Tag Archives: Holocaust

Josef Miker

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The portrait of an activist, originally from Slovakia but now from the Czech Republic who fights against hate.

What a destiny: His grandparents were shot by guardsmen, his parents met in a concentration camp. His father came from Velké Zalužice in Slovakia, where he owned huge plots of land on which a Roma settlement stood. His great-ancestor saved the life of his lord in the Battle of Slavkov, and he gave him extensive land in Slovakia for that.

Slovenia and the Yugoslav Nostalgia

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Two young women produced a podcast tackling the Yugoslav Nostalgia that seems to exist currently in Slovenia.

In the beginning, the two women touched on the government’s recent cancellation of the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Communism. Zala Klopčič explained why the day was celebrated on May 17. “17. May 1942 was the first day when the communists carried out the first mass killing of Slovenian civilians on our soil, namely, it happened south of Ljubljana in the vicinity of Igo. The partisans killed 53 members of the Roma community, including children, a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy,” she reminded, adding that even today these people are not properly buried, because certain influential people on the Slovenian political scene do not allow their burial.

Good that they mention this!

French Chronicle …

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An interesting article on the commemoration at the camp of Saliers, close to Arles, where Roma were interned by the Vichy regime before being deported. Another article about a book called “Kumpanija” the terms used among Kalderaša to denote a group of Roma travelling together for work. Another article on the Saintes Marie de la Mer, and a final one on the increase of camps in the Nantes region, in a right wing chanel.

Roma Graves

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Austria’s National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) is looking for a solution to permanently preserve the graves of Sinti and Roma who survived the Holocaust. The German model could serve as a model, he said in the APA double interview with the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose. The federal and state governments split the costs there. Sobotka now wants to take a closer look at this model.

Berlin Memorial

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The Memorial for the Roma and Sinti victims of the Nazi genocide was damaged. The Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma sharply condemned this attack and asked for the underlying motives to beunderstood.

Auschwitz: Commemoration

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On Tuesday, Roma representatives commemorated Roma inmates in Auschwitz who, 79 years ago, rebelled in the so-called Zigeunerlager, which is part of the German KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

“Today we celebrate the 79th anniversary of the Roma rebellion. On May 16, 1944, one of the most heroic events during the functioning of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau took place in this area. (…) Today, by laying wreaths and lighting candles at the monument to the murdered Roma, we pay tribute to all the heroes of that day and honour the memory of those murdered here,” said Władysław Kwiatkowski from the Roma Association in Poland.

Czech President on Lety

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Petr Pavel, the new Czech president says the state carries responsibility in not having acted faster to buy the pig farm on the site of the concentration camp of Lety.

Westerbork

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The camp of Westerbork in the Netherlands, a camp from which many Jews and Roma were transferred to death camps, wants to put more emphasis on the victims of the Holocaust. The military tattoo will no longer be blown at the 4 May commemoration in Camp Westerbork this year, instead the bell of camp will be rung before the two minutes of silence.

Switzerland: Holocaust Memorial

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The Swiss Federal Council voted yesterday to erect a Holocaust memorial in the city of Bern in a yet to be determined central location. They allocated a 2.5 Mio CHF credit to the Memorial.

Czech Republic: Role Models

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Three Roma recently won prizes in the Czech Republic. Patrick Banga, a Romano journalist won the prestigious Magnesia Litera literary prize in the new authors category; Renata Berkyová, a historian who works on the Holocaust of Roma won a 4 month months scholarship at the Washington Holocaust Museum; and finally, the actor Marsell Bendig won the Czech Lion for supporting actor for his role in the film Banger.

Well done!

Commemoration in Mittelbau-Dora

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In a speech during the commemoration last Sunday, the chairwoman of the State Association of German Sinti and Roma Berlin-Brandenburg, Petra Rosenberg, recalled her father. He survived the concentration camp, but always struggled with what he experienced there and with the memories of it. Rosenberg also criticized the fact that Sinti and Roma still experience discrimination and stigmatization today.

Buchenwald: Commemorations

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Commemorations were held yesterday in Buchenwald and Bergen Belsen on the 78th anniversary of the liberation of those camps. These commemorations focused this year on Sinti and Roma and the current increase in racism towards them.

 

Čeija Stojka

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An article in the Czech press about Čeija Stojka, who survived the Holocaust, and went to write a book about it and paint.

She was a great woman.

Slovakia and the Holocaust

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The civic association “Lavuta” with the support of the Fund for the support of the culture of national minorities Kult Minor is organiing a series of cultural and educational events in elementary schools about the Roma Holocaust in the Banskobystrica region.

Poland: Exhibitions

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From March 31, two open-air exhibitions will be open to visitors on the Market Square in Nakło in central Poland: “The Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Europe” and “The Holocaust of the Roma from Wyrzysk County”.

“The Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Europe” is an exhibition prepared by the Institute of National Remembrance and made available by the Institute of National Remembrance Regional Office in Bydgoszcz.

The exhibition “Extermination of the Roma from Wyrzysk Poviat” was prepared by the Museum of Krajeńskie Land on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Roma to the Birkenau concentration camp.

Slovakia, the Holocaust, and the Aftermath

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A few days ago, Slovakia remembered one of the darkest chapters of our modern history – the creation of the wartime Slovak Republic under the leadership of the president of the ruling Hlinkova Party (HSĽS) Jozef Tis.

What memories did this experience of mass complicity in the genocide of one’s own population left in the Slovak collective consciousness and subconsciousness? How do the Slovak deal with this past, and are they willing to admit that they were often active participants Mass Evil?

An Ethnologist is investigating.

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