News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Emergency?

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Slovenia: Emergency?

“The Slovenian Democratic Party parliamentary group, based on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, has requested the convening of an urgent session of the Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities to discuss the item: ‘Measures for the effective resolution of the Roma issue in southeast Slovenia’,” the SDS parliamentary group reports.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bango Vasil

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Bango Vasil

Roma in the Balkan celebrate their New Year as the Bango Vasil or Vasilitsa, effectively the old orthodox New Year, regardles of their religion.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Schools and Disadvantaged Students

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Schools and Disadvantaged Students

An article about the fact that there are gifted children among Roma … Clearly so, but not for everybody. Statistics and new studies show that there are thoughtful and bright children among them, but as a society we have great reserves in recognizing and supporting them.

“In segregated schools, talent is usually not talked about, and if it is, it is in the context of artistic or sports talent. Roma children are good at boxing, music and dance, but not at mathematics,” describes Karel Gargulák from the research company PAQ Research, how Czech society is used to thinking about certain groups of the population. “

Segregation is bad, just think of the USA …

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Education, and Social Help

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Slovenia, Education, and Social Help

Although primary education is compulsory in Slovenia, some individuals do not complete it. The issue is particularly acute in the Roma community, as according to Amnesty International, more than 60% of Roma in Slovenia have not completed primary education. Among the initiatives to the government was a proposal that primary education would be mandatory if individuals wanted to draw on state forms of assistance and allowances and, in general, the benefits offered by the state.

But the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities rejects the proposal. They explained (rightly so):

“The purpose of all forms of social assistance, supplements (child, care) and other benefits and subsidies is to ensure a basic level of social security for residents. The condition of being tied to education could constitute discrimination and a violation of the principle of equality before the law.”

Germany News Western Europe

Exhibition

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Exhibition

The exhibition “Murdered, Marginalized, and Stigmatized: Sinti and Roma in Rhineland-Palatinate” will be on display at the Center for Social Responsibility of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau in Mainz starting January 21. Students from the Department of History at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz explored the history of Sinti and Roma in Rhineland-Palatinate during the summer semester of 2025. The results of the project, funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science and Health, will be presented for one week, the university announced on Monday.

News Western Europe Sweden

Pamphlet and Distortion

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Pamphlet and Distortion

A pamphlet by a Swede on ICE in the USA. One issue lies in his statement that “Between 1935 and 1945, Nazi Germany systematically killed an estimated 130,500 Roma and Sinti people and between 1938 and 1945 more than 6 million Jews.”

This is Genocide distortion. There are effectively around 130’000 registered Roma victims. But, many more were simply executed without being registered. The same applies to jews, so here, the author applies two different measures for the same crime.

Bad.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Euros in Bulgaria

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Euros in Bulgaria

With the introduction of the Euro in Bulgaria on January 1st, some people are trying to benefit. Here, two young Roma tried to pay with a printed banknote …

Italy News Western Europe

Roma Resistance

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Roma Resistance

The Historical Institute of the Resistance and the Contemporary Age of Forlì-Cesena, in collaboration with the Municipality of Forlì, is organizing the presentation of the book “Vittoriosi al fin liberi siam. Roma e Sinti nella Resistenza italiana” by Chiara Nencioni, on Tuesday, January 13, in the Sala Randi, Forlì Municipality. Ines Briganti will be present at the event, alongside the author.

Germany News Western Europe

Opera Yes, Documentation Centre No

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Opera Yes, Documentation Centre No

Those arriving in Hamburg by ICE train from the south pass directly by the former “Hanoverian Station,” from whose tracks 8,000 Jews, Sinti, and Roma were deported to Nazi extermination camps in the east starting in 1940. A memorial with desk-like concrete tables lists all the names from the transport lists of that time.

Just a few hundred meters away, directly in line of sight to the deportation site, a new opera house is to be built on Hamburg’s Baakenhöft. It is being sponsored with 340 million euros by Klaus-Michael Kühne, 88 years old. The same man who, to this day, refuses to allow his company’s Nazi past to be publicly investigated. His opera house, his gift to the city, therefore carries a deeply troubling connotation.

Meanwhile, a planned documentation centre on the deprotations is still in planning, without any date of completion.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

National Minorities

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National Minorities

20% of Serbia’s inhabitants do not declare themselves to be Serbs, but Albanians, Bosnians, Hungarians, Roma or Ruthenians… 23 National Councils are supposed to defend the interests of these communities, but they have been brought to heel by the ruling SNS.

