Racism Stories in Slovakia

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Racism Stories in Slovakia

An article with testimonies of racism towards Roma, but also Ukrainians, Moslems, etc.

“He shouted at us that we gypsies should not be here, that we stink, that we should sit in the back and not in the front, that they treat us like gypsies, that we are dirty gypsies.”

“I faced discrimination when they refused to serve me in a café and a bar because of my Romani origin. It was very humiliating and embarrassing for me.”

Erika Rein

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Erika Rein

Young singer Erika Rein is a prominent figure in the Slovak music scene and could win the Debut of the Year and Album of the Year awards. She sings in Slovak, English and Romanes and makes catchy pop songs.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

In Paris on March 26th, Alina Şerban will present her new theatre piece titled “the big shame”. Near Nantes in Western France, Roma who live on a site called “la Montagne” talk to the press. On the same site, an initiative invited the Roma and neighbours for two events.

Slovakia and the Tiso Regime

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Slovakia and the Tiso Regime

Hana Kubátová (45) is a historian, she is dedicated to Holocaust research, and works at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University in Prague. Her book “Where Foxes Say Good Night” about the relationship between Christian nationalism and the Holocaust in Slovakia is currently being published. She says: “When the Tiso regime wanted to create “new Slovaks”, it was easier to say who did not belong to them”. Roma and Jews were definitively part of the New Slovaks…

Czechia: Memorial

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Czechia: Memorial

On April 2, 2025, the gates of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Moravia in Hodonín near Kunštát will open again after the winter break. This will be the 7th visitor season overall. The exhibition “Stories of Survivors” remains from last year, which presents the fates of Holocaust survivors of Roma and Sinti who were internment in the camp in Lety u Písku in the form of biographical medallions.

Slovenian Settlements

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Slovenian Settlements

In the municipality of Metlika in Slovenia, there are approximately 400 Roma living in five Roma settlements, mostly on municipal land. Some have already purchased land from the municipality at a price of 7 euros per square meter. However, some issues in this area are still unresolved. In the municipality of Crnomelj, there are around 1,000 Roma.

Not much is done for integration there either.

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

The director of Komunala Novo Mesto Bojan Kekec participated in a recent consultation on the employment of Roma. The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities presented a new program for the employment of the Roma population to mayors and employers in Novo Mesto.

“We are one of the few companies that also employs members of the Roma community. There are currently three Roma in regular employment at Komunala Novo Mesto,” explained director Bojan Kekec.

Better than nothing …

Roma and Czechoslovak Socialism

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Roma and Czechoslovak Socialism

Efforts to resolve the issue of coexistence between the Roma community and the majority society started with the newly established independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. State policy was primarily bureaucratic and repressive in nature. After 1948 and the rise of the communist party, the position of the Roma in Czechoslovakia deteriorated significantly. This situation then escalated further during the era of so-called normalization. The socialist regime tried unsuccessfully to assimilate the Roma minority.

The article dwell on travellers, of which there were very few in the region, but does not speak much about the resettlement after the war.

Czech Memoirs

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Czech Memoirs

An article about the memoirs of Karolína Kozáková, née Růžičková, published under the title Journey through life in a gypsy wagon. It represent a unique testimony about the internment of Roma in the Ruzyně forced labour camp and their subsequent transport to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp. It is from these memoirs published by the Museum of Romani Culture in the book Memoirs of Romani Women (2004) that the information leaflet prepared by the Prague Forum for Romani History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, for this year’s 82nd anniversary of this tragic event draws. It is the only known eyewitness testimony that captures the internment of Romani people in the Ruzyne forced labour camp.

Vlach Roma

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Vlach Roma

An article about Vlach Roma in Czechia (called Olah there). Full of generalisations and stereotypes. The article starts by saying “Women in colorful skirts, men hung with gold – a closed community with its own rules and judgments. Weddings at fifteen, a strict division of roles and its own dialect of Romanes.”

Czechia: Commemoration

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Czechia: Commemoration

On Monday, March 10, 2025, dozens of people commemorated the 82nd anniversary of the mass deportation of Roma and Sinti from Prague to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp with a memorial service in Ruzyne, Prague. The participants, most of whom wore black clothing, laid floral wreaths at the wooden statue. The event, which has been held at this location for the third year and was initiated by the Roma and Sinti Center, is organized by the Prague 6 district in cooperation with the Museum of Roma Culture and the Prague Forum for Roma History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.

Czechia: Documentary Festival

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Czechia: Documentary Festival

The One World International Documentary Film Festival will begin on Wednesday, March 12. Its program also includes the film Fakir, which looks into the family of a twenty-something Roma named Dalibor. He spent two years in prison for perjury, then he returns home and immediately has to face new problems. His younger brother Kevin grows up to be a domestic abuser and an alcoholic. Dalibor wants the boy to be entrusted to his mother. But the decision depends on the court.

He tries to succeed in a circus to give his brother and himself a better future.

Bulgaria: Murder

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Bulgaria: Murder

A toddler was murdered in Kula, Bulgaria, close to the Serbian border. The suspects are two Roma who fled the country shortly after the murder.

Reasons are not given.

Serbia: Roma Business Club

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Serbia: Roma Business Club

The Roma Business Club in Serbia is celebrating its first anniversary. “Our goal is to connect Roma entrepreneurs, gain access to more favourable financing, and have their voices heard at the national level,” says Žarko Savić, one of the founders of the club.

Right now, it connects over 2’000 entrepreneurs.

Slovakia and Roma

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Slovakia and Roma

Another article on the survey of attitudes towards Roma in Slovakia. Here, they say that 70% of the respondents would object if their child was to marry someone from the Romani community, and that 46% would object travelling next to Roma.

Unfortunately, not surprising.

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