Roma News

News about Roma from seven different European countries.

Roma Culture

Roma people have an ongoing tradition in music, art and other cultural areas.

Roma Teaching and Training

A European project which deals with the absence of pre-school education.

Sedrin

A European project which deals with Roma parents who want to support their children's education.

Terno

The project TERNO aims to support Roma children that attend the last classes of the elementary school.

Τρίτη 26 Νοεμβρίου 2013

Roma MATRIX: Fighting racism through integration


This Wednesday, the Roma MATRIX conference takes place in Athens.

First of all, let's see some information about this event:

Begin: 27/11/2013 - 09:30
End: 27/11/2013 - 15:00
Venue: Technopolis Cultural Centre, 100 Pireos Ave., Athens
Organiser: Action Synergy

The organisation Action Synergy in cooperation with the City of Leeds organises international conference on Roma integration entitled "Roma MATRIX: Fighting racism through integration". The conference will take place on November, 27 at the Cultural Centre Technopolis in Athens.

Some of the issues addressed in this conference are Roma integration in Greece and an overview of the Roma matrix program.

Afterwards, workshops will take place which will include presentations from theme experts, Greek Roma communities and Roma MATRIX project partners. The three issues of the workshops are: health, employment and children - education.

Δευτέρα 27 Μαΐου 2013

Il diritto alla casa negato ai rom


 
Una famiglia rom nel campo di via Alessandro Marchetti a Roma. (Christophe Simon, Afp)
A Roma ai cittadini di origine rom è negato l’accesso alle case popolari, denuncia il Guardian.
Nonostante vivano in campi attrezzati nella periferia della città, lontani dai servizi come scuole e ospedali, l’amministrazione di Roma ha creato un sistema di regole che vietano ai rom, anche se molti di loro sono nati in Italia, di presentare domanda per ottenere una casa popolare. Secondo molte associazioni per i diritti umani si tratta di “una mossa politica con l’intento di discriminare la popolazione rom”. Costanza Hermanin, della Open society foundation, ha dichiarato che “le autorità in Italia semplicemente non considerano i rom esseri umani. Il nuovo piano regolatore della città è discriminatorio e controproduttivo, perché ne impedisce l’integrazione nella società”.
Nel bando per l’assegnazione delle case popolari pubblicato a dicembre, le famiglie che risiedono nei campi avevano diritto a presentare domanda. Si dava infatti priorità “alle famiglie che si trovano nelle situazioni di maggior vulnerabilità, ovvero di grave disagio abitativo”.
Qualche settimana dopo, il bando è stato modificato con un’esclusione specifica per le quattromila persone dei campi nomadi, dal momento che “i richiedenti devono risultare ospitati in ricoveri temporanei, ossia strutture dedicate all’accoglienza di persone senzatetto, senza casa o senza fissa dimora”, mentre i campi sono strutture permanenti. La precisazione è stata pubblicata il 18 gennaio e condivisa in una nota stampa dall’assessore alle politiche del patrimonio e della casa di Roma, Lucia Funari. Con queste regole, a chiunque viva in un “campo” è negata una sistemazione permanente.
Il trattamento riservato alle minoranze nomadi in Italia è costantemente criticato dalle associazioni per i diritti umani, scrive il Guardian.
Attualmente sono 10mila le persone di origine rom in Italia. Nel 2008 il governo di Silvio Berlusconi ha concesso a ogni municipalità il potere di sorvegliare, registrare e deportare i rom. Esiste un database con le impronte digitali dei cittadini di origine rom e chi vive nei campi non deve avere precedenti penali. “Non stiamo dicendo che dovrebbe esserci un trattamento preferenziale per le famiglie rom, ma almeno dovrebbero essere trattate come le altre nell’accesso alla casa”, ha affermato Elisa De Pieri di Amnesty International.

Πέμπτη 16 Μαΐου 2013

Gitanos víctimas de espiral de violencia



Según varios observadores, este asesinato es apenas el último ejemplo de una escalada de violencia contra esa la principal minoría étnica de Europa.

Estos llamados también sobrevienen días después de que la Corte Europea de Derechos Humanos dictaminó que Eslovaquia no investigó de modo efectivo el brutal ataque contra 10 romaníes en 2002, que dejó varios heridos de gravedad.

Activistas señalan que el veredicto pone de relieve las perturbadoras deficiencias de que adolece la investigación de crímenes contra los gitanos y que los dirigentes políticos deben hacer más para garantizar que los perpetradores de este tipo de delitos sean llevados a la justicia.

