During World War II, the Nazis perpetrated a genocide of Europe’s Roma and Sinti, who they saw as racially inferior and as social outsiders. It is thought that 70-80% of the European community was murdered.
For Romani Genocide Remembrance Day, join us on August 5th, 2024 at noon EST for a virtual discussion with Milovan Pissari, an internationally recognized expert on Holocaust-related topics and the Genocide against the Roma, and Gina Csanyi-Robah, the Executive Director of the Canadian Romani Alliance.
They will discuss Dr. Pisarri's research about the mechanisms that led to the Roma Genocide in southeastern Europe, the history of anti-Roma racism, and the reasons behind the general lack of interest in the topic. A Q&A will follow the discussion.
The event is presented in partnership with the World Roma Federation, the Canadian Romani Alliance, Romanipe, and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.
Learn more about our speakers:
Milovan Pisarri is an internationally recognized expert on the Holocaust-related topics and the Genocide against the Roma. He received his PhD in Social History at the University of Venice, Italy, with a thesis on the crimes against civilians in Serbia during WWI. In 2018, he founded the Centre for Public History, the remit of which extends to the history of the 20th century in the Balkans and particularly to the Holocaust. He is the author and the coordinator of different international projects on Holocaust research, education, and remembrance.
Gina Csanyi-Robah, Hons. B.A., B.Ed, is a Canadian Hungarian Romani, educator born in Toronto and currently residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her family arrived in Canada in 1956 as Geneva Convention refugees escaping the Hungarian Revolution. Gina began her work as a Romani rights activist in 2004 at the European Roma Rights Centre. She has been at the forefront of the Roma civil rights movement, since she joined the Roma Community Centre (RCC) in 2007. After serving as the Executive Director of the RCC, Gina co- founded the Canadian Romani Alliance in 2014, a not-for-profit organization focused on public education, community capacity building, advocacy, and promoting human rights and social justice. Active allyship and working in solidarity with other marginalized communities in important part of Roma Rights work for Gina.
