On July 31st, the first panel of the conference entitled “Representation of Roma memory in arts and culture” addressed key questions about the representation of Roma memory in arts and culture. The panel included Andre Raatzsch, head of the Documentation Department at the Documentation and Cultural Centre for German Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg; Ricardo M. Sahiti, conductor of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra; Valerie Leray, visual artist and photographer and Krzysztof Gil, artist and curator, Department of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture, Pedagogical University in Krakow. The panel, moderated by Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, deputy director of ERIAC, had succeeded in raising the audience's awareness about the importance of cultural productions and artefacts in shaping a collective culture of remembrance among Roma throughout Europe and beyond. Following the discussion, the participants were invited to the opening of the exhibition of Roma contemporary art "Tears of Gold / Sownakune Jasfa", commissioned by ERIAC and curated by Krzysztof Gil and Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka. The exhibition, organized in parallel to the international conference, featured renowned artists - Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Valerie Leray, Emilia Rigova, Marcin Tas, and Kalman Varady. The exhibition opened with an immersive flamenco performance "Alurican…" by Bogumiła Delimata and Cristo Osorio.
In “Tears of Gold/ Sownakune Jasfa”, the artists evoke the trauma of World War II, thus giving a testimony to the memory of the Roma Holocaust as a premise to reclaim identity and existence. The traumatic heritage of the Holocaust is transformed into metaphorical gold, which brings the fragmented pieces of memory to put together the scarred yet beautiful Roma cultural whole. The curatorial concept of the exhibit has emulated the philosophy of the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which pieces of broken ceramics are remolded together using gold. Likewise, the Roma identity is assembled back, giving testimony to our survival. The memory of the Holocaust is the binding glue of contemporary Roma communities and reflecting the majestic beauty of the surviving Roma culture.
On August 1st, the conference was officially inaugurated with speeches by Rita Prigmore, Sinti Holocaust survivor, Romani Rose, Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, ERIAC deputy director.
The second panel “Roma historical narratives about the Holocaust” brought together accomplished and emerging scholars – Emran Elmazi, Head of Dialogue Unit at the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma; Gerhard Baumgartner; scientific director of the Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance; Lise Foisneau, post-doctoral fellow at Central European University; and Marko Pecak, Researcher at the Roma Education Fund. This panel, moderated by Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum/ Jagiellonian University, looked into the historical narratives of Roma during the Holocaust, the recognition of subjective narrations, historical interpretations, and testimonies. What are the Roma historical interpretations of the past and its implications in the present? What are the forms and objects which can transmit the Roma historical memory? What are the Roma historical artefacts and do we have access to them? How are the Roma experiences of the past communicated and transmitted – internally, within the Roma communities – and externally, to approach the mainstream societies? These were the main questions raised during discussion in the panel, trying to find the adequate path for the formation of a collective Roma memory.
Collective memory requires institutions, spaces and rituals to promote and disseminate Roma historical narratives of the Holocaust experiences. The third panel of the conference entitled “Spaces of memory and representation of the Romani experience” reflected on the role of institutions and sites of remembrance. Anna Vrtálková, Holocaust Historian at the Museum of the Romani Culture in Brno, presented the process of removal of the pig farm built on the site of former Nazi concentration camp for Roma at Lety u Písku, and the on-going efforts of building a memorial site.