“Este fallo de la Corte Europea de Derechos Humanos se origina en un incidente que tuvo lugar hace una década. Pero la misma clase de incidentes violentos continúan ocurriendo” hoy, dijo a IPS el director ejecutivo del Centro Europeo para los Derechos de los Romaníes, Dezideriu Gergely. La entidad tiene su sede en Budapest. ”Este caso nos recuerda que las autoridades eslovacas y otras de la región tienen que desarrollar sus procedimientos y prácticas para abordar de modo adecuado los ataques violentos contra minorías vulnerables, y garantizar que la violencia racista no quede impune”, agregó.

Muchos romaníes se quejan de persecución y discriminación sistemática, en todos los niveles de la sociedad y en muchos países. La mayoría de los gitanos viven en Europa central y oriental, aunque también hay grandes comunidades en España, Francia, Grecia e Italia.

Hay entre 10 y 12 millones de romaníes dispersos por todo el continente. En Europa central y oriental, la mayoría de ellos viven en relativa pobreza. En algunos asentamientos, el desempleo es de cerca de 100 por ciento de los activos, y la alta criminalidad también es un problema en muchas comunidades. pero los romaníes dicen que la discriminación contra ellos es sistemática en las fuerzas policiales locales, y que los crímenes de los que son víctimas, especialmente los violentos, son mal investigados, si es que se los investiga.

Georgina Siklossy, de la Red Europea Contra el Racismo, dijo a IPS que los estudios sobre la respuesta del Estado a la violencia contra esta minoría mostraron lo pésimo de la situación.
Un estudio realizado por el Centro Europeo para los Derechos de los Romaníes entre 2008 y 2011 analizó una selección de 44 casos en la República Checa, Hungría y Eslovaquia, y concluyó que apenas 20 por ciento de ellos derivaron en condenas. Y también, que las investigaciones policiales fueron suspendidas sin identificar sospechosos en casi un tercio de los casos. Durante las investigaciones policiales se descartó en 50 por ciento de los casos -o no se confirmó- que detrás de estos episodios hubiera motivos raciales.

“Otros miembros de nuestra red también han documentado la falta de investigaciones adecuadas sobre los crímenes contra los romaníes”, dijo Siklossy.

Organizaciones que realizan un seguimiento de los episodios de racismo en la región han reportado una creciente violencia contra los gitanos y otras minorías étnicas, mientras crece la popularidad de partidos políticos y movimientos de extrema derecha, a raíz de la crisis financiera mundial.

En la República Checa, donde viven más de 300.000 romaníes, tres fueron muertos en ataques entre octubre de 2011 y marzo de este año. En los últimos años también hubo una serie de ataques incendiarios contra miembros de esa comunidad, uno de los cuales, en 2009, dejó a un niño de dos años lisiado de por vida.

En Hungría, nueve personas fueron asesinadas entre 2008 y 2011, entre ellos dos menores, en ataques contra gitanos. En algunos de esos ataques se usaron cocteles molotov, granadas de mano y revólveres.

Y en Rumania, dos hombres gitanos fueron muertos por la policía solo en el último mes. En mayo, uno de 24 años se arrojó a un lago para escapar de oficiales que lo perseguían por un presunto robo. Le dispararon en la cabeza mientras estaba en el agua, a entre 10 y 15 metros de la costa.
El 10 de este mes, dos hermanos romaníes fueron baleados, uno de ellos murió, en Agristeu, en el norteño distrito de Mures, tras una intervención policial en respuesta a un conflicto local.

El Centro Europeo para los Derechos de los Romaníes y la organización no gubernamental local Romaní CRISS llamaron a las autoridades rumanas a condenar las balaceras y a asegurarse de que los oficiales responsables sean condenados por sus acciones.

En el último ataque ocurrido en la región, tres miembros de una familia fueron muertos a tiros por un policía fuera de servicio que abrió fuego contra ellos en el exterior de su casa en Hurbanovo, Eslovaquia. Otros dos integrantes de la familia fueron gravemente heridos en el episodio. Los motivos del ataque no están claros.

Al emitir su fallo este mes, la Corte Europea de Derechos Humanos subrayó cuán importante era para las autoridades asegurarse de que las investigaciones sobre violencia racista fueran completas y eficientes.

El tribunal dijo que había “tenido en cuenta la particular importancia de que se lleve a cabo una investigación con vigor e imparcialidad sobre un ataque con dejos raciales… para reafirmar continuamente la condena de la sociedad al racismo y mantener la confianza de las minorías en la capacidad de las autoridades para protegerlas de la amenaza de la violencia racista”.

Organizaciones de defensa de los derechos de los romaníes sostienen que la condena pública a la violencia racista es vital para impedir que ocurran crímenes similares en el futuro.

