|
|
| by Christopher
Spencer |
Former Senior
Advisor International Organizations,
Canadian Department of
Foreign Affairs and International Trade |
| Updated: 13 SEP
08 | |
Since the aim of this bibliography is to describe the global issues that will/may plague the 21st
century, any human rights violations with global implications or impact should be included. One
such truly global injustice, inherited from past centuries but still barely recognized, let alone
corrected, is the appalling social and economic situation of the Gypsies or Roma. The scale of,
and blame for, the injustice lies mostly in Europe, but as the diaspora of Roma is now world-wide, some of their pain must at least resonate on every continent. More shameful, it is mainly
those of us - ostensibly with high moral standards - who criticize most loudly the undoubted
injustice of apartheid, caste, and the subordinate status of women, while doing so little to
remove this”beam in our own eye”. Since some awareness of, and sense of guilt for, the openly
apartheid-like treatment of the vast majority of Gypsies seems finally to be dawning, this seems
an appropriate subject to report under Recent Developments. Much material relates to the
terrible Holocaust-related treatment of the Roma by the Nazis during WWII, and recent attempts
to give some survivors some compensation.
The Economist 11 Sep 1999“A Gypsy Awakening”(59):-a rare, if brief, survey of the current
overall status of Gypsies(or Roma, as they call themselves). Although they originated in India,
some are now found in all continents. However, by far the largest number are in Europe, where
they contribute to/suffer from minority and human rights conflict in many countries. Of the [very
roughly estimated] six million or so in Europe, the greatest concentration is in the south-east(Romania 1.8m, Bulgaria 0.6m, Hungary 0.5m, Slovakia 0.5m, former Yugoslavia 0.5m, Russia
0.4m), and in Spain(0.6m). (A chart of Roma populations in 17 countries is included). “[M]ost of
them live in poverty-stricken dependence on welfare or petty crime[,and formerly]were often
enslaved and lynched with impunity”. Now lobby groups are pressing for change, particularly
education and admission of past oppression. Up to 1m suffered like and with Jews during WWII,
with little compensation -which is now being sought. Carlotta Gall,“Gypsies and Others Said to
Draw Kosovar Fury”in New York Times 5 Nov 99:- while many writers have reported on ethnic
hatred in former Yugoslavia, Gall confirms its newly increased depth and variety in Kosovo. Her
article highlights a report by the OSCE and UNHCR, both responsible for restoring peaceful
conditions, which describes “a climate of violence and impunity”. Apparently Kosovars have
become increasingly aggressive in attacking, not simply the dwindling Serb population, but
Gypsies and other ethnic minorities. Gypsies have always suffered, but they are currently
accused of supporting the Serbian regime. The report claims Goranis(Muslim Slavs in south
Kosovo)are now also“suffering intense intimidation and violence”. Moreover, there is“growing
evidence that[Kosovar leaders were]behind some of the harassment and...encouraging
formation of an intolerant monoethnic state”,claiming”[i]t is not our task to keep law and order”.
Steven Erlanger,“No Room for Gypsies: Across A New Europe, A People Deemed Unfit for
Tolerance”NYT 02 Apr 2000:-offers specific descriptions of Gypsies’ ill-treatment in
Europe(particularly in Slovakia)after 1989. They remain the”one people in the modern,
democratic post-Communist Europe whom it is largely acceptable to persecute. Europe talks
much of common aspirations and a continental identity. But the 1990s made clear that Europe’s
most virulent problem remains prejudice toward minorities”. Associated Press“Gypsies Not
Getting Holocaust Funds”NYT 13 Jul:-reports that historians now estimate the Nazis and their
allies killed half of the 1million Gypsies living in Europe at the time of WWII. (Of the 25,000
deported as slave labor from Romania only 6,000 returned.) Although humanitarian assistance
for Gypsy as well as Jewish victims of the Holocaust has been available from Swiss and German
funds since 1997, the first Roma are just going to get compensation now because they lacked
any organization to help them. Reuters“U.N. Report: Gypsies Repressed, Attacked in Europe”
NYT 15 Aug:-the UN report charges that”Gypsies [now 8-10m] living in squalid conditions remain
victims of racism and violence”and calls on Europe’s governments to protect them. It tells of
reprisal attacks in Kosovo(numbers have fallen from 150,000 to 10-20,000), and raids on their
slum settlements near Athens to clear space for the 2004 Olympics. “Roma across the whole of
Europe are still generally poor, uneducated, discriminated against in practically every
sphere...and are often the victims of violent racist acts by skinheads...Health indicators are
particularly alarming: maternal and infant mortality rates are very high...;life expectancy is
considerably shorter”than that of those around. The Economist 25 Nov, “Europe’s Gypsies: Are
They a Nation?”(61-2):-article reports that although European Gypsies are extremely
heterogeneous, number anything from 4m to 15m, and”belong to many different, and often
antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language or religion”, the planned expansion
of the EU to the east”may offer [them] an unprecedented chance...to be recognized as a nation,
albeit one without a defined territory”. (“Most probably they were itinerant metal workers and
entertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century.”) The International Romany Union,
probably their most representative body, hopes to set up a parliament and develop a standard
and written language. As Europe’s largest continent-wide minority, with a terrible history of
persecution, the idea of Gypsies getting“some kind of special recognition...is catching on”.
AP“Study: Swiss Banned Gypsy Refugees”NYT 01 Dec:-an international(but Swiss-contracted)study reports Switzerland banned Gypsy refugees from entry altogether during WWII,
officially lifting the ban only in 1972. Failure to grant asylum continued even after the Swiss knew
Gypsies were targets of Nazi genocide. The numbers turned away is unknown, but it is estimated
100,000 Gypsies were murdered by the Nazis, who built special gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Moreover, the Swiss had put foreign Gypsies in internment camps since 1913, and imposed
forced sterilization. Although there is little documentation about Gypsies’ general European
plight pre-1950(except from Interpol’s forerunner), it is known that other European countries also
practised their forced sterilization, and began the expulsion of Gypsies in the early 1930s(the
1920s from Fascist Italy). Reuters “Switzerland Admits WWII Gypsy Policy Was Unfair”NYT 01
Dec:-reports the Swiss government, in reaction to its own study, admits it had been“unjust”in
barring thousands of Gypsies fleeing Nazi persecution from entering its neutral territory during
WWII. However it“stopped short of apologizing outright”. At the time, it knew of Nazi death
camps, but decided to pursue a“fortress”policy instead of granting refugees asylum.
Indeed,”Switzerland was the first country in Europe in the 20th century to bar Gypsies from
entry”. AP “Hungary’s Gypsy Radio Hits the Air”NYT 11 Feb 2001:-reports the launch of“Radio
C”, run by and for Budapest’s large Gypsy population. It will be on the air for a trial period in
competition with other aspirants, but if successful will be the second place in Europe to have
full-time Roma radio broadcasts(several operate in Macedonia). Hungary’s half-million Gypsies
constitute its largest ethnic minority, most of them ”marginalized and poor”. Hence Radio C’s
news focus will be on new developments in any social welfare area, fulfilling a”vital education
function”and showing that Roma have a chance for a decent life in Hungary, since many have
left the country”,mostly for Canada”. Other fare: racism, Roma history, Gypsy music.
