Czech Republic

Roma and Sinti Genocide Survivors, Descendants and Scholars Unite in Prague

26.9.2017 10:30 Roma and Sinti Genocide Survivors, Descendants and Scholars Unite in Prague By Clare Profous.  full story

The Romani Uprising in Auschwitz, 16 May 1944

16.5.2017 0:01 On 16 May 1944, in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, something completely extraordinary occurred: Romani people imprisoned in the so-called "Gypsy Camp" there rebelled against the SS. This historical event is still almost unknown in the Czech Republic, but 16 May is becoming more and more popular worldwide as Romani Resistance Day.  full story

Czech Police liaisons to minority communities and Regional Coordinators for Romani Affairs discuss collaborating

9.4.2017 16:22 The Czech Interior Ministry, in cooperation with the Office of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs, recently held a three-day working meeting between Czech Police liaisons to minority communities, Regional Coordinators for Romani Affairs, and Regional Crime Prevention Managers. The aim of the meeting was to assess the existing ways in which these three kinds of officials collaborate, to present examples of good practice in the area of cooperation at regional level, to present their plans for activity this year and, through discussions, to state proposals and recommendations for intensifying cooperation among these partners.  full story

Czech Republic: Prestigious literary award goes to book some commentators and Romani people find offensive

9.4.2017 15:27 The 16th annual Magnesia Litera book award announced its winners last week. In the newly-revived category for journalism, the award has been given to the book called BRNOX, a guidebook to the neighborhood in Brno nicknamed the "Bronx" that purports to be about that socially excluded locality.  full story

videoVIDEO: Gala celebration for International Romani Day in Prague

9.4.2017 12:22 Prague's La Fabrika club was the location last night of a gala celebration for this year's International Romani Day that was streamed live online by Romea.cz. Czech and Romani circus artists and musicians performed together.  full story

Czech Government should have comprehensive data about Roma this year

9.4.2017 10:29 The Czech Government and its various agencies should receive this year, for the first time, more comprehensive data about the life of Romani people in the Czech Republic. The data should be about access to health care or social services in ghettos as well as education, employment and housing.  full story

videoCzech presidential candidate Michal Horáček on International Romani Day: Believe in yourselves, go for your dreams

8.4.2017 11:06 On the occasion of International Romani Day, Czech presidential candidate Michal Horáček has sent Romani a video message online. "I would like to send this message to
Romani people on their 8 April holiday: Be happy in this world and believe in yourselves."  full story

News server Romea.cz to broadcast LIVE ONLINE from Prague celebrations of International Romani Day

8.4.2017 10:16 News server Romea.cz is broadcasting live through its official Facebook page direct from the events in Prague being held on the occasion of International Romani Day. "We want our readers to get the most faithful possible sense of the atmosphere accompanying the Prague celebrations of International Romani Day. Live broadcasts through social networking sites are currently very popular and make it possible for us to get information in an interesting form to the biggest number of those who support us, as well as to people who sometimes have biased notions about Romani people. Maybe next time they won't just watch the celebrations through
Facebook but will come among the Romani people themselves," Zdeněk Ryšavý, the director of ROMEA, says.  full story

Czech Television broadcasts documentary films for International Romani Day, producer reveals his Romani roots

8.4.2017 9:17 On the occasion of this year's celebration of International Romani Day, public broadcaster Czech Television has been showing several documentary films mapping contemporary Czech-Romani relations as well as Romani history. The programming is being broadcast by the channels ČT2 and ČT art.  full story

PHOTO GALLERY: Brno celebrations of International Romani Day - ribbons on the Tree of Tolerance, program at Hvězdička Park

7.4.2017 12:57 On Monday, 3 April, this year's celebrations of International Romani Day began in the Lužánky neighborhood of Brno. Those attending tied new ribbons to the Tree of Tolerance.  full story

Roma in Jihlava, Czech Republic prevented from renting space for International Romani Day, celebrations proceeding anyway

7.4.2017 12:37 This year's celebrations of International Romani Day (8 April) are taking place in Brno, Chomutov, České Budějovice, Jihlava, Nový Jičín, Ostrava, and Prague. The main theme of these celebrations is coexistence and collaboration between non-Roma and Roma.
 full story

Czech Supreme Court upholds sentencing for neo-Nazi who attempted to burn 18 Romani people, eight of them children, to death

7.4.2017 9:47 Tomáš Kopecký, the man who committed a 2012 arson attack on a Romani-occupied residential hotel in the Czech town of Aš, must serve a prison sentence of six years and nine months, according to the Supreme Court. There were 18 people, eight of them children, in the building at the time.  full story

Czech Republic: David Beňák is now Deputy Human Rights Minister, his priority is the law on social enterprises

7.4.2017 7:44 David Beňák (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) has become the new political deputy to Czech Human Rights and Legislation Minister Jan Chvojka (ČSSD) on Monday, 3 April. He replaces Marek Ondroušek, who is now moving to the Trade Ministry to be Deputy Minister for Electronic Communications.  full story

Julius Zajac: Ideological extremism is no longer "rising" - it's already here

6.4.2017 15:52 On Wednesday, 22 March, a terrorist attack happened in London, England. On Thursday, 23 March, police thwarted another such attack in Antwerp, Belgium.  full story

Czech Republic: International Romani Day 2017 - events country-wide

6.4.2017 10:33 On Saturday 8 April 2017, Romani people worldwide will celebrate International Romani Day. The day marks what was historically the first World Romani Congress in Great
Britain in 1971, paving the way for what would eventually become the International Romani Union.  full story

Czech town approves plan to buy run-down apartments back from private owner, Romani tenants to be affected

3.4.2017 8:00 Local assembly members in the Czech town of Sokolov have approved a plan to buy the partially derelict apartment buildings located above the Alfa cinema there. The purhase will be definitively decided at the next assembly session in May after all the conditions of the purchase have been investigated.  full story

video VIDEO: Exhibition about Romani jewelry in Brno on view until the end of April

3.4.2017 7:06 An exhibition of Romani jewelry entitled "Romani Treasure - Amare somnaka" (Poklad Romů) is underway at the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno. It features not just unique pieces in gold and silver, but also jewelry from Romani designers all over Europe.  full story

Czech Cardinal on International Romani Day: We are all members of the same Christian family

2.4.2017 8:31 News server Romea.cz has asked Cardinal Dominik Duka about his motivation for accepting a request to celebrate Mass on International Romani Day in Prague. His entire
response is presented in translation below.  full story

Prague 14 to begin April with the Cultural Encounters festival (Setkání kultur)

1.4.2017 18:27 The Prague 14 Municipal Department will come to life during the first week of April with its Cultural Encounters festival (Setkání kultur). On Thursday, 6 April, in the Plechárna recreation center at 18:30, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic, Čeněk Růžička, will hold a discussion on the topic of Czech-Roma coexistence.  full story

Czech prosecutor to review police procedure in case of Romani man who died in pizzeria

1.4.2017 10:26 The regional-level Office of the State Prosecutor will be reviewing the case of 26-year-old Miroslav Demeter, Jr., who died on 18 October 2016 at the Panamera Pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec. The father of the deceased has informed news server Romea.cz of the development.  full story