“El gobierno eslovaco, por ejemplo, definitivamente podría ser más activo en la condena a incidentes como los ocurridos contra los romaníes. (Pero) no es algo que considere importante tratar a fondo”, dijo a IPS el activista Stefan Ivanco, de la organización no gubernamental eslovaca Centro para los Derechos Civiles y Humanos, que ha representado ante la justicia a gitanos víctimas de delitos violentos. ”Pero si los gobiernos son vistos como silenciosos o débiles sobre la cuestión de la violencia contra los romaníes y no la condenan públicamente o se aseguran de que la policía haga su trabajo adecuadamente, es más fácil que los racistas y neonazis lleven a cabo ataques, y envía a toda la sociedad el mensaje de que no hay necesidad de actuar contra la violencia que padecen los gitanos”, agregó.

Siklossy agregó: “Si las autoridades abordan efectivamente los crímenes y la violencia racista, envían a la población un fuerte mensaje en cuanto a que el racismo hacia los romaníes no es aceptable y que los actos racistas serán castigados”.


Begging is not rooted in Roma traditions, but in poverty


On the invitation of Philippe Moureaux, Chairman of the Belgian Senate's Internal Affairs Committee, MEP Lívia Járóka participated at a hearing on human trafficking and begging with children. In her speech she reminded of the necessity of transposing the EU directive on human trafficking and emphasized that begging was not rooted in Roma traditions but in poverty and social exclusion.
 

In connection with a new legal proposition, the Belgian Senate held a hearing today on human trafficking and begging with children. On the invitation of Philippe Moureaux, Chairman of the Belgian Senate's Internal Affairs Committee, MEP Lívia Járóka, Rapporteur of the EU Strategy on Roma Inclusion participated on the event. In her speech she expressed her gratitude towards the Belgian EU presidency for the preparation of the a EU Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and expressed her view that the proposal in question could contribute not only to the full transposition of the directive, but also to the better early identification and protection of victims. Járóka reminded that the directive extended the definition of trafficking so that it also covered exploitation for forced labour, including begging.

The MEP welcomed the 'impunity clause' of the directive, according to which victims are not punishable for the illegal acts they committed under the influence of their traffickers. She further welcomed the proposed provision of the bill banning the use of children for begging, even if the perpetrators are family members. Járóka underlined that trafficking emerged in close connection with marginalization and extreme poverty; and so affected Roma women and children disproportionately. Therefore - she pointed out - begging is not a tradition, but a terrible situation that those involved are trying to escape from and the obligation of authorities is to help the victims and not to turn their back on this practice out of some misguided pity or false sense of human rights.


Τετάρτη 15 Μαΐου 2013

5 Big Fat Myths about Gypsies, Travellers and Roma


Gypsies all have big fat weddings and live in caravans or come from Eastern Europe and are constantly thinking about migrating to the UK to live on benefits, right? Wrong

Myth no. 1: All Gypsies live in caravans

While a well-known part of the cultural fabric of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller lifestyle, not all Gypsies live in caravans, and most of the 300,000 Roma and Travellers in the UK are settled rather than travelling. As Travellers’ Times contributor Jake Bowers told the BBC, about half of Britain’s GRT community live in permanent housing, while others live on authorised public caravan sites or private camp sites with permission for long term stays, all of which are subject to council tax and utility payments. A small minority live in unauthorised temporary camps, which do not receive council services. The nomadic lifestyles evolved for a variety of reasons, be it cultural traditions, work that changed with the seasons or local persecution.

Myth no. 2: All Gypsies have big fat weddings and wear provocative clothes

A big stereotype about the Gypsy way of life is that it’s flashy, revealing and attention grabbing. But just as Poles don’t have the full picture about Brits when they see a stag party in Warsaw, we don’t get a full picture about GRT cultures, by seeing it through a prism of entertainment programming. Take C4’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding – while valuable in shining a light on elements of predominantly Traveller lifestyles in the UK, it does not tell us the full picture (especially about the Roma community). For example, Gypsy fashion for free-flowing clothes is guided by modesty, and strict cleanliness codes are common, developed through centuries of life on the road when hygiene was of utmost importance.