Erlanger“Budapest Journal: A Real Voice, at Last, for Hungary’s Pariah People”NYT 05 Mar:-after
less than a month on the air, the Gypsies’ own Radio C has become“a big thing in our lives...The
community has never before felt such a direct relationship to a station”. Its permanence, on a
rare vacant frequency, remains uncertain, and competition for it is fierce. Yet the EU and its
embassies support the venture for its role in helping its listeners in situ, not relishing the
westward migration of millions of uneducated and untrained Gypsies with the EU expansion
east. Listeners’ extraordinarily positive reaction seems to demonstrate Gypsies’ need for an
ethnic focus. The Economist 12 May“Special Report on Gypsies: Europe’s Spectral Nation”(29-32):-a substantial and well-researched/written essay covering the Gypsy nation’s history,
characteristics, terrible problems(past and present)and prospects(gloomy). Some of the most
interesting points made:(1) Gypsies are at the bottom of every European socio-economic
indicator: income, employment, education, life expectancy, welfare-dependency, imprisonment,
segregation - but highest fertility rate.“In sum, they are a spectral third-world nation in Europe.
(2) The treatment of...Gypsies is perhaps the most important civil-rights issue in Europe, and one
that will have a direct bearing on [EU] accession talks”. The EU feels the“Gypsy question”must
be“tackled at source before there can be any agreement on the free movement of labour. An
exodus of Gypsies into the EU...would be a political disaster for an expanding union”. (3) There
is no clear definition of Gypsy; not all are dark-skinned; about 4m, at most, speak some kind of
Romany” and they are not nomads. Previously banned from entering towns, a roaming culture
was forced on them, but few follow it now. (4) Latest research indicates they were originally”a
mix of Indian ethnic groups assembled in the early 11th century as a military force to resist
Islamic incursions”. The first known record of Gypsies in the “west” is in Constantinople in
1054.(5) Romany developed in India as a military lingua franca. It was codified only ten years
ago; its dictionary has only 5,000 words. (6)”The biggest problem is the lack of good Gypsy
leaders. Leadership is strong at the family and clan level, but weak, divided and often corrupt
at the political level...Attempts to make coalitions of Gypsy parties(Slovakia has 17)invariably
break down in petty squabbles. It is the same with international Gypsy organizations”. Gideon
Rachman“A Survey of European Union Enlargement”The Economist 19 May(1-16): Sub-Heading“Gypsy Caravan”(6-7):-this is essentially a restatement of point (2) in the preceding
article. Its special value is that it puts any Gypsy mass-migration crisis into the entire context
of EU enlargement, and particularly the rights and impact of new members. AP“Germany Will
Compensate Nazi-Era Slave Laborers”NYT 30 May:-reports the German parliament had voted to
free payments from a $4.6b fund for surviving Nazi-era slave laborers, after two years of
negotiations and dismissal of many US lawsuits. More than 1m survivors, most in Eastern
Europe, are expected to benefit from one-time payments of up to $6,700. While Germany has paid
some $60b in restitution for suffering at the hands of Nazis, slave labor had”always fallen
between the cracks”. Funds will be paid out “immediately” from equal contributions by the
German government and companies that used slave labor during WWII. Roger Cohen“Last
Chapter: Berlin to Pay Slave Workers Held by Nazis”NYT 31 May:-reports the same decision, but
provides additional information. More than 6,000 German companies will be contributing. Only
perhaps 10% of the expected beneficiaries are Jews(most of whom have already received some
kind of compensation from Germany). Payments vary from about $7,000 each to those forced
to work in slave labor camps or ghettos, to about $2,000 to those forced to work in factories.
Gypsies are not mentioned in either article, but a large number of those eligible could be Gypsies
if they can be found - and are still alive. Elizabeth Olson“Gypsies Plan to Sue I.B.M.
Switzerland”NYT 07 Jun:-item reports that Gypsy groups(NFI) claim they will sue IBM on the
ground that its tabulating machines helped Nazi Germany track and identify people killed during
the Holocaust (600,000 Gypsies are estimated to have died at Nazi hands). The case is to be
made under Swiss law since IBM’s German and Swiss subsidiaries were in Geneva during WWII.
AP “Nazi Payments To Begin Slowly”NYT 10 Jun:-describes how the $4.3b(sic) compensation
fund will be paid out to”up to 1.5 million surviving slave and forced laborers”. This is of general
interest, both because of the scale/difficulty, and as it may provide an example for similar global
funds dispensed, say, by the UN. While claims can only be filed until 11 Aug(perhaps extended
to 31Dec), final payouts could take two years or more despite the recognized urgency, to ensure
money goes to the right people. Foundation’s workers will check all kinds of evidence(including
oral, which may be all there is)across Europe. Claims are processed by seven partner
organizations(five around eastern Europe; one for Jewish claims; International Organization for
Migration for the rest of the world). Individuals get two payments; the smaller second one after
all appeals are settled. John Tagliabue“Bulgaria Opens School Doors for Gypsy Children”NYT
12 Jun:-important article on Gypsies’ educational mess in Eastern Europe, and how it may be
starting a process of correction - by busing Gypsy kids from local segregated schools to those
in the national system. Using Vadim, Bulgaria(25% Gypsy)as an encouraging bellwether(similar
schemes now exist in Hungary and Slovakia, and start soon in other Bulgarian cities),the article
describes how Communist regimes’ efforts to make Gypsy nomads settle down resulted in
allocation of(now disappeared)jobs, and creation of permanent ghettos and special”schools for
children with inferior lifestyle and culture”. Many schools -overcrowded and underfunded-became”penal colonies”for uncooperative teachers, with abysmal academic records. Gypsy
pressure for desegregation is producing gradual results(plus protest demonstrations by
Bulgarian parents):30% of Roma children now attend integrated schools. Foreign funds help
with Gypsies’ costs, but ethnic adjustment will be a slow process. AP“Soros to Provide Gypsy
Scholarships”NYT 19 Jun:-reports that billionaire George Soros has set up a new program in
Slovakia to provide university scholarships for Gypsies. The funds were not quantified, but will
be handled by the well-endowed network of Soros foundations operating in 31 countries. While
Roma-related programs elsewhere were not mentioned, this one will be open to Gypsies
who“can prove their ethnicity”. AP“Croatia Bomb Attack Kills Gypsy”NYT 24 Jun:-quotes a local
Croatian government report that a bomb had been thrown into the home of a Gypsy family in the
city of Pula, killing a man and badly injuring his wife. It is noted that Gypsies“are the frequent
targets of racist attacks in Croatia”and that this was only”the latest of a series of recent similar
attacks...by skinheads in Pula. Several children have been beaten and a hand grenade exploded
in a Roma settlement [six days earlier]. Other Roma families have received bomb threats”. Racist
motives are obvious: the couple were 40-year residents, held jobs, and their eight children are
good pupils. Peter S. Green“In Prague, a Gypsy Tests British Policy on Asylum”NYT 05 Aug:-reports how a Gypsy, Richard Samko, a Czech Television reporter, proved British immigration
officials were discriminating against Gypsies at Prague airport. Under a diplomatic agreement,
the officials had set up an office there to try to”head off Czechs who might seek asylum in
Britain. The Czechs, eager to gain entry into[EU], agreed to the unusual arrangement in order
to stave off British threats to reimpose a visa requirement after 2,000 Czech Gypsies applied for
asylum last year, citing persecution”. Mr. Samko, who had suffered from racism all his life and
even been beaten unconscious by neo-fascist skinheads, noted that the immigration officers
screening travellers to Britain seemed largely to stop the darker-skinned Gypsies. So he and a
non-Gypsy colleague tried to board the same flight for Britain, both with return tickets and using
nearly identical documents about their salaries, and plans in Britain. His colleague was allowed
through easily, but the darker-skinned Mr. Samko was taken aside for interrogation, and finally
refused permission to board his flight”on the grounds that he did not have sufficient economic
resources in the Czech Republic to draw him back home”. He tried again the next day and was
again turned down. These events were covered by a hidden video camera and broadcast on TV.
