What happens when history is left untaught? In a conversation for the ROMDIEM project, Milka Kraljević, president of the Association of War Disabled Veterans, speaks about the fragility of memory and how Roma suffering in Serbia has long been overlooked. Through the story of her husband, Gojko Kraljević — a fighter in the 6th Lika...

How do we honor those who left no trace? In an interview for the ROMDIEM project, historian Milan Koljanin highlights the often-overlooked suffering of Roma during the Holocaust. Entire communities were destroyed across Nazi-controlled areas, including Topovske Šupe, Banjica, and the Sajmište camp, where Roma women and children perished in brutal conditions. Koljanin warns that...

On Memory, Research, and Roma Remembrance. In an interview for the ROMDIEM project, political scientist Ljuan Koko reflects on the decades of silence surrounding the Roma Holocaust and the urgency of restoring Roma historical memory. As one of the first to record testimonies of Roma survivors from Jasenovac, he documented stories long ignored or suppressed....

Interview Date: July 14, 2025 Location: Thessaloniki, Greece As part of the ROMDIEM project’s field research, we had the privilege to interview Dr. Maria Kavala, historian and academic specializing in Holocaust studies, antisemitism, and the history of exclusion. Dr. Kavala studied History at the Ionian University and pursued graduate and doctoral studies at the Aristotle...

On Remembrance, Research, and the Need for Romani Memory Sites How do we remember the forgotten? In an interview for the ROMDIEM project, Dr. Krinka Vidaković Petrov, Director of the “Staro Sajmište” Memorial Center in Serbia, speaks about the complex history of one of WWII’s most tragic sites—and the urgent need to include Roma victims...

Interview Date: July 7, 2025 Location: Athens, Greece As part of the ROMDIEM project, we had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Labros Baltsiotis, a historian and expert in minority rights, who offered a thought-provoking perspective on the Greek context of the Roma Holocaust. Dr. Baltsiotis holds a law degree from Democritus University of Thrace,...

Interview Date: July 5, 2025 Location: Athens, Greece The ROMDIEM Project had the honor of speaking with Mrs. Artemis Alkalai, a Greek artist whose powerful visual work brings to light the often-silenced stories of the Jewish and Roma victims of the Holocaust. Born in Athens in 1957, Artemis studied painting at the Athens School of...

ROMDIEM Voices: Michalis Papantonopoulos – Memory, Psychology & Roma Youth Interview Date: July 4, 2025 Location: Athens, Greece As part of the ROMDIEM oral history series, we spoke with Michalis Papantonopoulos, psychologist, scientific coordinator of the Adolescent Day Center and Psychosocial Intervention Program at “Ploes” (EPSYME), and PhD candidate in Social and Intercultural Psychology at...

On June 23, 2025, the ROMDIEM Project recorded what would become the final interview of one of the most important Roma intellectuals of our time—Prof. Dr. Dragoljub Acković. A scholar, historian, and relentless advocate for Roma truth, he spoke with clarity, urgency, and deep emotion about the Samudaripen—the genocide of the Roma people during WWII....

🎗️ Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – August 2nd Today, we honor the memory of the victims of the Roma Holocaust, a tragic and often overlooked chapter of European history. On the night of August 2nd, 1944, nearly 500,000 Roma people, mostly women, children, and the elderly, were murdered in the so-called “Gypsy Family Camp” at...