Tag Archives: Genocide

Germany News Western Europe

Leni Riefenstahl

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Leni Riefenstahl

Andres Veiel’s rich investigative documentary “Riefenstahl” states the obvious: The infamous German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was an outright Nazi. But as with any good film, the key isn’t what it’s about but how it’s about it. Given full access to the personal archive of the director who made “Olympia” and “Triumph of the Will,” Veiel builds an overwhelming, indisputable case that not only was Riefenstahl a Nazi, but you also can’t separate the art from this artist’s politics.

Germany News Western Europe

Reimar Gilsenbach

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Reimar Gilsenbach

One of the earliest activists who fought for the recognition of the Genocide of the Roma was born 100 years ago.

In early 1965, the popular Eastern German (GDR) newspaper Wochenpost published a letter from a Sintiza from Leipzig. In it, she described the persecution during the Nazi era, but also the discrimination in the GDR. “They see us as idlers, call us scumbags […] But no one considers that we too suffered bitter hardship, that the earth at Auschwitz and other camps was stained red with our blood. […] I would be grateful for an article.”

The editor who received these letters was Reimar Gilsenbach. He researched, found other Sinti, and wrote an article – which, however, was never published. In it, he mentioned the Marzahn forced labour camp for the first time. In connection with the preparations for the 1936 Olympic Games, police units interned Sinti and Roma there.

Italy News Western Europe

Italy, Roma, and the Genocide

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Italy, Roma, and the Genocide

In Naples, Chi Roma e… chi non guided young Roma and non-Roma people on a journey of education and testimony, culminating in a trip to Auschwitz. There they discovered the story of the Sinti boxer Johann Trollmann, known as Rukeli, a symbol of resistance and identity. The story of Rukeli (which means “tree” in the Sinti language), persecuted by the Nazis, became for the young people involved in the project a symbol of resistance against all forms of discrimination. After their trip to Auschwitz, their daily experiences of anti-Gypsyism intertwined with that of Rukeli, who died in a camp in 1944. The association Chi Rom e… chi no chose to tell his story in an ensemble film, directed by Alessandro Rak. The film, born from artistic workshops with young Roma and Neapolitan students from the Galileo Ferraris Technical Institute in Scampia, denounces marginalization and affirms dignity and memory.

Germany News Western Europe

German Archive

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German Archive

Archive material on the persecution of Roma, Sinti, Yenish and other people defined as “Gypsies” under National Socialism has been released.

https://www.bundesarchiv.de/themen-entdecken/online-entdecken/geschichtsgalerien/archivgut-zur-verfolgung-von-roma-sinti-jenischen-und-anderen-im-nationalsozialismus-als-zigeuner-definierten-menschen/

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Partisans

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Roma Partisans

Watch the documentary about forgotten heroes. The film captures the story of Roma who joined the resistance and fought for freedom, but despite this, their actions were almost completely forgotten, as if they had survived a second death. The documentary is personally important to director Vera Lacková because it is closely related to the stories of her own family.

Czech Republic Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Conference on Genocide Research

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Conference on Genocide Research

In mid-September, a 3 days Czech-German conference on the current challenges facing genocide research will be held in Lety. Entitled “The legacy of Romani and Sinti survivors across the generations”, the conference will bring together activists, the descendants of such survivors, historians, researchers, and representatives of public institutions to discuss current forms of commemorating this tragedy, the ethical challenges connected to researching the genocide of the Roma and Sinti, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and memory policy.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Edward Dębicki

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Edward Dębicki

Edward Dębicki, a renowned Polsko Rom musician and Holocaust survivor is at the centre of a controversy in Gorzów Wiełkopolski. This is not his hometown, as he comes from former Eastern Poland, and was resettled when Poland was shifted 300 km westward.

The controversy was whether he could be granted a municipal apartment at a significant discount. Ultimately, the resolution was rejected. The vast majority of councillors voted against it.

So much for survivors …

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

News in France are dominated with the relocation of Roma in one neighbourhood of Nantes. Locals are fighting against this, and Roma who are being expelled of one camp went to court, claiming that the expulsions are illegal. In brief, chaos.

Other than that, an article about the forgotten (in France) genocide of the Roma.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Commemoration

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Czechia: Commemoration

Yesterday, a commemoration for the Romane victims of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust was held at the Hodonín u Kunštátu Memorial.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

A Massacre

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A Massacre

According to the article, early in the morning on Sunday, July 19, 1942, partisans from the Bela Kranjska Detachment surrounded the Roma settlement of Kanižarica pri Črnomelj. They woke up the still sleeping residents and ordered them to gather on the road, while at the same time they began to burn down their homes. Only a few managed to escape, and all the rest were driven past Dragovanje vas towards Doblička Gora and Mavrlen on a rainy Sunday morning.

Two days later, all these prisoners, including women and children, including babies, were killed in the forest near Mavrlen. According to an Italian report, 61 Roma were taken away at that time, but some reports believe that there were many more.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Remembrance

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Czechia: Remembrance

On August 2, artists symbolically named one of the nameless streets in Česká Bříza “Serinkova”. It was named after the Romano partisan Josef Serinek. The artists are reacting to the decision of the Liberec city council, which refused to officially rename part of Kunratická Street.

Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

An Omission?

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An Omission?

During the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust in Auschwitz, Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma gave a speech in German in which he not only spoke about the genocide of the Roma but also of human right violations, and he specifically mentioned children starving in Gaza.

The issue: the Gaza mention was not translated in English, Polish, or Czech according to the people we spoke to right after the ceremony in Auschwitz.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia and World War Two

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Croatia and World War Two

On the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of Roma Victims of Genocide in World War II – Samudaripen, at the Roma Memorial A commemoration was held at the Uštica centre, where the representative of the Roma national minority, Veljko Kajtazi, condemned every attempt at historical revisionism.

“When we increasingly see attempts at historical revisionism and hiding the truth, we are obliged to send a strong message from this place – a message that the victory over fascism was not in vain,” Kajtazi emphasized, adding that silence in the face of revisionism becomes complicity.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Edward Dȩbicki

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Edward Dȩbicki

An article about Edward Dȩbicki, a 90 year old Polska Roma who spoke at this year’s commemoration on August 2nd in Auschwitz. Dębicki, is not only a musician and composer but also a writer. He wrote the book “Birds of the Dead” about that time over two decades ago, which recounts the tragedy of Roma families during the war.

“When the Roma camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was being liquidated in 1944, I was nine years old. We hid in the forests, lived in dugouts in constant fear, and saw death at every turn. I survived because fate had it so. But I carry within me the memory of all those who were not so fortunate,” says Edward Dębicki.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Commemorations

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Slovenia: Commemorations

Several articles in Slovenia about the August 2nd commemoration of the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. With an interesting one as to whether use “porajmos” (don’t) or “Samudaripen” (better) top denote it.

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