They”stirred a political storm”. While the Czech government admits Gypsies suffer widespread
discrimination, Britain claims they are not“systematically persecuted”and has granted asylum
to Czech Gypsies in just a few cases. It contends that turning away more than 100 people at
Prague airport is justified in light of the scope of its growing illegal-immigrant problem. However,
Gypsy advocates and human rights monitors argue the restrictions were aimed at Gypsies;
whatever their intention, their effect is racist. Partly related to the AP and Reuters articles of 01
Dec 00, and the Olson NYT article of 07 Jun 01, Reuters “Swiss‘Turned Blind Eye’to Wartime
Forced Labor” NYT 30 Aug:-reports that a government-commissioned five-year study by a panel
of historians has concluded Swiss companies”turned a blind eye to the conditions forced
laborers faced at subsidiaries in Nazi Germany”. Earlier suspicions that Swiss companies
cynically profited from such labor had prompted businessmen and central bankers to set up a
300m Swiss franc($180m) fund“for needy Holocaust victims and their heirs”.This fund had just
made its last payment: to 58 Gypsies in Kosovo. “Swiss companies in Germany ...made use of
forced labor and prisoners of war whose living and working conditions were comparable to
those in German factories”, the panel reported. Reuters“Holocaust Survivors May File Claims
Until End- 2001"27 Sept:-the global International Organization for Migration(IOM), working with
the German foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, is responsible for making
financial compensation available to people who were forced into slave labor by the Nazis, or
denied entry into Switzerland or mistreated there as refugees during the Nazi era. Many of those
eligible are Roma, as well as Jews. The IOM has extended the time victims may apply for
compensation until the end of 2001 because of lower-than-expected applications so far(72,000
out of 200,000). Upon presenting satisfactory evidence, claimants receive $940 to $7,000 each
from the”Holocaust Victims Assets Program funded by a $1.25 billion settlement agreed with
major banks in Switzerland”. Reuters“Germany Rejects Polish Complaints on Slave Payouts”
05 Oct:-German government has denied Polish claims of unfair treatment in paying
compensation to Poland’s Nazi-era slave laborers(presumably including Roma). Out of a total
forced-labor compensation fund of $4.7 billion (contributed equally by the German government
and industry), Poland is to receive almost a quarter. Warsaw has complained Germany“used an
unfavourable exchange rate in calculating compensation due to half a million Poles, arguing that
victims will receive smaller sums than expected”, while Berlin claimed the exchange-rate issue
must be settled between the two national foundations involved. A problem just resolved was
delays in getting contributions from the 6,500 firms involved. Olson“Swiss Banks Find $10
Million From Holocaust”12 Oct:-an international tribunal has announced that a search of Swiss
bank accounts dormant since WWII has recovered $10 million, and that it has been awarded to
families of Holocaust victims. The Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in
Switzerland was established in response to allegations that financial institutions improperly held
funds deposited by Jews who were trying to free Nazi Germany. “In addition, the tribunal
awarded $40.6 million to other people who filed claims on bank accounts that have been
dormant since the war” but not connected to Holocaust victims. In total there were more than
16,000 dormant accounts, but how many, if any, belonged to Roma is not reported, although they
were generally treated by Nazis in the same manner as Jews. The Economist Gypsy
Children:“Go to school - and stay there”29 Nov:-Gypsy children’s education is an urgent issue.
Save the Children reports that a third of Europe’s Gypsy children never attend school, while
most of the rest”are shunted off into special schools for the mentally disabled(sic)or else drop
out of normal school[s] before they are 15 years old, many of them defeated by bullying... Only
one in a thousand gypsies is educated beyond the secondary level...There are at least 6m
Gypsies, or Roma, in Europe, of whom more than two-fifths are children. Keeping them at school
is the key to lifting their community out of the third world. Classroom apartheid and the illiteracy
it breeds will not end quickly, not least because traditional Gypsy parents reject assimilation.”
Some hopeful efforts toward getting and keeping Gypsy children in the education system: pre-school programmes inter alia teaching the children the local language, recruitment of teaching
assistants of Gypsy origin, school meals, more Roma-relevant curriculums, and scholarships.
Boarding schools, though successful, are tried very cautiously. AP“Gypsies Sue IBM in
Switzerland”31 Jan 2002:-Gypsy campaigners, who allege IBM expertise helped Nazis commit
mass murder more efficiently, filed a lawsuit in Geneva on behalf of five Gypsies for“moral
reparation” and token financial damages. (IBM’s European headquarters during WWII was in
Geneva; IBM punch cards helped Nazis allocate victims.) IBM has contributed to the German
joint government-industry fund to compensate forced laborers - including Gypsies - during WWII.
AP “Afghan Aid Threatens Gypsy Lifestyle”02 Feb:-with the collapse of the Taliban regime,
humanitarian aid is being given to the Afghan people - including to the traditionally-nomadic
Gypsies of the region, known as Kochi. There are reports of overcrowding in Kochi-concentrated
relief camps located on the border with Pakistan. The high number of impoverished Kochi is due
to“drought that has devastated their lives”by killing the sheep and camels that have been their
life-support system for centuries. The UNHCR has estimated that 55,000 people residing at one
camp alone are Gypsies, and is concerned they will become sedentary, and permanently
dependant on relief supplies. Reuters“Historians’ Report Slams Swiss Wartime Policy”22 Mar:-a
government-commissioned report dealing with Switzerland’s policy towards Germany during
WWII portrays the country as shirking“its moral responsibilities to victims of the Nazis”to
maintain an active economic relationship with Germany during the war. “The panel blasted a
refugee policy that turned back thousands to near-certain death, excessive cooperation with
Nazi Germany and failure to return wealth to its rightful owners when WWII ended...The report
casts a withering look at an anti-Jewish wartime refugee policy, extensive Swiss gold purchases
from Nazi Germany, the use of 11,000 forced laborers in Swiss-owned factories in Germany, and
a ‘disreputable’ trade in stolen goods that sprang up... Switzerland did offer refuge to around
60,000 civilians - slightly less than half of them Jewish - for weeks or even for years during the
war...But the country turned away or deported 10,000 others at the very least [including many
Gypsies], and probably more than twice that many, not counting the 14,500 whose applications
for asylum were rejected”. Although the report has brought charges of bias from the Swiss right-wing, the country has long been criticized for its lack of compensation to Holocaust survivors.