The Roma community, one of the 23 officially recognized ethnic minorities in Serbia, has its own National Council where its political representatives sit. The National Councils of ethnic minorities are involved in education and culture. Srđan Šajn, president of the Roma Party (RP), believes that political pressure and legal changes have paralyzed the work of the National Council of Roma. “The National Councils are blocked because the elections are rigged and the ruling parties have installed their cronies,” he asserts, noting that previous governments also exerted pressure, but to a lesser extent. “President Vučić and his regime have dismantled all control systems; the National Councils have been completely paralyzed since 2015. They are ensuring that the National Council elections are a sham, just like all other elections.”

Italy News Western Europe

Burial

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Burial

More than two hundred members of the Padua Sinti community gathered on Saturday, January 10, in the center of Noventa Padovana to participate in the burial ceremony of one of their relatives. Giamaica Rajar, a 53-year-old woman from the Via Serenissima community, passed away on January 8. The ceremony had a particularly folkloric character: from the pink coffin, to the lighting of smoke bombs, to the presence of a large crucifix made entirely of balloons. A well-attended ceremony, which drew numerous community members and onlookers to the streets of the town.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

People’s Initiative

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People’s Initiative

The People’s Initiative of Dolenjska (LID), Slovenia, has announced a protest rally in Ljubljana, as they have not received a response to their work activation program. The rally will be held in the capital if the government does not organize a working meeting with the relevant ministries by January 16. The program they are presenting would regulate the employment of Roma by establishing training centers where the unemployed would gain experience, and social assistance would be linked to participation in programs.

There is a catch, that they link this to other things…

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Sad

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Sad

A sad story from Bulgaria. A 15-year-old girl was admitted to the emergency room with severe pain and suspected acute kidney crisis. After the examinations, however, the doctors established the surprising cause of her condition – the teenager was nine months pregnant and already had a dilation.

The medical team immediately took action and the birth began almost immediately. Not long after, little Emilia cried in the maternity ward. Both the mother and the newborn are in good general condition and under medical supervision.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma “Problem”

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Roma “Problem”

Protests against the so-called Roma “Problem” are starting again in Slovenia. “The holiday peace is over!” This is how the public message signed by the People’s Initiative of Dolenjska and its coordinator Silvo Mesojedec begins sharply and without embellishment. According to them, the period of patiently waiting for dialogue with the government has finally ended.

They say the government is not doing anything angains Roma criminality and that they are too lenient towards them. They advocate stricter and disceriminatory measures.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Snow, Winter, and Schools

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Snow, Winter, and Schools

A Roma councilor from the Vejarje settlement in the Trebnje municipality in Slovenia, Matej Breznik, has publicly warned of what he says are very dangerous conditions for children who walk to the bus stop every day. As he pointed out, the sidewalks in the settlement are not maintained, nor is the bus stop properly maintained, which is why children are exposed to serious danger when walking on the road.

This situation is common in many villages and settlements throughout the region.

Germany News Western Europe

Conference “Antigypsyism/Racism against Roma and Sinti”

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Conference “Antigypsyism/Racism against Roma and Sinti”

This conference aims to raise awareness of antigypsyism/racism against Roma and Sinti. In particular, it seeks to sharpen the understanding of how to recognize antigypsyist discrimination and to consider it as a cross-cutting issue in administrative work.

Another focus will be on presenting existing measures implemented by the State of Berlin to combat and prevent antigypsyism. These measures will not only be presented but also discussed and considered together with regard to their further development.

Finally, the conference aims to encourage self-reflection – with the goal of critically examining how antigypsyism/racism against Roma and Sinti is addressed within the administrative context and initiating processes of change.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Prejudice

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Prejudice

An interview with Sára Kaplanová on prejudice, her job as a nurse, and on her social media presence.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Antonín Běla

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Antonín Běla

The 1990s were wild. No exaggeration. The old order fell, the new was just being born, and in between, there was room for people who were not afraid to do things a little differently, so to speak. One of the most prominent figures in the underworld of that time was Antonín Běla. A man who, according to experts, was not exactly the smartest, but in reality he didn’t particularly mind. He had a “knack for people” and was able to build an empire around himself that other gangsters could only dream of.

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