Myth no. 3: Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are workshy, lack education, and aspire to live on benefits

If you search for “Gypsy” or “Roma” on some websites, you’ll find story after story that perpetuates the myth that the GRT community is ridden with crime, tax avoidance and voluntary unemployment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Members of GRT communities are in fact statistically underrepresented in the mainstream prison population in the UK. Just like with any other community, you will find criminals, just as you will find teachers, nurses, police officers, artists and entrepreneurs. Access All Areas is an inspiring documentary about the journey several Gypsies made through mainstream education to Oxbridge, whilst at the same time retaining their identity. Other documentaries in the Community Channel’s GRT season celebrate some of the most successful Gypsy and Roma artists, from world-renowned flamenco dancer Mario Maya to Papusza, the influential 20th century Polish poet, to Eugene Hurtz, the charismatic frontman of New York-based band Gogol Bordello.

Myth no. 4: All gypsies are foreign

There is a lack of understanding about the distinction between (mainly Irish) Travellers, and Roma, each with a different ethnicity and migration history between them. GRT groups have been part of British society and culture for over 500 years, with the first authenticated records of Gypsy presence going back to 1505 in Scotland and 1514 in England. Many of the current Irish Travellers came over from Ireland in the 19th century and after Second World War to work on building and motorway projects. Welsh Gypsies are known as Kale and have been present in the UK since the 16th century, as have Scottish and English Roma, earliest records referring to them as “the Egyptians.” The Roma have a different ethnicity to Travellers, which has recently been traced linguistically and genetically to North India a thousand years ago (though there is still contention about this). The most recent wave of Roma immigration came from post-Communist Eastern Europe in the 1990s and after 2004, when some countries joined the European Union.

Myth no. 5: We will be inundated with welfare-seeking Roma immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria next year

The BBC recently conducted a survey in Romania and found that just 1 per cent of respondents said they will be looking for work in the UK in 2013 or 2014. While Roma from Eastern Europe have come to the UK since the 1990s so did other groups from the region, many of whom have since formed an integral part of our society, while others have decided to return. Artur Conka’s film Lunik IX looks at the decaying Roma housing block in Slovakia cut off from water, gas and electricity he grew up in. Thirteen years ago his family left to move to London. Since moving to London, English has become his first language, he has finished a bachelor’s degree in photography and is now building a career in photojournalism. Like many Roma who came to the UK before him, he is an asset to our society.  
The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Season is broadcast weeknights, 9-12pm on Community Channel until 14 June, available on Sky 539, Virgin Media 233, Freeview 87, BT Vision, BBC iPlayer and via www.communitychannel.org


Alex Kann

Χαλάνδρι: Ο Δήμος, η Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση και στη μέση οι Ρομά


Πορεία διαμαρτυρίας στη λεωφόρο Μεσογείων προς τα γραφεία της Αποκεντρωμένης Διοίκησης πραγματοποίησαν σήμερα το πρωί οι Ρομά που κατοικούν από τις αρχές τις δεκαετίας του 1970 σε καταυλισμό δίπλα στο σταθμό του μετρό του Νομισματοκοπείου. Οι Ρομά διαμαρτυρήθηκαν για την επικείμενη κατεδάφιση του καταυλισμού τους – ένα ζήτημα που ταλανίζει την ζωή τους αρκετούς μήνες τώρα.  Του Νίκου Μίχου

Σύμφωνα με τον προγραμματισμό του γενικού γραμματέα Αποκεντρωμένης Διοίκησης Αττικής, Δημήτρη Καλογερόπουλου, η κατεδάφιση του καταυλισμού θα ξεκινήσει αύριο, 14 Μαΐου.

«Έχω υποχρέωση να κατεδαφίσω. Εφαρμόζω τον νόμο», σημειώνει στο Αθηναϊκό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων ο κ. Καλογερόπουλος, καθώς, όπως υπογραμμίζει, η έκταση πρέπει να απελευθερωθεί και να επιστραφεί στους ιδιοκτήτες της. Όπως είχαν εξηγήσει οι Ρομά στο tvxs.gr τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2012, «όντως το θέμα της ιδιοκτησίας είναι μπερδεμένο. Ιδιοκτήτες φαίνεται να είναι κάποιοι υπάλληλοι του υπουργείου Εμπορίου από το 1967. Αυτοί ισχυρίζονται ότι έχουν τα συμβόλαια της ιδιοκτησίας και πως τότε την είχαν μοιραστεί σε μια κοπή πίτας».

Βάσει του σχεδιασμού της Αποκεντρωμένης Διοίκησης μαζί με την κατεδάφιση προβλέπεται και η μετεγκατάσταση των Ρομά σε μια ελεύθερη αδόμητη έκταση, που παραχωρήθηκε από το Υπουργείο Οικονομικών, κοντά στον σημερινό καταυλισμό. Η έκταση αυτή επίσης βρίσκεται κοντά στα διοικητικά σύνορα του Δήμου Χαλανδρίου, δημότες του οποίου είναι στην πλειονότητά τους οι Τσιγγάνοι του καταυλισμού.

