Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska Lecture: ‘The Roma Holocaust: Breaking Silence’

Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska
Assistant Professor, Intercultural Studies Institute, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

“THE ROMA HOLOCAUST: BREAKING SILENCE”

“The European Parliament is deeply concerned about the increase in anti-Gypsy attitudes, and therefore calls for more efforts to end discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech against the Roma people” – says the European Parliament’s resolution of April 15th, 2015, which recognizes August 2nd as the Day of the Roma Holocaust Remembrance. Four years earlier, in July 2011, the Polish Parliament established August 2nd as the Day of the Roma and Holocaust Remembrance. These very important initiatives show that the Roma genocide is no longer a forgotten page of history and has been recognized by important national and international institutions. In her talk, Professor Talewicz-Kwiatkowska will reconstruct the history of Roma Holocaust in Poland and discuss the story and implications of its acknowledgment and commemoration.

Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska holds a PhD in anthropology. Besides teaching at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, she works as an Academic Advisor for Memorial and Museum Auschwitz- Birkenau. She is a member of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies and recipient of multiple prestigious awards and fellowships, including from the Gypsy Lore Society, the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and the Accountability Program at Columbia University, the Leadership Academy for Poland, a Fulbright scholarship (2015-2016) and the European Commission. Professor Talewicz-Kwiatkowska has published edited collections, a monograph (The influence of the EU funding on the social conditions of the Roma people in Poland. Kraków, 2013) and articles pertaining to the history and present conditions of Roma communities, perceptions of Roman, education about Roma history, Roma genocide during the WWII, and minorities’ rights in Poland.

Sponsored by the SEE NEXT Working Group and UIC Polish Studies