News

Slovak TV program focuses on Romani girl who studies despite living without electricity

23.2.2017 7:26 The most recent episode of the Slovak program "Seventh Heaven" (Sedmé nebe), which is broadcast by the JOJ television channel, focuses on a 13-year-old Romani girl
named Anna Mária who lives in a settlement in eastern Slovakia. Despite the difficulties of living her life in poverty, without electricity or gas, she is working hard on herself and learning four foreign languages.  full story

Researcher seeks US veterans and others with information about Romani WWII veteran from Czechoslovakia

22.2.2017 14:19 It all began with an interview filmed by Czech Radio during a panel discussion on Roma Genocide Remembrance Day last summer. One participant, a Romani woman, was there to speak about her family and their fate during the Second World War, and she recalled her uncle, Imrich Horváth, telling her how he fought for the freedom of his homeland, first in the ranks of the Soviet Army (for example, during the Battle of the Dukla Pass) and then how, as a scout, he made it across the front lines to the US Army.  full story

Former Miss Roma Mirka Pikolová one of 14 Miss Czech Republic finalists

22.2.2017 10:53 On Monday, 20 February at the Augustian House in Luhačovice, Czech Republic, almost 50 young women competed for the final round of the Miss Czech Republic beauty contest. The jury has chosen 14 finalists.  full story

Czech Republic: Govt Ethics Commission finds Hate Free project manager did not commit unethical behavior

22.2.2017 8:45 News server Romea.cz has been informed that the Ethics Commission of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic has decided that Nikola Křístek has not
committed any behavior that violates the Code of Ethics for employees of the Office of the Government. Křístek was once the head of the Government's Campaign against
Racism and Hate Violence, a component of which is the Hate Free Culture project.  full story

Jan Cina: Being Romani is a normal part of my identity, but more important is what I know how to do

22.2.2017 8:01 Journalists have an easy time with him. He is civil, talkative, thoughtful, and for now any affectations of being a "star" haven't touched him yet.  full story

videoPavel Berky: I draw inspiration from my origins and prefer to sew my designs myself

21.2.2017 14:59 Pavel Berky is one of the most talented fashion designers of the younger generation. He is a native of Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia, who is proud of his Romani origins.  full story

Czech Govt Roma Council discusses death case, Romani representatives express growing sense of danger

21.2.2017 8:40 At its session on Friday, 17 February, the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs discussed the outcome of the investigation into the death of Mr Miroslav Demeter, a young Romani man who died last year in October at a pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec. The Romani civil society members of the council expressed their concerns about and objections to the investigation of the case and generally, in that context, their growing sense of danger with respect to their own security in the Czech Republic.  full story

German Police say no sexual attacks were committed en masse by refugees on New Year's Eve

20.2.2017 9:43 Online news server The Local reports that German Police have completed their investigation into accusations that a group of approximately 50 migrants allegedly committed rioting in a Frankfurt restaurant and sexually assaulted women there this New Year's Eve . Police say the supposed victims fabricated the entire incident.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion director says both housing and social workers necessary to social housing

20.2.2017 9:10 A conference on social housing was held on Tuesday, 14 February in Prague's Lichtenstein Palace by the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in collaboration with the Salvation Army of the Czech Republic. Its aim was to present examples of practical experiences with developing and launching social housing systems in the Czech Republic.  full story

Anniversary of the death of Helena Biháriová, one of the first victims of racial murder in post-1989 Czech Republic

20.2.2017 8:32 The date of 15 February is a tragic anniversary of one of the series of murders of Romani people that appeared in Czech and Slovak society during the 1990s as a new phenomenon. In 1998 Helena Biháriová, a mother of four, was drowned in the flooded Elbe River after encountering two drunken youths from Klatovy, Petr Klazar and Jiří Neff, sympathizers of the skinheads movement who used physical and verbal aggression to drive her into the water.  full story

Neo-Nazi parties say the EU is evil while drawing money from it - some MEPs want to change that

20.2.2017 7:19 Czech Radio reports that a group of MEPs is saying that neo-Nazi, ultra-right parties will probably lose millions in EU money soon. If the parties actually do not receive the funding, it will be the first time the European Parliament (EP) has ever rejected a grant for a party represented in the legislature.  full story