“The report came out the same day that the Swiss parliament blessed a huge humanitarian
fund...that aims to lift the country from the morass of Holocaust-era accusations.” AP“Study
Finds Swiss Aided Holocaust”22 Mar:-a parallel account of the Swiss government report outlined
above offers additional information. The report’s overview”singled out the most‘egregious
failures’in the Swiss‘tightrope walk on the edge of Nazism’,while noting:”Courageous Swiss
individuals and ‘large segments of the population’ were able to tone down government policy
toward the refugees ‘but they were unable to bend it’”. “The research discredited the ‘boat is full’
policy of some wartime Swiss officials”,but recognized”Switzerland...had to make some
concessions to the Germans in order to survive”. “No evidence emerged...of pro-Nazi leanings.
[Rather,]businesses saw the chance to make a profit. Others, like the federal state itself, viewed
their actions as a condition for survival.” Nevertheless,”Swiss government, banks, companies
and art museums failed to respond in a timely manner ’to Nazi victims’ claims for restitution.”
AP“Czech Skinhead Sentenced for Murder”29 Mar:-a Czech citizen has been sentenced to serve
13 years in prison for the racially-motivated murder of a Gypsy. Olson“Swiss Complete Aid
Payments to Nazi Victims”05 May:-a 1997 Swiss fund to help needy survivors of the Holocaust
ended work, having paid out $179 million to 309,000 people. Criticism over the small individual
amounts paid out($375-$1,250)was met by the argument that“the money was intended as a
gesture of solidarity and compassion, and not as compensation”. While 84% of the money went
to 255,000 Jewish survivors,”the rest was given to non-Jewish survivors, including Gypsies,
gays and those persecuted for political beliefs or for having helped rescue Jews.” Green“Roma
Seeking Sense of Unity to Combat Racial Bias”10 May:-30 Romany organizations met in Lodz,
Poland in an attempt to unite the 12 million European Roma to fight“their increasing
marginalization in Eastern Europe”and set up a continent-wide organization that could give
them“a strong voice in advancing their causes: housing, jobs, education”. Although up to a
million were killed by the Nazis, and Roma are worried by the recent resurgence of West
European populists with a racist message, their population is growing rapidly and ”Young
people cannot be patient forever...In 20 years we will be 20 million.” Yet Roma unity has often
been lacking, electoral action has met with little success, and most migrants to Western Europe
have been turned back, leaving several hundred thousand in squalid refugee camps.“The trick
now is to unite and to rise in society without losing Romany identity”. AP“Tribunal Moves to
Speed Up Claims”10 Jun:-Claims Resolution Tribunal in Zurich, charged with distributing $800m
from Swiss banks to Holocaust victims [including Roma] and their heirs, is speeding up
payments by making more people eligible for payments. Catalyst was damning Swiss report(see
22 Mar)which, Tribunal said, ”suggests that transfers of Nazi victim accounts to Nazi authorities
may have been significantly larger than earlier identified”, and that Swiss banks had“actively
misinformed or misled”Nazi victims or heirs who made inquiries about their accounts. Tribunal
was set up to help distribute money from $1.25 billion compensation fund, but had paid out only
$16.9m in 135 claims, out of more than 32,000 received, partly due to missing information [lack
of documentation is a particular problem for Roma claimants]. Amounts and claims will now be
settled by tribunal attorneys, rather than by (an underemployed) team of arbitrators.
Olson“Holocaust Payments by Swiss Delayed Further”12 Jun:-controversy over speeding up
payment of claims by Claims Resolution Tribunal(see 10 Jun)has further delayed disbursements.
Changes in procedure/personnel, including allowing claims to be paid fully instead of retaining
part until all claims are settled, and paying heirs related only by marriage, have provoked
resignation of 10 arbitrators. Controversy over inclusion of dormant accounts has also been
revived. NYT World Briefing: Europe:“Austria: Holocaust Victim Payments”08 Aug:-first
payments being made from a $40m fund to settle Holocaust victim claims arising from Nazi
seizure of two Austrian banks(Creditanstalt and Bank Austria AG). A committee reviewed 58,000
claims for the $30m set aside for survivors and their heirs. Balance will inter alia fund a study
of Austrian banks’ actions during the Nazi era. Green“U.N. Report Shows Growing Poverty
Among European Gypsies”17 Jan 2003:-UNDP report”Avoiding the Dependency Trap”claims
poverty“has worsened for millions of Gypsies across Central and Eastern Europe since
Communism collapsed...and many now live in conditions resembling those of poor Sub-Saharan
Africa. [O]ne in six is‘constantly starving,’and one in five families did not send their children to
school because they lacked decent clothing...The report blames the Gypsies’ problems partly
on their own communities and partly on what it called the failed systems of education, labor and
economic and social development often imposed on them”. Green “Gypsies’ Suit Against I.B.M.
Is Given Green Light by Swiss Court”05 Feb:-article refers to a $12 billion lawsuit against IBM
for its creation of punch cards and early computers used by Nazis to organize the extermination
of Jews and about 600,000 Gypsies. Article also claims many Gypsies have been excluded both
from compensation payments and other funds. If the lawsuit is won, the money can be used to
establish social, educational and medical projects for the estimated 1.2 million Gypsy Holocaust
survivors and descendants in Europe. Green “Gypsies in Slovakia Complain of Sterilizations”28
Feb:-in a vivid report of a program of forced sterilization of Slovak Gypsies, a team of foreign and
Slovak investigators claim that at least 110 young Gypsy women have been sterilized against
their will/knowledge since the fall of Communism. While Slovak doctors deny any involvement
in the practice, arguing that Romany women rarely visit doctors anyway, the Center for
Reproductive Rights claims to have uncovered“clear and consistent patterns”of doctors and
nurses forcing sterilization on Romany women. Green“Slovakia to Investigate Charges Gypsy
Women Were Sterilized”06 Mar:-special investigators will be sent by Slovak Interior Ministry to
look into claims of forced sterilization of Gypsy women in eastern Slovakia. The allegations by
the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Center for Civil and Human Rights are denied by
Slovak Health Ministry which, while claiming they are unfounded, expresses concern about the
treatment of the 10% of population that are Roma. The Economist“Migration in the European
Union: The Coming Hordes”15 Jan 2004:-a general article on both positive and negative views
in current EU member states about the likely size and effect of labour migration from the ten new
- and considerably poorer - members. After reporting concern that large numbers of migrants
could price locals out of jobs, the article states:”The bigger worry for rich-country governments
concerns migrants in search of state benefits. Central Europe’s Roma minorities -about 9% of
the population in Slovakia, 5% in Hungary and 3% in the Czech Republic- are a particular cause
for concern. The poorest Roma villages, especially in eastern Slovakia, are among the most
desperate places in Europe, with no work and little schooling. A flow of Roma migrants claiming
political asylum led Britain to reintroduce temporary visas for Slovaks a few years ago. Such
barriers will be illegal after EU enlargement.”Economist"Europe's Roma: Poor and Unloved"05
Feb 2005:-brief report on meeting of 8 central European states,plus international institutions,to
launch"Decade of Roma Inclusion"to begin improvement in social/economic conditions of the
7m-9m Roma in Europe. Supporting institutions include George Soros's Open Society Institute,
World Bank, EC, and UNDP. Current conditions"veer from bad to catastrophic, especially along
EU's eastern borders. Roma unemployment in Slovakia hit 87.5% in 2003. Poverty rates
everywhere are horrifically high." Small map offers following estimates: Bulgaria, Macedonia,
Romania and Slovakia have Roma amounting to 8-12% of national population. Hungary has 4-8%.
