David Z. Scheffel was a professor of anthropology at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
David Z. Scheffel was a professor of anthropology at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
Born in former Czechoslovakia in 1954or1955, [2] he emigrated in August 1968 after the Soviet invasion with his parents and sister to Austria. Scheffel earned degrees in Canada in anthropology, culminating in his doctorate from McMaster University in 1988. His main areas of interest in the last couple of decades is ethnology studies of the Romani people in Europe. Scheffel is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including In the Shadow of Antichrist (Broadview Press, 1991), a work on the Russian Orthodox breakaway Old Believers sect in Alberta.
Scheffel's efforts to help impoverished Roma rebuild their community in the Slovakian village of Svinia is the subject of a 1998 documentary film, The Gypsies of Svinia . [3] He is also the author of the 2005 study Svinia in Black and White: Slovak Roma and their Neighbours (University of Toronto Press).
In June 2019, a Slovakian court in Prešov found Scheffel guilty of sexual abuse and illegal weapon possession and sentenced him to seven years in prison. [2] [4] The verdict remains under appeal.[ citation needed ]
The Romani, also spelled Romany or Rromani, colloquially known as the Roma, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani originated in the Indian subcontinent; in particular, the region of present-day Rajasthan. Their subsequent westward migration, possibly in waves, is now believed by historians to have occurred around 1000 CE. Their original name is from the Sanskrit word डोम (doma) and means a member of the Dom caste of travelling musicians and dancers. The Roma population moved west into the Persian Ghaznavid Empire and later into the Byzantine Empire. The Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. A genetic analysis published in the Current Biology journal implies an earlier initial arrival, dating back to the 6th century. Although they are dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Turkey and Spain.
Prešov is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros County of the Kingdom of Hungary. With a population of approximately 84,000 for the city, and in total about 110,000 with the metropolitan area, it is the third-largest city in Slovakia. It belongs to the Košice-Prešov agglomeration and is the natural cultural, economic, transport and administrative center of the Šariš region. It lends its name to the Eperjes-Tokaj Hill-Chain which was considered as the geographic entity on the first map of Hungary from 1528. There are many tourist attractions in Prešov such as castles, pools and the old town.
William Kamm, also known as "The Little Pebble", is the founder and leader of a religious group in Australia called the "Order of St Charbel" named after the Maronite saint Charbel Makhlouf. The Order of St Charbel is considered as a Christian sect and a fringe religious grouping. His religious order claims to be part of the Roman Catholic Church, but the Maronite Church and the Holy See do not regard the group as being part of Roman Catholicism. He was released from prison after serving 9 years of a 10-year prison term for the rape and assault of a teenager.
Anti-Romani sentiment is a form of bigotry which consists of hostility, prejudice, discrimination, racism and xenophobia which is specifically directed at Romani people. Non-Romani itinerant groups in Europe such as the Yenish, Irish and Highland Travellers are frequently given the name "gypsy" and as a result, they are frequently confused with the Romani people. As a result, sentiments which were originally directed at the Romani people are also directed at other traveler groups and they are frequently referred to as "antigypsy" sentiments.
John Paskievich is a Canadian documentary photographer and filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Romani people are an ethnic minority in the Czech Republic, currently making up 2–3% of the population. Originally migrants from North Western India sometime between the 6th and 11th centuries, they have long had a presence in the region. Since the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Romani population have experienced considerable hardship, having been a main target of Nazi extermination programs during World War II, and the subject of forced relocation, sterilisation, and other radical social policies during the Communist era. In the successor state, the Czech Republic, challenges remain for the Romani population with respect to education and poverty, and there are frequent tensions with the white majority population over issues including crime and integration.
Pavel Peter Gojdič, was a Rusyn Basilian monk and the eparch of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy of Prešov. He died while imprisoned by the StB, the secret police of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2007.
Human rights in Austria are generally respected by the government; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some reports of police abuse and use of unjustified force against prisoners. Antisemitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling, property damage, and threatening letters, telephone calls, and Internet postings occurred during the year. There was some governmental and societal discrimination against fathers, Muslims and members of unrecognized religious groups, particularly those considered "sects". There were incidents of neo-Nazi activity, rightwing extremism, and xenophobia. Trafficking in women and children for prostitution and labor also remained a problem.