Οι Ρομά, αρχικά, είχαν εμφανιστεί ικανοποιημένοι από αυτή την προοπτική έχοντας πάντα ως αίτημα να προηγηθεί η μετεγκατάστασή τους της κατεδάφισης. Παρόλα αυτά αντιδρούν στις εξελίξεις καθώς όπως δηλώνουν ο χώρος μεταφοράς δεν έχει καν κτίρια για να κατοικήσουν. «Έτσι πήγαμε σήμερα στον Καλογερόπουλο και τώρα θα καταθέσουμε αίτημα στον εισαγγελέα μήπως και καθυστερήσουμε την κατεδάφιση», δηλώνει στο tvxs.gr ο Στέλιος Καλαμιώτης, πρόεδρος του καταυλισμού του Νομισματοκοπείου.

Η δημοτική αρχή του Χαλανδρίου, επίσης, δεν φαίνεται να ενστερνίζεται το σχέδιο του Δημήτρη Καλογερόπουλου καθώς δεν πληρούνται οι βασικές προϋποθέσεις για την μετεγκατάσταση του καταυλισμού. Η δημαρχεία έχει προτείνει να παραχωρηθούν διαμερίσματα σε διάφορους δήμους ώστε «να μην γίνει μια a priori μετεγκατάσταση και να αποφευχθεί η γκετοποίηση»


πηγή: tvxs.gr 

 

Πέμπτη 9 Μαΐου 2013

Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939–1945



Marzahn, the first internment camp for Roma (Gypsies) in the Third Reich. Germany, date uncertain.
Marzahn, the first internment camp for Roma (Gypsies) in the Third Reich. Germany, date uncertain.
— Landesarchiv Berlin

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Among the groups the Nazi regime and its Axis partners singled out for persecution on so-called racial grounds were the Roma (Gypsies).

Drawing support from many non-Nazi Germans who harbored social prejudice towards Roma, the Nazis judged Roma to be "racially inferior." The fate of Roma in some ways paralleled that of the Jews. Under the Nazi regime, German authorities subjected Roma to arbitrary internment, forced labor, and mass murder. German authorities murdered tens of thousands of Roma in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union and Serbia and thousands more in the killing centers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. The SS and police incarcerated Roma in the Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück concentration camps. Both in the so-called Greater German Reich and in the so-called Generalgouvernement, German civilian authorities managed several forced-labor camps in which they incarcerated Roma.

On September 21, 1939, Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office, met with Security Police (Sipo) and Security Service (SD) officials in Berlin. With German victory in the invasion of Poland assured, he intended to deport 30,000 German and Austrian Roma from the Greater German Reich to the Generalgouvernement (that part of German-occupied Poland not annexed directly to Germany). Governor General Hans Frank, the top civilian occupation official in the Generalgouvernement, foiled this plan when he refused to accept large numbers of Roma and Jews into the Generalgouvernement in the spring of 1940.

German authorities did deport some Roma from the Greater German Reich to occupied Poland in 1940 and 1941. In May 1940, the SS and police deported approximately 2,500 Roma and Sinti, primarily residents of Hamburg and Bremen, to Lublin District in the Generalgouvernement. SS and police authorities incarcerated them in forced labor camps. The conditions under which they had to live and work proved to be lethal to many of them. The fate of the survivors is unknown; it is likely that the SS murdered those who were still alive in the gas chamber of Belzec, Sobibor, or Treblinka. In the autumn of 1941, German police authorities deported 5,007 Sinti and Lalleri Gypsies from Austria to the ghetto for Jews in Lodz, where they resided in a segregated section. Nearly half of the Roma died within the first months of their arrival, due to lack of adequate food, fuel, shelter, and medicines. German SS and police officials deported those who survived these dreadful conditions to the killing center at Chelmno in the first months of 1942. There, along with tens of thousands of Jewish residents of the Lodz ghetto, the Roma died in gas vans, poisoned by carbon monoxide gas.

Intending to deport them from the so-called Greater German Reich in the near future, German authorities confined all Roma in so-called Gypsy camps (Zigeunerlager). With the suspension of deportations of Roma in 1940, these facilities became long-term holding pens. Marzahn in Berlin along with Lackenbach and Salzburg in Austria were among the worst of these camps. Hundreds of Roma died as a result of the horrendous conditions. Local Germans repeatedly complained about the camps, demanding the deportation of the Roma interned there in order to "safeguard” public morals, public health, and security. Local police used these complaints to appeal officially to Reichsführer-SS (SS chief) Heinrich Himmler for the resumption of deportations of Roma to the east.