Czech Republic, Montenegro-and-Serbia have 2-4%. Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Poland, Slovenia
and Turkey estimated to have 0-2%."Decade"will focus on education, employment, health and
housing(Dec 04 donor's conference had pledged $42m for a Roma Education Fund); but"main
aim is to get governments to give more help to Roma from existing budgets, and make better use
of funds already available from international institutions. EU points out that its regional fund -
which disbursed E26billion($29b)in 03 - is meant not only for roads and bridges, but also for
human development. Roma projects could well qualify." Less excuse for the recent weak care
of Roma. AP"Gypsy Holocaust Survivors in Need of Aid"NYT 08 Apr 05:-"Tens of thousands of
elderly Gypsy Holocaust survivors in Europe are living in poverty and desperately need more aid
as they live out their final years, a Swiss-based migration agency said [08 Apr]. About 145,000
Gypsy Holocaust survivors are impoverished, UN-affiliated International Organization for
Migration said. While IOM and other organizations have been helping Gypsies/Roma since 2002,
funds are now running out. IOM Roma expert... said 'It is only right that Roma Holocaust
survivors receive some basic help to ease their final years'... Some 250,000 to 1.5m Roma were
killed during [WWII]. Accuracy figures are difficult to find, as so many Roma were rounded up
away from public view, executed and dumped into mass graves. Since 2005, IOM and other
organizations have helped supply over 64,000 Roma Holocaust victims with food, firewood, coal
and hygeine articles. Funding comes from a settlement with Swiss banks and from German
Foundation 'Remembrance, Responsibility and Future'. [IOM] said ideally, $214m needed to
assist 126,000 elderly Roma for five years at cost of $300 per person per year... Estimated 4.6m
Roma live in eastern and central Europe out of total of 6.2m in all of Europe." Nicholas
Wood"Germany Sending Gypsy Refugees Back to Kosovo" NYT 15 May 05:-"On [19 May] about
60 passengers, accompanied by security guards, are to land [near Pristina] in what is sure to be
a fraught journey. Flight is first in a series organized by German government to deport about
50,000 refugees - mostly Roma/Gypsies - back to Kosovo after period of asylum in Germany, in
some cases a decade or more. Germany welcomed waves of refugees when Kosovo, the largely
Albanian-populated southern province of Serbia, war inflamed by ethnic tensions and ultimately
war in 1999. Rights groups say the deportations reflect deeply held prejudices in Germany's
immigration system, treatment they call insensitive in light of the great number of Roma killed
in Nazi era. Rights groups and some critics within UN also say Roma are being sent back to a
dangerous situation because they are a tiny minority in Kosovo that has repeatedly been
attacked by members of the Albanian majority. In many cases their homes in Kosovo have been
taken over or destroyed, and they have little hope of finding work. UN is encouraging minorities
to return voluntarily and is seeking $10m from donor nations for the rebuilding of one Roma
area. Germany and UN appear eager to show that life is returning to normal in Kosovo. But UN
says unable to provide aid to families who are forcibly returned, who will be left to fend for
themselves or to rely on Albanian-dominated local authorities for support. [Former UN official]
in Kosovo criticized UN for failing to provide support for the deported... In Germany, Roma have
rarely been granted permanent residency, and rights groups say authorities there typically do
not enable them to get working papers, so they are dependent on welfare, which German
officials say costs more than $600 a person monthly. Rights groups contend that such treatment
contrasts with that given to other refugees from Kosovo in Germany... Over the last five years,
ethnic Albanians and others from Kosovo have been able to get working papers and remain in
Germany, and those who have chosen to go home have been able to go back to their homes and
communities. Over all, Germany wants to deport around 51,500 refugees to Kosovo, of whom
34,500 are Roma. UN has agreed to let Germany send home 10,500 Albanian-speaking Roma, and
says it will monitor their safety. It has agreed to consider permitting the return of the larger
group of Serbian-speaking Roma, who number 24,000... The Roma in Kosovo have lived in
established communities for many generations, but remain marginalized. The returnees have had
a tough time finding homes and jobs, and many have lived in camps in squalid conditions since
the end of the war. Some seen in the provincial capital searching through garbage cans for scrap
to recycle, or cleaning car windshields... Roma and other ethnic minorities continue to face a
volatile existence in Kosovo [with] threat of intimidation or attack by the Albanians. Hopes that
relations among ethnic groups had improved were violently dashed in [Mar 04] as thousands of
Albanians rioted across Kosovo. Serbian and Roma communities were the targets during three
days of attacks, with 19 people killed and more than 4,000 forced from their homes.";
Reuters"Roma Face Most Prejudice in EU: Watchdog"NYT 23 Nov 05:-"Roma minorities are the
group most vulnerable to racism in European Union since the bloc expanded into central
Europe, EU watchdog said. In its annual report, European Monitoring Center on Racism and
Xenophobia said Roma (Gypsies) faced discrimination in employment, housing and education,
as well as being regular victims of racial violence. 'The particular histories and population
characteristics of the new Member States mean that the Roma... are often targets of racist
sentiments and acts', report said. It said segregation in housing was particularly acute for Roma
population in Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary. Roma children were disproportionately
concentrated in special education classes in several countries with an over-readiness to label
them as educationally disabled or with learning difficulties... 'So many of the... reports on the 10
new member states focus primarily or solely on issues of Roma... When concerns of racism and
discrimination raised in new member states, this is often the only group for which there are
available and significant facts to relate', it said. Executive European Commission pressed the
newcomers to improve the legal rights/treatment of Roma minorities as condition for joining EU.
Now they are members, they are subject to same monitoring as old member states"; Nicholas
Wood"Displaced Gypsies at Risk From Lead in Kosovo Camps"NYT 05 Feb 2006:-"Roma rights
groups say that up to 31 Roma have been killed by diseases brought on by lead poisoning, a
problem that grew acute for them six and half years ago. That was when UN mission that
controls [Kosovo] province set up three refugee camps in the north part of [Mitrovica] city for
Roma who were displaced when ethnic Albanians took their homes across town at the end of
the Kosovo war in 1999. The death toll is especially large for a local Roma community of just 570
people, and no one disputes the main source of pollution. All three refugee camps lie within 200
yards of three huge mounds of industrial waste, the byproduct of a lead smelting factory that
operated from 1920s until 2000. Health specialists say children are particularly vulnerable to this
kind of pollution. Soon after Roma moved in, UN realized that they were living on contaminated
land. Several reports by UN mission and WHO dating to 2000 recommended their immediate
removal. But the Roma remained in their wooden huts... Now the mission is planning to move
families from all three camps to refurbished army barracks, where it says they will be safe. 'WHO
considers this the worst environmental disaster for children in the whole of Europe', said...
environmental epidemiologist for WHO in Mitrovica and author of 2004 report on the effects of
the poisoning. 'There are around 100,000 to 130,000 people affected by this', she said. Lead
poisoning can stunt growth and cause irreversible brain and nerve damage, suppression of the
immune system, anemia and renal failure. It can also cause speech, language and behavioral
problems... Officials working on the $1.6m refurbishing of the barracks said the site would be
washed down once a week with a fire truck to prevent lead dust from contaminating it. UN has
also begun work on a $9.7m project to rebuild the Roma community's original homes in southern
Mitrovica... The Roma are not convinced that their health will be better in the barracks"; AP"EU
Agency: Gypsies Suffer Discrimination"NYT 07 Apr 06:-"Gypsies [henceforth Roma] remain
among Europe's most discriminated-against people, European Union's racism watchdog agency
said [07 Apr]... Roma routinely denied jobs/ housing/education/health care, said Vienna-based
EU Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia. Center's director... said Roma living in many
of EU's 25 member states suffer 'systematic discrimination', and called for more intensive
effort/greater political will to eliminate the bias and help lift Roma communities out of poverty.
