The genocide of the Sinti and Roma and the Federal Republic. The long road to recognition.” (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin 2022. 264 pages) analyses this denial.
- Das verleugnete Verbrechen. Die Süddeutsche Zeitung. 22.01.2023. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/sinti-und-roma-holocaust-anerkennung-voelkermord-sebastian-lotto-kusche-1.5736850
Social Work
An interview with Iveta Millerová, born in a Roma settlement, who went on to pass her high school diploma at age 36 and then studied pedagogy at the University of Ušti nad Labem and now works as a direct care educator at the Children’s Home with a school in Dobřichovice and is also studying for a postgraduate degree.
- „Chanov navždy zůstane mým domovem. Mám na něj pěkné vzpomínky,“ říká vychovatelka Iveta Millerová. In: Hate Free. 22.01.2023. https://www.hatefree.cz/clanky/chanov-navzdy-zustane-mym-domovem-mam-na-nej-pekne-vzpominky-rika-vychovatelka-iveta-millerova
Birth Anniversary
Dina Gottliebová-Babbittová was born 100 years ago. She portrayed Roma in Auschwitz before they were killed by Mengele.
- 100 years since birth of artist who portrayed Mengele’s victims. In: Radio Prague International. 22.01.2023. https://english.radio.cz/100-years-birth-artist-who-portrayed-mengeles-victims-8772830
Swiss Police
An insight on the institutional racism that prevails in the Swiss police from within the police force.
Scary…
- «Tu prends le premier Black qui passe»: un policier suisse raconte le racisme au quotidien. In: Heidi News. 22.01.2023. https://www.heidi.news/explorations/racisme-en-suisse-un-flagrant-deni/tu-prends-le-premier-black-qui-passe-un-policier-suisse-raconte-le-racisme-au-quotidien
French Chronicle …
Literally no news this week on Roma in France. One article, about tiny houses and a social project aiming at mixing people from camps with regular residents in Lille mentions the Roma and states that the French insertion villages are an integration failure as they keep the Roma among themselves. Other than that, a fire in a camp near Paris.
- Lille : Payez-vous un séjour dans une « tiny house » en plein cœur de la ville. In: 20 Minutes (FR). 19.01.2023. https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/4019502-20230119-lille-payez-sejour-tiny-house-plein-ur-ville
- Limay : le camp de Roms emporté par un incendie. In: Actu.fr. 19.01.2023. https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/limay_78335/limay-le-camp-de-roms-emporte-par-un-incendie_56725495.html
Slovakia Referendum
Slovakia currently votes on a controversial referendum to call for early elections. This referendum has been supported by the SMER (Slovak Social Demcracy) which was in power when Jan Kuciak, a journalist, was murdered following an investigation into corruption.
Peter Pollak, a Roma MP has been criticizing the attorney general for using a legal tool available to him, Paragraph 363. His use of the article has been widely criticized, including by the Slovak president. Peter Pollak compared the attorney general to Mafia Mobsters. “The attorney general is likely to be inspired,” by infamous drug lords. “It may appear to us that he has similar methods. He uses the audience’s attention just when something big is resonating in Slovakia and many are discussing it,” explains Pollák.
- Prirovnal Žilinku k narkobarónom! Rómsky poslanec za OĽANO: Môže sa nám javiť, že má podobné metódy. In; eReports. 21.01.2023. https://ereport.sk/prirovnal-zilinku-k-narkobaronom-romsky-poslanec-za-olano-moze-sa-nam-javit-ze-ma-podobne-metody/
Breitbart, Again
The usual Breitbart “reporting”. This time, a family who is left with 36’000 Eur of damage after a Roma refugee family from the Ukraine stayed at their home. Other inlays in the article mention a French hotel that was destroyed by refugees. The usual. The worst part is that they probably on top of it are pro Putler. And haven’t seen the damage they do…
- Belgian Couple Who Hosted Refugees Left With 36k Euros in Damages. In: Breitbart. 21.01.2023.https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/01/21/belgian-couple-who-hosted-refugees-left-with-36k-euros-in-damages/
Amaro Filmo
The movie “Amaro Filmos” (Sic.), a documentary in which young Roma from Berlin give an insight into their lives. Racism, antiziganism, gentrification and the associated displacement of an entire community are highlighted – because many of the protagonists lived in the so-called “block” at the Ostbahnhof until the end of 2022, when the last families had to move out.
- Film über Rassismus und Antiziganismus:„Viele Menschen haben Stereotype über Sinti und Roma in ihren Köpfen“. In: Tagesspeiegel. 20.01.2023. https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/bezirke/film-uber-rassismus-und-antiziganismus-viele-menschen-haben-stereotype-uber-sinti-und-roma-in-ihren-kopfen-9211560.html
Integration Councils and Racism
Individual members of the Nuremberg Integration Council have been criticized for racist statements. Integration councilor Mitra Sharifi explains why such bodies are not free of racism – and what needs to be done about it. Racism against Sinti and Roma is quite prevalent.
- Rassistische Aussagen von Integrationsräten: “Keine Institution in Deutschland ist rassismusfrei”. In: Sonntagsblatt. 19.01.2023. https://www.sonntagsblatt.de/artikel/gesellschaft/rassistische-aussagen-integrationsraete-institution-deutschland
Holocaust Remembrance Day
On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma invites you to a reading with music and singing. The opera and operetta singer Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter will present his recently published memoirs on January 28 together with the historian Annette Leo. In addition, the 89-year-old will perform some pieces with musical accompaniment.
- Eine Sinti-Familie auf der Flucht vor den Nazis. In: Presse Portal. 27.01.2023. https://www.presseportal.de/pm/128332/5420498
Zdeněk Godla
An article about the Czech Roma actor Zdeněk Godla, currently the best know Roma actor in the Czech Republic. He was lucky, as he started his life on the street at the age of 13, got in jail, and he got into acting by accident when he was doing community service in Chomutov and was chosen by the director Petr Václav for the film. Until the last moment, he agonized over whether it was some kind of fraud. He was at the bottom, without money, and acting helped him a lot.
- Od trinástich bol na ulici, potom vo väzení. Herectvo ma zachránilo, hovorí Zdeněk Godla. In: SME. 18.01.2023.
https://kultura.sme.sk/c/23114404/od-trinastich-bol-na-ulici-potom-vo-vazeni-herectvo-ma-zachranilo-hovori-zdenek-godla.html
Slovak Comedy
A Slovak Movie comedy about the wild 90’s featuring Zdeněk Godla, the most famous Roma actor in the Czech Republic.
- V jakém filmu se sešli „vekslák“ Rytmus, „fízl“ Majk Spirit či Vec? Ochutnávku nabízí romský coveru hitu od Mira Žbirky. In: BBarak. 18.01.2023. https://www.bbarak.cz/v-jakem-filmu-se-sejdou-vekslak-rytmus-fizl-majk-spirit-ci-vec-ochutnavku-nabizi-romsky-coveru-hitu-od-mira-zbirky/
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