The public recognition of the Roma genocide is recent. This produced four main consequences:

1. Only a minority of memorial sites are internationally recognised as memorial landmarks

2. Most camps are only nationally recognised as having hosted Roma people

3. Only a few EU countries have a dedicated Roma genocide remembrance policy

4. Many memorial sites are at risk of destruction because they survive only in the memories and oral accounts of Roma and Romni (Roma women) 

 

Meanwhile, there is a wealth of research and materials produced recently, most of it is only available at the national level, in national languages, and with a national perspective.

The aim of the project is thus, to promote a stronger interconnection between existing cultural hubs, to collect the fragmented materials and website into a single online Virtual Museum, to produce digital cartography of the existing memorial sites, and to study and compare the multilevel Roma remembrance policies in Europe, to produce an education toolkit and to generate new research based on the Roma knowledge.

In this effort, it will be important to maintain an intersectional approach with particular attention paid to the role of Roma women, both as victims and producers of oral knowledge. Moreover, the project will take the shape of a participatory action research project in which Roma communities are going to be co-researchers, rather than the target of the research.

The expected impact is the creation of an international network of cultural hubs (physically connected by an existing website), the recognition of at least 20 international memorial sites with direct involvement of the local communities, the diffusion of the toolkit to EU citizens, the creation of the "City of Remembrance International network", the organization of 3 international conferences: on Roma women and genocide, on Roma genocide remembrance policy, and a European-wide cultural trip.

As partners, our role is the facilitation of the translation of the website and educational toolkit in Croatian. We will document the local memory on Roma persecution, organize meetings in Roma communities and share its vast knowledge with partners. Together with our collaborator, Antonio Grgić, within the project we hold the responsibility of the production of the mobile cenotaph dedicated to Roma people. Aside from essential and general tasks of management, organization and networking, we are the lead of the participatory action research (WP5) and journey of memory (WP9) in Croatia.