Estimated 6.2m Roma live in Europe - 4.6m in central/eastern Europe - according to estimates
by UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration. Last year... EU monitoring center said
unemployment ran as high as 90% among Roma in some new EU members such as Czech
Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, and that worst discrimination happened when Roma tried to
rent/buy property. ['T]erritorial segregation is particularly acute', report said. Roma also tended
to receive substandard medical care... A global conference of Prague-based International
Romani Union - coalition of organizations working to ease the plight of Roma - designated 08
Apr as International Day of Roma in 1990"; AP"Report: 2 Gypsies Fatally Shot in Russia"NYT 17
Apr 06:-"A man broke into a home in northwestern Russia and fatally shot two Gypsies, days
after an attack on a Roma camp in southern part of country left two people dead, Russian news
agency reported. Citing an unidentified police official, Interfax agency reported an unemployed
man who had been drinking entered a Gypsy's house in Pskov region village of Kuznetsovka and
opened fire on her two sons, killing both. Suspect was arrested shortly after attack, according
to report, which did not say when the killings took place. Police could not immediately be
reached for comment on reported killings, which came amid a wave of racially motivated attacks
that have raised concerns of rising militant nationalism in Russia. Interfax also reported nine
people have been arrested in connection with an attack on a Roma camp in southern Volgograd
region. Police say a group of young men beat inhabitants with metal bars, killing a man and a
woman and leaving an 80-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl gravely wounded. Russia has
experienced a marked rise in xenophobia/racism in recent years, with hundreds of racially
motivated attacks, mainly on dark-skinned immigrants from former Soviet Central Asia/Caucasus
Mountains region and foreigners from Africa/Asia/Latin America. Dozens have died"; David
Stout"Germany Agrees to Open Holocaust Archive"NYT 19 Apr 06:-"Germany agreed [18 Apr]
to allow access to a vast trove of information on what happened to more than 17m people who
were executed, forced to labor for Nazi war machine or otherwise brutalized during the
Holocaust [including huge number of Gypsies/Roma, of course]. German government
announced at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum [in Washington] that it was dropping its
decades-long resistance to opening the archives kept in the town of Bad Arolsen[, Germany].
The files, which make up one of the largest Holocaust archives in the world, are more than 15
miles long and hold up to 50m documents... 'We now agree to open the data in Bad Arolsen',
Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said at a news conference... The files are controlled by the
International Tracing Service, which operates as an arm of the International Committee of the
Red Cross... The real beneficiaries are the relatives of Holocaust survivors [as well as victims]";
Otto Pohl"Gypsies Gain a Legal Tool in Rights Fight"NYT 07 May 06:-"For the Gypsies of Eastern
Europe, life never seems to improve... But now, some leaders of the Gypsies, or Roma, are
looking to a new model to try to achieve equality: the civil rights struggle of black Americans.
More and more, Roma are going to court to secure their rights, and doing so where they think
it will have the best chance for success - among the new East European members of the
European Union and those trying to join, which are seeking to impress Western Europe with
strict interpretations of their new antidiscrimination laws. The Roma strategy was rewarded in
Oct 05 when a Bulgarian court for the Sofia district ruled for them in a school segregation case...
Executive director of European Roma Rights Center, recalling the [US] 1954 Supreme Court
decision that the official system of 'separate but equal' school segregation by race was
unconstitutional... An appeal is under way, but the Bulgarian government has already begun
enacting changes in state education policy, and Romani Baht Foundation, the Bulgarian rights
group that argued the case, said it planned about 50 more school segregation cases in the fall.
In 2002, the foundation filed suit against a coffee shop in... Bulgaria for refusing to serve Roma.
The foundation won, and has since filed suits against nightclub owners, hospitals and other
companies, charging that they refuse to hire or serve Roma. The cases cited antidiscrimination
laws enacted to prepare Bulgaria to join EU... Some working on behalf of Roma say these efforts
offer a model for helping other groups that face discrimination... However, European law is
based on civil law, meaning that a court decision does not automatically become the law of the
land - and that court victories achieved in campaigns of strategic location do not necessarily
have far-reaching effects... The Roma efforts go beyond legal challenges. In Dec 05, young police
officer in Budapest founded the Roma Police Association... For the first time, there is even Roma
representation in Brussels. After Hungary joined EU in 2004, it elected two Roma to the EU's
Parliament. Still, there is no unified Roma movement,... nor galvanizing figures. And not all legal
cases succeed. The European Court of Human Rights... rejected a case about 18
nonhandicapped Czech Roma children allowed to enroll only in schools for the handicapped...
The case has been resubmitted... Even today, much remains unclear about the Roma. There is
no agreement even on their numbers in Europe. Estimates range from 7m to 15m, and 5% to 10%
of the population in many Eastern European countries. In Hungary, the struggle to desegregate
schools has come... to one of the poorest regions in EU"; AP”Vast Nazi Archive to Be Soon
Opened”NYT 16 May 06:-directly follows on from 19 Apr 06 item above:“Millions of Nazi files that
describe in gray, bureaucratic tones the mechanics of mass murder will be thrown open to
researchers following an agreement [16 May] by a panel[ITS] that has kept the archive locked
away since WWII. [Decision made by ITS, i.e.] 11-nation International Commission that oversees
the archive... The files also will be available to Holocaust survivors and families of victims whose
fate may not be clear.... It could take until the end of the year before the process is complete and
outsiders will gain access to Bad Arolsen... The files hold virtually everything the Nazis recorded
on the camps, the prisoners held there and how they operated. Indexed and cross-referenced,
they contain 17.5m names of Jews, homosexuals, the mentally ill, ‘patients’ subjected to cruel
medical experiments, millions of people forced into slave labor and Gypsies, who are also known
as Roma... The ITS says it has scanned 56% of the files since 1999, but it cannot move faster
without more funding... Jews were only half of the 12 million people exterminated by the Nazis,
and the files in Germany have far more comprehensive accounts of Nazi operations”;
Reuters“German Holocaust Archive to Be Opened”NYT 16 May 06:-“A German archive
containing millions of documents from WWII will be opened to historians and Holocaust
scholars for the first time... A working group will be established to develop rules for access and
recommend how to prioritize a plan to make a digital copy of the archive”; AP“Gypsy Women
Confront Czechs on Ugly Legacy”NYT 17 Jun 06:-“Just hours after her second child was born,
19-year-old Helena Ferencikova’s joy was dashed. In the recovery room, she discovered that the
paper she had signed, not knowing what it said, had allowed doctors to sterilize her. The
Vitkovicka hospital in the northeastern Czech Republic says further pregnancies might have
killed her. But Ferencikova believes the reason was her ethnicity - Gypsy. Now a court ruling and
a high-profile official inquiry have backed her up, and the country is having to confront the
charge that an abuse many thought had died with communism is still being practiced. The
uproar goes to the broader issue of entrenched European prejudice toward Gypsies, or Roma
as they prefer to be called, especially in the former communist bloc, where most of the
continent’s 7-9 million Gypsies are concentrated. The Czech ombudsman, Otakar Motejl, began
investigating allegations that Roma women and girls were being unwittingly sterilized after 10
of them approached him in Sep 04. He said he received 87 complaints, nearly all filed by Roma.