In December 1942, Himmler ordered the deportation of all Roma from the so-called Greater German Reich. There were exceptions for certain categories, including people of “pure Gypsy blood” dating from ancient times, persons of Gypsy descent who were considered integrated into German society and therefore did not “behave like Gypsies,” and persons (and their families) who had distinguished themselves in German military service. At least 5,000 and perhaps as many as 15,000 persons fell under these exemptions, although local authorities often ignored the distinctions during roundups. Police authorities even seized and deported Roma soldiers serving in the German armed forces (Wehrmacht), while they were home on leave.

In general, the German police deported Roma in the Greater German Reich to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the camp authorities housed them in a special compound that was called the "Gypsy family camp." Some 23,000 Roma, Sinti and Lalleri were deported to Auschwitz altogether. In the so-called Gypsy compound, entire families lived together. SS medical researchers assigned to the Auschwitz complex, such as SS Captain Dr. Josef Mengele, received authorization to choose human subjects for pseudoscientific medical experiments from among the prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Mengele chose twins and dwarves, some of them from the Gypsy family camp, as subjects of his experiments. Approximately 3,500 adult and adolescent Roma were prisoners in other German concentration camp; medical researchers selected subjects from among the Roma incarcerated in Ravensbrück, Natzweiler-Struthof, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps for their experiments, either on site in the camps or at nearby institutes.

Conditions in the Gypsy compound at Auschwitz-Birkenau were contributed to the spread of infectious disease and epidemics--typhus, smallpox, and dysentery—which severely reduced the camp population. In late March, the SS murdered approximately 1,700 Roma from the Bialystok region in the gas chambers; they had arrived a few days earlier and many, though by no means all, were ill. In May 1944, the camp leadership decided to murder the inhabitants of the Gypsy compound. The SS guards surrounded and sealed off the compound. When ordered to come out, the Roma refused, having been warned and having armed themselves with iron pipes, shovels, and other tools used for labor.

The SS leaders chose not to confront the Roma directly and withdrew. After transferring as many as 3,000 Roma capable of work to Auschwitz I and other concentration camps in Germany in the late spring and early summer of 1944, the SS moved against the remaining 2,898 inmates on August 2. Most of the victims were ill, elderly men, women, and children. The camp staff killed virtually all in the gas chambers of Birkenau. A handful of children who had hidden during the operation were captured and killed in the following days. At least 19,000 of the 23,000 Roma sent to Auschwitz died there.

In German-occupied of Europe, the fate of Roma varied from country to country, depending on local circumstances. The German authorities generally interned Roma and deployed them as forced laborers in Germany or transported to Poland to be deployed at forced labor or to be killed. In contrast to German policy towards German and Austrian Jews, in which people of so-called mixed blood were exempted from deportation measures (though not from forced labor), the SS and police, after much waffling and confusion, decided that “Gypsies” of “pure blood” were harmless and that the “half-breeds,” regardless of the percentage of “mixture” of blood, were dangerous and hence deportable.

German military and SS-police units also shot possibly at least 30,000 Roma in the Baltic States and elsewhere in the occupied Soviet Union, where Einsatzgruppen and other mobile killing units killed Roma at the same time that they killed Jews and Communists. In occupied Serbia, the German authorities killed male Roma in shooting operations during 1941 and early 1942; then murdered the women and children in gas vans in 1942. The total number of Roma killed in Serbia will never be known. Estimates range between 1,000 and 12,000.

In France, Vichy French authorities intensified restrictive measures against and harassment of Roma after the establishment of the collaborationist regime in 1940. In 1941 and 1942, French police interned at least 3,000 and possibly as many as 6,000 Roma, residents of both occupied France and unoccupied France. French authorities shipped relatively few of them to camps in Germany, such as Buchenwald, Dachau, and Ravensbrück.

While the authorities in Romania, one of Germany's Axis partners, did not systematically annihilate the Roma population living on Romanian territory, Romanian military and police officials deported around 26,000 Roma, primarily from Bukovina and Bessarabia, but also from Moldavia and Bucharest, the capital, to Transnistria, a section of south western Ukraine placed under Romanian administration, in 1941 and 1942. Thousands of those deported died from disease, starvation, and brutal treatment.

The authorities of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, another Axis partner of Germany and run by the militant separatist and terrorist Ustasa organization, physically annihilated virtually the entire Roma population of the country, around 25,000 people. The concentration camp system of Jasenovac, run by the Ustasa militia and the Croat political police, claimed the lives of between 15,000 and 20,000 Roma.

