New York Roma / Gypsy human rights film festival.
Film by: Melanie Spitta and Katrin Seybold
The Lie. 'Compensation' for Gypsies (Sinti) in Germany / Das falsche Wort. Die "Wiedergutmachung" an Zigeunern (Sinte) in Deutschland
Film by: Melanie Spitta and Katrin Seybold
FRG, 1987, 85 min with English subtitles
Lies and Lies that's part of the foundation fabric of the society. There was never appropriate neither apology nor compensation of the horror that was and still is in a different devilish and deceitful manner in Europe toward the Roma people. This documentary deals with the persecution of German 'gypsies' during National Socialism and the reparations after 1945. With the help of newspaper articles, pictures, documents and material assembled by the 'racial researchers' it proves that the persecution of Sinti (and Roma) started as early as 1936, and not – as was later believed – in 1943. After the war, evidence was kept under lock and key in order to prevent or at least postpone reparations. Only in 1981, after Sinti protests, could the files be examined.
The Lie.
Das falsche Wort. Die "Wiedergutmachung" an Zigeunern (Sinte) in Deutschland
Film by: Melanie Spitta and Katrin Seybold
Porraimos
Europe’s Gypsies in the Holocaust
a documentary by director/producer Alexandra Isles
56 minutes
A discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening.
Gypsies…
the Most Persecuted Minority in Europe Today…
the Forgotten Victims of Nazi Oppression
Filmmaker Alexandra M. Isles made many visits to the Museum’s archives to research visual documentation of the experience of Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) under Nazi rule. Much of what she found ultimately became part of her film Porraimos, which means “the devouring” in Romani. Under the Nazis, Roma were forced to settle and were subjected to medical experiments, sterilization, and deportation to concentration camps.
Interviews, film and photographs from the Nazi Department of Racial Hygiene, and other archival material help tell the story of the tragic fate of the Gypsies during the Holocaust. Like the Jews, Gypsies were viewed as inherently tainted and were persecuted, in large part due to the pseudoscience of eugenics. Gypsies during the Nazi era lost their civil rights, were forced to register, and, in keeping with the Nazi strategy of liquidation, were then segregated into ghettoes and camps for ultimate extermination.
A BLUE HOLE IN THE SKY
A piece of history that everybody has always kept silent about up till now.
a film by BOB ENTROP
105 minutes/ In Dutch English subtitled
Filmed in The Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland.
Americas Premiere.
This probing film tells the touching story of twelve people who survived the second World War and talk about it for the first time, thus breaking a taboo. Through sometimes violent and also beautiful images and stories, the spectator is sucked in by a piece of history that everybody has always kept silent about up to now.
Taking into account that the war is taboo and is never discussed, most certainly not in front of a camera, Bob Entrop has been able to make a unique and special film. As a result of a growing trust and the friendships that have development in the past few years between the Sinti and Roma and filmmaker Bob Entrop, they were willing to go public with their story for the first time.
This film is a journey through time. In the present, we travel with three people to Auschwitz, and at the same time we travel with the others back into the past, to the time in which almost a million Sinti and Roma, gipsies, were murdered..
Script and camera Bob Entrop
Research Lalla Weiss
Camera-assistant Arda Nederveen
Sound Kees van Gool
Wouter Weber
Editing Xandra Schipperheijn
Bob Entrop
Music and mixage Jeroen Goeijers
Production Nicole Neefs
Editorial board RVU Televison
Director Bob Entrop
Produced and released by SOL FILMprodukties © 2007
Hidden Sorrows.
The persecution of Romanian Gypsies during WWII.
a film by Michelle Kelso
56 minutes/ In Romanian with English subtitled.2005
Americas Premiere.
This documentary chronicles the rarely told narratives of Gypsy survivors
of Nazi persecution in Romania as they remember
their experiences during WWII in the context of their lives today. During WWII, Gypsies were slated alongside Jews and other
populations for extermination. In each country occupied or allied with Nazi Germany, their fate was similar.Far too many Roma are
supposed to have perished due to systematic extermination, forced marches, starvation, exposure, diseases, and abuses. Romania, The
Gypsies' experience critically altered their lives. Survivors share with viewers their shocking deportation from Romania to camps where
they fought to survive by any means necessary. Hidden Sorrows reveals the continued struggle of Gypsies for equality in a society that views
them as second-class citizens. It examines the present impoverishment of the survivors and their descendants as well as discrimination facing them daily.
This is about the nowadays social conditions of Gypsies in
Romania linked to the reparations granted to survivors for their suffering.
It is explained that the Swiss bank, that helped financing the Nazi regime, granted only 55 years later (in 2000) 770 dollars to 152 Roma survivors (as humanitarian assistance and not as reparation), and that in 2001 the German government granted 1300 people 500 dollars. Many applications were
rejected for lack of archival documents.
The Pig Farm
A memorial at a former Roma internment camp during the Holocaust,
now the site of a pig farm.
a film by Michelle Coomber
3 minutes/ Czech Republic / England. Czech with English subtitles.
World Premiere
Between 90 to 95% of Roma in the Czech Republic were killed during the Holocaust. Two major camps were used to house the Roma before sending them to Auschwitz. One of these, Holdonín is now a recreational center. The second, Lety, is now the site of a pig farm. Every spring, on international Roma Day, there is a gathering to remember those killed. In 2007, the country’s first Roma priest, Father David Dudas conducted the memorial service at Lety.