‘The ombudsman is convinced that in the Czech Republic, the problem of sexual sterilization -
carried out either with an unacceptable motivation or illegally - exists and that Czech society
faces the task of coming to grips with this reality’, Motejl’s 74-page report concludes. In all the
cases, ‘no consent for sterilization was given that would be free of error and fully unrestrained’,
he said”(4 pages in total); AP“German Cabinet OKs Opening of Nazi Archive”NYT 28 Jun 06:-“Germany’s Cabinet agreed to open to researchers an archive of millions of Nazi files that
describe the mechanics of the Holocaust... Once the agreement is signed, all 11 signatory
nations have to ratify it. Germany committed to ratifying the deal ‘as quickly as possible’”;
Reuters“Nations Agree to Open Up German Nazi Archive”NYT 26 Jul 06:-“Germany’s junior
minister for foreign affairs... welcomed the decision by his own country and the 10 other nations
who oversee the archive’s administration to open up the files for research... It contains up to
50m documents on some 17m individuals and is expected to shed new light on the Holocaust,
in which 6m Jews [and Roma] across Europe were murdered... Agreement was needed from all
11 nations to change the archive’s mandate to allow it to open up the files to researchers and
historians. Copies of the archives’ contents will be given to the 11 countries who in turn may
grant access to them to scholars... Israel, Britain, France, Greece, US, Germany, Luxembourg
and Italy all signed the amended protocol. Poland, Belgium and Netherlands require further
parliamentary approval and have until 01 Nov 06 to sign”; AP“Researchers to View Millions of
Nazi Files”NYT 26 Jul 06:-“Millions of Nazi files detailing the suffering and deaths of inmates at
labor and concentration camps during the Holocaust will be opened to researchers under an
agreement [now] signed by Germany and seven other countries... Protocol still needs to be
ratified by most of the 11 signatory states before the archives can be opened. German Justice
Minister... has said researchers would have access by 31 Dec 06... The Nazis were meticulous,
documenting everything from the mundane... to the horrific”; Economist“Turkey’s Gypsies:
Fighting Bulldozers”19 Aug 06:-“[I]n Sulukule, a part of Istanbul,.. Turkish gypsies have
caroused for 1,000 years. Their party may end if local municipality proceeds with plans to replace
their homes with garish Ottoman-style ‘villas’... Homeowners will be compensated and offered
cheap loans to buy the new houses. But the gypsies are unswayed. They say real aim is to drive
them out... Few Turks, let alone foreigners, know that Turkey is home to 2m gypsies, one of the
world’s largest Roma populations. In Ottoman times, they wielded considerable economic
influence [and] helped to conquer Cyprus/defend Kosovo. They never suffered the racist
violence that gypsies met in Europe, but discrimination has now become widespread. A 1934 law
allows the government to deny them citizenship[, and many] conceal their roots. Now... gypsies
are asserting themselves. [One] has taken a case against a book published by the culture
ministry that calls gypsies ‘polygamists, prostitutes and thieves’ to the European Court of
Human Rights”; Reuters“European Roma Bid to Join UN Holocaust Memorial”NYT 04 Oct 06:-“Europe’s Roma minority appealed to UN to be included in annual Holocaust commemorations
as recognized victims of Nazi Germany who still suffer discrimination across the continent”;
Nicholas Wood“Ambrus Journal: Hounding of Gypsies Contradicts Slovenia’s Image”NYT 06
Nov 06:-“The Strojans, an extended family of 31 Gypsies, 14 of them children, fled their property
[near picturesque village in central Slovenia] on 28 Oct, after it was surrounded by a mob from
Ambrus and nearby villages, threatening to kill them and demanding their eviction. While the
police kept the crowd back, Slovenian government officials negotiated the family’s removal to
a former army barracks about 30 miles away... Slovenia prides itself as being free of the ethnic
tensions that dominate the rest of Yugoslavia, from which [it] broke free in 1991. Since then
Gypsies [Roma] have been the victims of sporadic assaults, including a grenade attack last year
in which two women... were killed. [R]ights groups say the government’s role in the forced
removal of [Strojans] family makes it one of the most serious such incidents in Europe in a
decade. And now other municipalities are calling for the removal of Gypsies. Ambrus seems an
unlikely place for such discord... But a dispute over an illegal occupation of land by some
members of the family two years ago began to sour relations, said... village president... Matters
worsened in mid-Oct when a man living with the Strojans fought with a villager, who fell into a
coma... Interior Minister said the Strojans would not be allowed to return because their houses
had been built without permission, although the family had lived in them since the 1960s...
European Roma Rights Center criticized the government for setting a dangerous precedent... But
the government has defended the move... And now, an initiative has been started to remove the
community of more than 600 Gypsies from the outskirts of Novo Mesto. Slovenia’s ombudsman
[is] raising the issue with the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner”(3 pages);
AP“How to Request Data on Holocaust Victims”NYT 19 Nov 06:-“Largest collection of
information on Holocaust victims and survivors is held by the International Red Cross at its
International Tracing Service facility in Bad Arolsen, Germany. Requests for information may be
submitted directly to ITS or through a national Red Cross office... These organizations may
provide documentation of forced labor, forced evacuation from Soviet-controlled areas,
internment in concentration camps, or deportation. Their certificates may be used to support
claims for reparations. Documentation comes from transportation or deportation lists, death
books, records of medical experiments, concentration or labor camp registrations, ghetto
records, and displaced persons files. Applicants should call or visit a local chapter of the Red
Cross, Red Crescent or Israel’s Magen David Adom to complete a questionnaire. Details remain
confidential and the service is free. Be ready to answer questions about the sought person,
including: Family and first names, any other names that might have been used; name in Cyrillic
or Hungarian script if applicable; gender; date and place of birth; parents’ names and mother’s
maiden name; religion; nationality; marital details during the war; last known address. Applicant
also needs to provide his or her own personal data and the reason for requesting the search”;
Nicholas Wood“In Slovenia, Villagers Block Gypsies’ Return to Their Homes”NYT 26 Nov 06:-“Group of Gypsies... forced to flee their homes in central Slovenia... tried to return... but were
forced to turn back. [F]amily... tried to return to Ambrus... after four weeks in refugee center. But
about 1,000 villagers and other residents of the area assembled, blocked roads leading to the
village and then battled riot police officers. Officials then persuaded... Strojans to turn back.