It is not known precisely how many Roma were killed in the Holocaust. While exact figures or percentages cannot be ascertained, historians estimate that the Germans and their allies killed around 25 percent of all European Roma. Of slightly less than one million Roma believed to have been living in Europe before the war, the Germans and their Axis partners killed up to 220,000.

After the war, discrimination against Roma continued throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The Federal Republic of Germany determined that all measures taken against Roma before 1943 were legitimate official measures against persons committing criminal acts, not the result of policy driven by racial prejudice. This decision effectively closed the door to restitution for thousands of Roma victims, who had been incarcerated, forcibly sterilized, and deported out of Germany for no specific crime. The postwar Bavarian criminal police took over the research files of the Nazi regime, including the registry of Roma who had resided in the Greater German Reich.

Only in late 1979 did the West German Federal Parliament identify the Nazi persecution of Roma as being racially motivated, creating eligibility for most Roma to apply for compensation for their suffering and loss under the Nazi regime. By this time, many of those who became eligible had already died.

ROM (dokimanter)



Ντοκιμαντέρ με θέμα τη ζωή των Τσιγγάνων, γνωστών και ως Ρομ. Μέσα από τη δύναμη της εικόνας των πλάνων των τσιγγάνικων καταυλισμών και την αφηγηματική επένδυση με κείμενα των ΠΑΛΑΜΑ, ΠΑΠΑΔΙΑΜΑΝΤΗ και ΔΡΟΣΙΝΗ το ντοκιμαντέρ ξετυλίγει την ιστορία της τσιγγάνικης φυλής, καταγράφει πτυχές της κοινωνικής ζωής των τσιγγάνων, μεταφέροντας το στίγμα της κουλτούρας τους και τα φυλετικά τους γνωρίσματα. Ταυτόχρονα, αναδεικνύει τα προβλήματα σε σχέση με τη διαβίωση των τσιγγάνων, την κοινωνική τους αφομοίωση και τον ρατσισμό που αντιμετωπίζουν. Αναζητά τις καταβολές της καταγωγής τους σε νομάδες της Ινδίας που διαμέσου της Περσίας μετακινήθηκαν στην Ευρώπη και ανιχνεύει τα ήθη, τα έθιμα και τις παραδόσεις τους όπως διασώθηκαν ανά τους αιώνες και αντανακλώνται στις τελετές του γάμου, στα πανηγύρια, στις θρησκευτικές τους εκδηλώσεις, στη μοιρολατρεία ή τις τεχνικές μαγείας. Εκτός από τις ιστορικές αναφορές που διασώζονται σχετικά με τους τσιγγάνους, όπως για παράδειγμα την «καταδίωξη των γύφτων» στην δυτική Ευρώπη του ύστερου Μεσαίωνα, παρατίθενται λαϊκές διηγήσεις, δοξασίες, και θρύλοι ενώ γίνεται λόγος επίσης, για τις ενασχολήσεις και τα επαγγέλματά τους στο πέρασμα των ετών.

Ακούγονται τραγούδια από τον ΜΑΚΗ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΔΟΥΛΟΠΟΥΛΟ, τη ΔΩΡΑ ΜΑΣΚΛΑΒΑΝΟΥ και τον νεαρό ΚΩΣΤΑ ΠΑΥΛΙΔΗ. Η μουσική είναι του ΝΙΚΟΥ ΚΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΥ. Το ντοκιμαντέρ διακρίθηκε με το βραβείο καλύτερου ντοκιμαντέρ και μοντάζ στο 30ο ΦΕΣΤΙΒΑΛ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΓΡΑΦΟΥ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ (1989) και τιμήθηκε με το κρατικό βραβείο ΥΠΠΟ για τη μουσική του (1990).

 


 πηγή: ert-archives.gr

Latcho Drom (Movie)

 
The film takes the viewer on a journey west, from India to Spain, with stops along the way, to dramatize Romany's nomadic culture. This journey takes place over a year's time, from summer through fall and winter to spring. The director of the film Tony Gatlif holds his camera on the elemental essentials of this life: water, the wheel, fire, beasts of burden and of sustenance, colorful clothes, jewelry, musical instruments, song, and dance. Throughout, via song and dance, young and old celebrate, embody, and teach the cultural values of family, journey, love, separateness, and persecution.





 Source: imdb.com 

Τετάρτη 8 Μαΐου 2013

Πρόστιμο σε ουγγρική εφημερίδα για ρατσιστικό άρθρο κατά των Ρομά


Βουδαπέστη, Ουγγαρία. 

