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The Ketani Association (German : Verein Ketani) is an Austrian association for Romani and Sinti. It was founded in 1998 by Gitta Martl and her brother Albert Kugler in Linz, Austria.
Many Romani people and Sinti did not possess any documents after World War II. As they were not able to read nor to write, it was difficult for them to solve these bureaucratic issues alone by visiting the responsible offices. The Ketani Association represented these interests for this minority living in Austria over centuries. One of the associations’ tasks was to support and to look after its members by helping out with applications, search of accommodation or education. Furthermore, the Ketani Association looks after Romani refugees, mostly coming from the former Yugoslavia, who suffer from postwar-consequences. It represents the interests of Sinti and Romani people in public through interviews, radio broadcasts, television recordings, writing articles about specific topics i.e. the fate of Romani women in Upper Austria. Another field of tasks is taking care of camping places in the surrounding and especially consultation and conception of surrounding campsites for Sinti and Romani people, i.e. at Braunau in cooperation with mayor Gerhard Skiba. In 2006 the association produced the movie Ketani heißt miteinander. Sintiwirklichkeiten statt Zigeunerklischees von Ludwig Laher. Besides many cultural project which take place annually, the members of the association give lectures about Sinti and Romani people in Austria and report from own experiences of being part of the minority. An important point is the organization and participation at commemoration events for victims of the National Socialist Regime, for example Maxglan, Mauthausen and Lackenbach. In 2005 the soccer team “Ketani Kickers” was founded. The Ketani Association design a radio broadcast monthly on Radio FRO in Linz. In these broadcasts interesting personalities are introduced, Romani and Sinti music is played and they talk about current happenings and projects of Ketani Association. In the last broadcast under the moderator Josef Gaffl, Gitta Martl and her daughter Nicole read from the book: “We should not have existed”. The book was published at “Geschichte der Heimat; Franz Steinmassl”. It is the very first book about the history of Sinti published in Austria. In 2008 the book was translated in Japanese by Martin Kaneko.
The Romani, also spelled Romany or Rromani and 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, ḍoma and means a member of the Dom caste of travelling musicians and dancers. The Roma population moved west into the Ghaznavid Empire and later into the Byzantine Empire. The Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.
Demographic features of the population of the Czech Republic include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations.
The Romani Holocaust or the Romani genocide was the planned effort by Nazi Germany and its World War II allies and collaborators to commit ethnic cleansing and eventually genocide against European Roma and Sinti peoples during the Holocaust era.
Gitta Sereny, CBE was an Austrian-British biographer, historian, and investigative journalist who became known for her interviews and profiles of infamous figures, including Mary Bell, who was convicted in 1968 of killing two children when she herself was a child, and Franz Stangl, the commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp.
Franz Paul Stangl was an Austrian police officer and commandant of the Nazi extermination camps Sobibor and Treblinka in World War II.
The Yenish are an itinerant group in Western Europe who live mostly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and parts of France, roughly centered on the Rhineland. A number of theories for the group's origins have been proposed, including that the Yenish descended from members of the marginalized and vagrant poor classes of society of the early modern period, before emerging as a distinct group by the early 19th century. Most of the Yenish became sedentary in the course of the mid-19th to 20th centuries.
About 9.3% of Romania's population is represented by minorities, and 13% unknown or undisclosed according to 2021 census. The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Romani people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bukovina, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Banat Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Jews, Turks and Tatars, Armenians, Russians, Afro-Romanians, and others.
Bohemian Romani or Bohemian Romany was a dialect of Romani formerly spoken by the Romani people of Bohemia, the western part of today's Czech Republic. It became extinct after World War II, due to the genocide of most of its speakers in extermination camps by Nazi Germany.
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.
In French cuisine, à la zingara, sometimes spelled as à la singara, is a garnish or sauce consisting of chopped ham, tongue, mushrooms and truffles combined with tomato sauce, tarragon and sometimes madeira. Additional ingredients may include white wine, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and orange rind. The sauce is prepared by cooking the ingredients until the mixture reduces and thickens. This garnish is served with meat such as veal, poultry and sometimes eggs.
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is a German Romani rights group based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is headed by Romani Rose, who lost 13 members of his close family in the Holocaust. The organization is a member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities.
Romani media started to develop in the last decades, with an evolution influenced by the diasporic status of the Romani people.
The Stadtwerkstatt is an open event and project house in Linz. Founded in 1979 by young activists, it is the city's oldest autonomous cultural center. In addition to several music events each week, other cultural and artistic events are also held regularly. Three different associations operate in the Stadtwerkstatt building: the Friedhofstr 6 association with its Cafe Strom, art projects and events departments, as well as the non-commercial radio station Radio FRO and the net art and culture initiative servus.at.
Sinte Romani is the variety of Romani spoken by the Sinti people in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, some parts of Northern Italy and other adjacent regions. Sinte Romani is characterized by significant German influence and is not mutually intelligible with other forms of Romani. The language is written in the Latin script.
The Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma was established in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1990s, as a memorial to Sinti and Roma people who were killed by the National Socialists Party. After several years of extension work collecting stories from the victims, conducting research, and conversion, the building complex was ceremonially opened to the public on 16 March 1997, and was supported by the attendance of many Roma and Sinti survivors. It is the world's first permanent exhibition on the genocide perpetrated upon the Sinti and Roma by the Nazis. The documentation Centre has three levels and covers an area of almost 700 square meters, and traces the history and stories of the persecution of the Sinti and Roma under National Socialism. The institution is overseen by Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, supported by the city of Heidelberg, and is the beneficiary of special funds from the German Federal Government and the land of Baden-Württemberg.
Heart Flesh Degeneration is a novel written by Ludwig Laher in 2001 in which the author portrays the Austrian provinces in the years 1940 to 1955.
The Romani are an ethnic group that has lived in Austria since the Middle Ages. According to the 2001 census, there were 6,273 Romani speakers in Austria, or less than 0.1% of the population. Estimations count between 10,000 and 25,000. A more recent estimation count between 40,000 and 50,000 Romani people or about 0.5%. Most indigenous Romani people in Austria belong to the Burgenland-Roma group in East-Austria. The majority live in the state of Burgenland, in the city of Oberwart and in villages next to the District of Oberwart. The Burgenland-Roma speak the Vlax Romani language.
Romani people in Germany are estimated to around 170,000-300,000, constituting around 0.2-0.4% of the population. One-third of Germany Romani belong to the Sinti group. Most speak German or Sinte Romani.
Roma Routes was established in 2007 to encourage the study of European heritage and culture. The project was established by the European Union and ended in 2013. The main purpose of Roma Route was to break the "cultural barrier" between the Roma and Non-Roma. Roma is a very lonely group in Europe, and most European countries have "discrimination" against Roma. Discrimination in most European countries also prevents Roma's culture from spreading worldwide. Through Roma Route, the European Union hopes to change the living conditions of the Roma and enhance the cultural communication of the Roma to the world.
Otto Rosenberg, was a Holocaust survivor, author of A Gypsy in Auschwitz (1999), activist, and founder of Sinti Union of Berlin and Organization for German Sinti and Roma. He was detained in Berlin-Marzahn in 1939. He was born in East Prussia and raised in Berlin.