The project « European Remembrance and Solidarity – Our Right to Remember! » was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme “Europe for Citizens” with the project number 600669-CITIZ-1-2018-1-MK-CITIZ-REMEM. The project was implemented from 01.09.2018 to 29.02.2020.
The methodology was based on an inclusive, empowering and participatory approach, taking the needs and interests of young people, experts and partners into account, and building partnerships on all levels to transfer, disseminate and exploit successful practices within and outside the network in various context. The methodology was focusing on different working groups, non-formal education, sharing and discussions in the plenum, thematic workshops with experts, plenary sessions with stakeholders, field trips, and encounters with a Holocaust survivors.Also, we included the needs of individual citizens for education, remembrance and active citizenship. Also, the project operated in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 while implementing its activities.
The project started with preparatory meeting in Kratovo, North Macedonia from 03.11 to 05.11.2018. At this meeting, 15 participants from partner countries developing of a project steering group, finalizing the project flow and share responsibilities, concepts and dissemination strategy, prepare visibility tools and communication channels, main FB page (https://www.facebook.com/righttoremember/) for visibility and using RROMA’s web-site as well (https://bit.ly/2W3u3d2).
5 main events have been carried out within this project:
Event 1 International Conference “The Roma Holocaust – 75 years of Remembrance”
Participation: The event involved 50 citizens, including 4 participants from the city of Kratovo, Gostivar, Skopje, Berovo (North Macedonia), 3 participants from the city of Belgrade (Serbia), 2 participants from Tirana (Albania), 3 participants from Berlin (Germany), 1 participants from Thessaloniki (Greece), 1 participant from Sofia (Bulgaria), 3 participants from Budapest (Hungary), 1 participant from Rome (Italy), 1 participant from Strasbourg (France), 1 participant from Brussels (Belgium), 30 participants from Timisoara (Romania)
Location / Dates: The event took place in Timisoara, Romania, from 26.01.2019 to 29.01.2019
Short description: The aim of the event was a 4 days conference to create synergies and cooperation in the field of Remembrance with experts from Germany (prof. Kychukov), Serbia (Prof.Pisari), Greece (Youth psychologist M-R Urania Raptor), as well as from North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania etc.This was done in cooperation with the West University of Timisoara using their premises for the conference and workshops with History students and High school students. Over 50 participants attended the events (https://bit.ly/2KHyy80)
Event 2 Expert meeting on Holocaust educational tools and materials
Participation: The event involved 25 citizens, including 5 participants from the city of Kratovo, Gostivar, Skopje, Berovo, Stip (North Macedonia), 2 participants from the city of Belgrade (Serbia), 2 participants from Tirana (Albania), 8 participants from Berlin (Germany), 1 participants from Thessaloniki (Greece), 2 participant from Sofia (Bulgaria), 2 participants from Budapest (Hungary), 3 participants from Resita (Romania)
Location / Dates: The event took place in Berlin, Germany, from 29.03.2019 to 02.04.2019
Short description: The aim of the event was to build capacities of 25 youth educators and experienced experts using the premises of the Cultural and Documentation centre of German Sinti and Roma as expert institution and visiting the concentration camp Sachsenhausen; using new educational tools on working Roma Genocide in a political frame including guidelines for advocacy, listening to testimonies of Holocaust survivor (https://bit.ly/2W7H05K)
Event 3 Youth event on Remembrance
Participation: The event involved 50 citizens, including 9 participants from the city of Kratovo, Gostivar, Skopje, Berovo, Stip (North Macedonia), 5 participants from the city of Belgrade (Serbia), 5 participants from Tirana (Albania), 5 participants from Berlin (Germany), 5 participants from Thessaloniki (Greece), 5 participant from Sofia (Bulgaria), 3 participants from Budapest (Hungary), 6 participants from Resita (Romania), 2 participants from Istanbul (Turkey), 1 participant from Vienna (Austria), 2 participant from Rome (Italy), 1 participant from Lisabon (Portugal), 1 participant from Brussels (Belgium)
Location / Dates: The event took place in Kratovo and Skopje (North Macedonia), from 31.08.2019 to 05.09.2019
Short description: The aim of the event was to disseminate and have young people participate in an event where they learn about the Holocaust with a specific focus on the Roma genocide during WWII Around 50 participants coming from different European countries were learning about different cultures, history, exchanging experiences, as well as visiting the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Centre in Skopje (https://bit.ly/3aRDQZ8)
Event 4 Training of Remembrance educators and researchers
Participation: The event involved 30 citizens, including 4 participants from the city of Kratovo, Gostivar, Skopje (North Macedonia), 2 participants from the city of Belgrade (Serbia), 2 participants from Tirana (Albania), 4 participants from Berlin (Germany), 2 participants from Thessaloniki (Greece), 2 participant from Sofia (Bulgaria), 10 participants from Budapest (Hungary), 4 participants from Resita (Romania)
Location / Dates: The event took place in Budapest (Hungary), from 14.10.2019 to 18.10.2019
Short description: The aim of the event was participants from the project partners to receive capacity building to act as multipliers and educators/trainers to lead their country educational and remembrance activities (https://bit.ly/2W8XRVL) and finalize input to the materials/workshops sessions developed within the project.
Event 5 European Education and Remembrance on Roma Genocide meeting
Participation: The event involved 25 citizens, including 4 participants from the city of Kratovo, Gostivar, Skopje, Berovo (North Macedonia), 2 participants from the city of Belgrade (Serbia), 2 participants from Tirana (Albania), 2 participants from Berlin (Germany), 1 participants from Thessaloniki (Greece), 1 participant from Sofia (Bulgaria), 1 participants from Budapest (Hungary), 2 participants from Resita (Romania), 10 participants from Brussels (Belgium).
Location / Dates: The event took place in Brussels (Belgium), from 27.01.2020 to 29.01.2020
Short description: The aim of the event was to participate and meet relevant stakeholders in European event on the topic. Such event was organized in the EP from the Roma MEP’s and partners from the project countries participated in the event, also 2 persons from the partnership with ERGO network participated in the meeting with commissioner Dalli presenting about the project and speaking about reconciliation and the Roma genocide (https://bit.ly/3cXSMqc).
Additional activities included:
Youth Remembrance Day 27.01.2019: A commemoration event organized in the synagogue in cooperation with the Jewish community in Timisoara, bringing together Roma and Jewish communities together as well as local citizens from Timisoara.
Local remembrance and education on Roma Genocide activities in project countries running from 01.03.2019 until the 31.01.2020: Initially, planned to start after October 2019, the partners decided that there was sufficient material to start the workshops earlier and improve them based on the project implementation and meetings. Draft workshops were implemented during the meeting in Timisoara in January 2019. 10 workshop per country with students in North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria using the developed workshops methodology (https://bit.ly/2SjTMx8) reaching out and involving above 1500 young people during the workshops were implemented by the partners.
Within the project, the project partners created materials and localized workshops, creating adapted session outlines and information. Material examples can be found here. For more information about the project, you can contact RROMA at info@rromassn.org.