Magdalena Solís, known as The High Priestess of Blood, allegedly was a Mexican serial killer and cult leader responsible for orchestrating several murders which involved the drinking of the victims' blood. The murders were committed in Yerba Buena, San Luis Potosí, during the early 1960s.
According to the last census from 2021, there were 67,179 persons counted as Romani people in Slovakia, or 1.23% of the population. However, the number of Roma is usually underreported, with estimates placing the Roma population at 5-6% of the population. Thus the actual number of Roma may be over half a million.
The Romani people are also known by a variety of other names; in English as gypsies or gipsies, and Roma; in Greek as γύφτοι (gíftoi) or τσιγγάνοι (tsiggánoi), in Central and Eastern Europe as Tsingani ; in France as gitans besides the dated terms bohémiens and manouches; in Italy as rom and sinti besides the dated terms zingari, zigani, and gitani; in Spain as gitanos; and in Portugal and Brazil as ciganos.
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Canada are well documented dating back to the 1960s. The preponderance of criminal cases with Canadian Catholic dioceses named as defendants that have surfaced since the 1980s strongly indicate that these cases were far more widespread than previously believed. While recent media reports have centred on Newfoundland dioceses, there have been reported cases—tested in court with criminal convictions—in almost all Canadian provinces. Sexual assault is the act of an individual touching another individual sexually and/or committing sexual activities forcefully and/or without the other person's consent. The phrase Catholic sexual abuse cases refers to acts of sexual abuse, typically child sexual abuse, by members of authority in the Catholic church, such as priests. Such cases have been occurring sporadically since the 11th century in Catholic churches around the world. This article summarizes some of the most notable Catholic sexual abuse cases in Canadian provinces.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church (UOGCC) is an unregistered Eastern Independent Catholic religious movement that was established by Basilian priests, predominantly from Slovakia, who schismated from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and declared the creation of the new church in 2009 based in Pidhirtsi, Ukraine.
Orbán Kolompár is a Hungarian Romani politician and activist, who served as President of the National Gypsy Council (OCÖ) from 2003 to 2011. He is the founder and chairman of the Romani Alliance Party (MCF).
Hungarian Slovak Gypsies or Balshade immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century, many from Košice, Slovakia. They settled in the cities of Braddock, Homestead, Johnstown, and Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit and Delray, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; Chicago, and New York City and Las Vegas. The Hungarian Slovak Gypsies were a community of settled Roma, and in the United States were well known for playing music for the Central European immigrant communities in which they settled. These Roma were known for playing in cafes and restaurants, the name associating these Romani as Bashaldé was made up in late 20th century, and in Hungary they are called Romungro Romani; portions of them were also known as Romungre. In the early 1900s the Roma in Braddock, Pennsylvania, purchased an entire block of homes, making them the largest population of settled Roma in the United States.
The Romani people in Canada are citizens of Canada who are of Romani descent. According to the 2021 Canadian census there were 6,545 Canadians who claimed Romani ancestry. They are sometimes referred as "gypsies", but that is considered to be a racial slur.
Elena Marushiakova is a historian and ethnographer working in field of Romani Studies, of Slovak and Russian origin, who has lived and studied in Slovakia and Bulgaria. In 2016 she became a Research Professor in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. Elena Marushiakova became the president of the Gypsy Lore Society.
Marian Kotleba is a Slovak politician and leader of the far-right, neo-Nazi political party Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia.
Donald Brian MacIntyre is a Canadian former politician and criminal from Alberta. He was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, where he represented the electoral district of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. MacIntyre resigned on February 5, 2018 after being charged with sexual assault and "sexual interference". On January 11, 2019, MacIntyre pled guilty to sexual interference and was sentenced to three years in prison, while the charge of sexual assault was withdrawn.
Childs Play [sic] was a child pornography website on the darknet that operated from April 2016 to September 2017, which at its peak was the largest of its class. The site was concealed by being run as a hidden service on the Tor network. After running the site for the first six months, owner Benjamin Faulkner of North Bay, Ontario, Canada, was captured by the United States Department of Homeland Security. For the remaining eleven months the website was owned and operated by the Australian Queensland Police Service's Task Force Argos, as part of Operation Artemis.
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