Το Συμβούλιο Ουγγρικών Μέσων Ενημέρωσης (Mediatanacs) επέβαλε πρόστιμο στην εφημερίδα Mayar Hirlap για ένα ρατσιστικού περιεχομένου άρθρου κατά των Ρομά, που είχε δημοσιεύσει στις σελίδες της τον Ιανουάριο, ανακοινώθηκε από το Συμβούλιο.

«Μετά την έρευνα σχετικά με το άρθρο που είχε τίτλο ‘Αυτοί που δεν θα έπρεπε να υπάρχουν’ στην Mayar Hirlap, η Mediatanacs αποφάσισε να επιβάλει πρόστιμο ύψους 250.000 φλορινιών (περίπου 850 ευρώ) στη εφημερίδα και να την υποχρεώσει να δημοσιεύσει κείμενο με το οποίο θα ανακαλεί τα όσα γράφτηκαν», επισημαίνεται στην απόφαση.

«Είναι η πρώτη φορά που το Συμβούλιο τιμωρεί με χρηματικό πρόστιμο μία εφημερίδα», επισήμανε η ανεξάρτητη αυτή αρχή.

Τον Ιανουάριο, ο Σολτ Μπάγερ, ένας από τους ιδρυτές του κυβερνώντος συντηρητικού κόμματος Fidesz του πρωθυπουργού Βίκτορ Ορμπάν, δημοσίευσε άρθρο γνώμης έπειτα από την απόπειρα δολοφονίας ενός Ούγγρου αθλητή, η οποία αποδόθηκε στους Ρομά, μετά την Πρωτοχρονιά.

«Η πλειονότητα των τσιγγάνων δεν είναι ικανοί να συμβιώσουν με άλλους. Δεν είναι φτιαγμένοι να ζουν μεταξύ ανθρώπων. Οι περισσότεροι από αυτούς είναι κτήνη και συμπεριφέρονται σαν κτήνη», έγραψε ο Μπάγερ στη στήλη του, προσθέτοντας πως αυτή η κοινότητα πρέπει να «εξαλειφθεί».

Λίγες ημέρες αργότερα ο Μπάγερ υπαναχώρησε εν μέρει.

«Δεν θέλω να εξαλείψω τους Ρομά, ούτε ένα τμήμα των Ρομά, ούτε έναν από τους Ρομά. Επιθυμία μου είναι οι Ρομά που είναι έντιμοι, εργατικοί, να κατορθώσουν να επιτύχουν στην Ουγγαρία κι εκείνοι που είναι ανίκανοι να συμβιώνουν και να συγκατοικούν με άλλους επιθυμώ να αποκλείονται από την κοινωνία», εξήγησε.

Ο Μπάγερ έχει προκαλέσει πολλές φορές την κοινή γνώμη στην Ουγγαρία εξαιτίας των ρατσιστικών και αντισημιτικών του απόψεων και δηλώσεων.


πηγή: in.gr

Τρίτη 7 Μαΐου 2013

Survey says media discriminates in coverage of Roma minority

Survey says media discriminates in coverage of Roma minority

Milan, May 7 - Media reports show only the negative side of Roma and Sinti in Italy, according to a survey of newspaper articles released Tuesday. The survey by Naga, which often focuses on health care services for foreigners, found that "discriminatory statements" were made in 37.2% of articles studied. Another 32.3% of articles differentiated between "us" - meaning Italians - and "them," referring to Roma and Sinti, said Naga, a non-profit organization working for better treatment of foreigners in Italy. For 10 months, beginning last June, Naga followed numerous newspapers, including local and national journals including Il Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, La Stampa, Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Giornale, Libero, La Padania, and La Prealpina. The survey suggested that some newspaper reports on negative events made reference to Roma people even when they were not directly involved in the story. Naga called on the Italian media to improve its work. The press "can be not only a tool of exclusion, but also of knowledge and approach," said Naga president Cinzia Colombo. A 2012 report on racism and intolerance by the Council of Europe said that the situation in Italy has worsened over the last five years. ECRI, the human rights body of the Council of Europe that monitors problems of racism and xenophobia, criticised a climate of "intolerance, especially regarding Roma, immigrants and Muslims" in a report examining the situation in Italy from 2006 to 2011. Inflammatory media and "security measures" adopted by Italian authorities came under fire in the report for allegedly creating a climate that refuses integration and acceptance of immigrants and foreigners. Roma, sometimes referred to as Gypsies, are considered Europe's most discriminated minority.



Τετάρτη 1 Μαΐου 2013

Roma in the Holocaust (vdeo)


The Story of the Roma and Sinti in the Holocaust.
American History Seminar Project