Standoff prolonged a crisis that has dominated politicians... and has prompted criticism of
Slovenia from Council of Europe... and independent rights groups. Despite assertions by Council
and ombudsman that family is entitled to return to their homes, government unwilling to force
the issue... Government justified moving the family... saying had acted to protect Strojans. But
human rights groups contend ministers sanctioned the mob’s ouster of... minority group from
their homes. Government had promised to resettle group, but plan to move them to a suburb of
Ljubljana, the capital, foundered when residents there protested”; AP “Holocaust Papers Could
Aid Compensation”NYT 02 Dec 06:-“Public access to millions of Nazi war documents, kept in
closed archives for 60 years, could help Holocaust survivors win larger claims for restitution,
survivors groups say... Until now, ITS has not allowed independent researchers to examine the
files or information to be publicly accessible, citing privacy reasons. Last May, the 11-nation
committee overseeing the archive decided to open them for wider access. But ratification of the
revised agreement is still pending, and until then digital copies from the archive cannot be made
and distributed to key institutions”; Nicholas Wood“Unscrambling the History of a Nazi
Camp”NYT 06 Dec 06:-“[F]ormer concentration camp,.. Jasenovac, has a doubly haunted history.
Not only were thousands of people savagely killed there, but for decades their deaths were
exploited for political purposes. In the 61 years since the camp was closed, Communist and
nationalist rulers, Serbs and Croats, have apportioned blame differently, and pushed the number
of those killed up or down by tens of thousands. [I]ndisputable that 1941-45 Nazi puppet rulers
of Croatia, most of them ethnic Croats, imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews,
Gypsies and political opponents, and that many thousands were killed. [N]o gas chambers; also
no shortage of barbarity. Now, historians and researchers hopeful world can finally get closer
to the truth of what took place. At end of Nov 06, Croatia... opened a new museum on the site
[and] seems ready to accept its past regarding the Croatian-led Nazi puppet state as the
precursor of today’s independent nation... New exhibition is quick to acknowledge the
competing views. The wildly varying estimates of those killed were ‘a result of using Jasenovac
for political purposes’, reads a sign near the entrance. Researchers at the museum say they have
so far gathered proof that 69,842 people were killed, almost 19,000 of them children... Estimates
by US Holocaust Memorial Museum... suggest that close to 97,000 people may have died.
Researchers at Serbia’s Museum of Genocide... suggest at least 80,000 died, although they say
full count could be several tens of thousands higher... But the museum’s director said the
refusal to lay blame was intended to serve a greater good”(3 pages); Economist 06 Jan
07"Bulgaria and Romania: The New Kids on the [European Union] Block"(43-4):-access by two
more ex-communist states - these with major coast on the vitally-shared Black Sea - might not
be soon followed by that of remaining southeast Europe.Yet it could have a growing effect on
politics/economics/policies of the entire Balkans, and possibly of the continent. Highlights:
"Bulgaria and Romania are already growing strongly; EU money will help. Yet differ from
predecessors: Bulgaria's GDP per head (2005) only $3,480; Romania's $4,490 - against EU-wide
average $29,330. [Also] backward in many ways: infrastructure/public services worse than in rest
of eastern Europe; corruption more entrenched; political culture more fragile. [Population:
Romania 22m; Bulgaria 8m/below 7m by 2020.] Both...on edge of EU, but whereas Bulgarians
feel out of mainstream/speak Slavic tongue, Romanians... see themselves as a Latin outpost.
Each has sizeable ethnic minority from neighbour: Romania [with] 7% ethnic Hungarians;
Bulgaria [with] 9% ethnic Turks. Both also have big Roma (gypsy) populations, often living in
abominable conditions. Bulgarians thanked Tsarist Russia for liberating them from Ottomans,
and many recall communist rule as a time of modernisation. To Romanians, Russia is a predator
[which twice seized currently independent Moldova.] Romania is a bastion of Atlanticism in the
Black Sea region [while] Bulgaria is largely passive in foreign policy, though good relations with
Russia ...Elections may take place in both countries this year. Joining EU has meant [must] meet
Brussels standards[, whose] biggest worry is lawlessness: in Romania corruption; in Bulgaria
organized crime... OECD study rates Bulgaria higher for investment promotion, but Romania
higher on anti-corruption/ business integrity, [and] the more individualistic. Transport links
between [them] are awful, with just one road bridge across Danube. Romania's currency floats,
whereas Bulgaria's is pegged to the euro. Both have huge current-account deficits[, and their]
euro adoption is at least a decade away. As many as 2m Romanians/800,000 Bulgarians live
abroad [and] entry into EU may stimulate emigration. Romania has advantage of size,
demography and newly confident elite; Bulgaria has stronger industrial base[, but their] road to
EU prosperity/stability will be harder [than for other eastern European members]. Richard
Eder“Ultimate Exile: A Gypsy Poet Expelled by Her People”NYT 08 Jan 07:-review of Colum
McCann, Zoli (Random House) 333 pp. US$24.95:-“In novel about the Gypsies of Eastern Europe,
Colum McCann imagines a deeper, darker watchword for this immemorially wandering and
persecuted people: to be understood, even in part, is to be violated and destroyed. McCann is
a young writer of large and driving vision, and at his startling best he confures his vision with
characters, compellingly voiced, who, if larger than life, are specifically and vividly alive... ‘Zoli’,
suggesting a cast-out people’s proud outcast truth, wields a provocative but impeded vision.
The impediment comes in McCann’s effort to fashion a novel out of a search; in this case his
diligent immersion in the work of scholars, the writings of Romany (now a preferred term) poets
and memorialists, and his studies and travel in Slovakia, where much of the book is set”;
AP“Opening Holocaust Archive May Take Years”NYT 18 Jan 07:-“Despite pressure from US
lawmakers and frustration among Holocaust survivors, a unique Nazi-era archive remains off-limits to researchers, and officials say it could take years before the millions of documents
become available for study. Eight months have passed since the 11 countries administering the
vast storehouse of log books, transport lists and death registers agree to open the archive for
research... German Justice Minister... announced in Washington last Apr... that agreement
among the member states should take no more than six months... But that agreement was just
the first step in a lengthy legal process... Only Israel and US have so far fully endorsed the
amendments adopted last May by the 11-nation International Commission... Scholars and groups
representing the elderly survivors are exasperated at the pace,.. and that the legislative process
can - and must - be expedited. It is a cumbersome, but careful, legal process set up in the wake
of WWII with an eye to preventing abuse of power. But it means passing legislation takes
months. Pending ratification, the arduous process of scanning and digitally rendering the
documents is about 63% complete... The records contain 17.5m names [including many Roma,
of course]”(3 pages); Economist 05 Jan 08"Global Migration: Keep the Borders Open"(Edit.8-9):-off.sum:"The backlash against immigrants in the rich world is a threat to prosperity everywhere".
Highlights: "[A]round the rich world, immigration has been rising to the top of voters' lists of
concerns - which, for those who believe that migration greatly benefits both recipient and donor
countries, is a worry in itself".[Editorial draws top attention to"Special Report: Migration"
(Unique 1-16):-the 8 sections' titles/off.sums:"Open Up"/"Despite a growing backlash, the boom
in migration has been mostly good for both sending/recipient countries, says Adam Roberts".
"Of Bedsheets and Bison Grass Vodka"/"Rich economies gain from high levels of migration, but
the benefits are unevenly spread". "The Politics of the Gun"/"Migration has once again become
a touchy political issue". "Keep Out"/"Voters like the idea of tougher borders, but the cost is
high and the benefits are limited". "Send Me a Number"/Migrants' remittances help ease poverty
back home, but they are not a |