Czech Police investigating anonymous antisemitic letter in Prostějov

20.2.2017 6:26 Police are investigating the circumstances of an anonymous letter full of antisemitic insults and vulgarities that has been sent to different people in Prostějov in connection with the sometimes passionate discussion about how to arrange for dignified remembrance at the site of the former Jewish cemetery near the local school. Representatives of an American philanthropic foundation, Kolel Damesek Eliezer, which is attempting to rehabilitate the Jewish cemetery, are planning to report a crime because of the anonymous letter that has been addressed to bureaucrats and residents of Prostějov.  full story

Son of former Czech President disseminates photo online with misleading Islamophobic commentary

19.2.2017 19:51 Václav Klaus, Jr. published a photograph from Iran on his Facebook profile on 15 February that purported to show women in Iran having to sit on the floor while the men around them were seated on chairs, commenting on it as follows: "A picture is sometimes worth more than a thousand words. This is (now this weekend) the beginning of the Women's World Chess Championship in Tehran. This is about female journalists - I don't know whether Iranian or from abroad. This is a decent country, uncontrolled street violence does not happen here. They are not far from developing a nuclear weapon. Despite that, their idea that a woman is considered the kind of being that is closer to a dog - doesn't that give you mixed emotions?"  full story

Slovak Police charge woman with threatening Muslims and Roma through Facebook, she faces six years in prison

18.2.2017 14:21 Slovak Police arrested a 24-year-old woman yesterday who disseminated a video recording of herself through social networks setting fire to a copy of the Quran after tearing it to pieces, urinating on it, and making threats against Muslims. The Slovak woman faces charges of extremism and other felonies.  full story

Czech Republic: The English College in Prague fundraises for Romani student scholarship

18.2.2017 10:41 Students attending The English College in Prague are holding a benefit concert for the school's Václav Havel Scholarship in collaboration with the National Gallery on 22 February at Prague's St. Agnes Convent to raise money for a Romani student to study at the prestigious secondary school. "We study at a school where our accent, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or skin color do not matter. We appreciate that, and therefore we would like to make it possible for another Romani pupil to study together with us," the invitation to the event, authored by the students, reads.  full story

Austria: Hitler impersonator arrested for appearing in the Nazi leader's home town

18.2.2017 9:59 A man who appeared in public dressed to appear like Adolf Hitler was arrested Monday, 13 February by police in the northern Austrian town of Ried im Innkreis. The impersonator of the Nazi leader had appeared several times in Hitler's birthplace as well, the Austrian Press Agency reported on 14 February.  full story

Czech state chooses firm to appraise pig farm on concentration camp site

18.2.2017 9:21 The Czech Culture Ministry has chosen a firm to produce an expert appraisal of the value of the pig farm at Lety u Písku located on the site of what was once a concentration camp. The B.S.O. expert institute of Prague will produce it and is being paid CZK 228 690 (EUR 8 463) inclusive of VAT to do so.  full story

Slovakia: Criminal charges filed against play about neo-Nazi arson attack in Czech Republic

18.2.2017 7:58 The Slovak National Theater (SND) has produced a play for students about the 2009 arson attack committed in Vítkov, Opava district, Czech Republic as an example of extremism, but after seeing the performance at a high school this month, its critics have reported it to the police for the suspected crime of defamation on the basis of nationality, political convictions or race. SND has responded by saying those who reported the play to police are attempting to intimidate teachers into not inviting the theater to schools.  full story

Czech NGO working with Roma says state is punishing the poor and motivating them through fear

17.2.2017 14:51 From the beginning of February an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress has been in effect in the Czech Republic. In addition to other matters, the amendment establishes
that the aid provided to those in material distress (the minimum subsistence allowance) shall be reduced by roughly one-third for people who have been unemployed for one year and have not performed at least 20 hours of unremunerated work per month for their local authority's public works department.  full story

German court sentences xenophobes to seven and eight-year prison sentences for arson

17.2.2017 12:22 Six men, including a member of the ultra-right National Democratic Party (Národnědemokratická strana - NPD), have been convicted by a court in Germany of committing arson against a building slated for use as an asylum-seekers' shelter in 2015. Politician Maik Schneider has received the longest sentence.  full story