Conference in Prague examines Roma and Sinti Holocaust trauma

A three-day Czech-German conference titled The Legacy of Surviving Roma and Sinti Across Generations opened on Thursday evening at Prague’s Ponrepo cinema. Organized by the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the event addresses generational trauma caused by the Roma genocide. It also highlights the current challenges of Roma and Sinti communities in the Czech Republic and Germany.

During the war, Nazi forces exterminated 80 to 90 percent of the prewar Roma population in the Czech lands; in total, between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti were murdered.