Consider the visual grammar of the "Gypsy" photograph. Exoticism, and "otherness" separating these people from their majority context. In the words of Czech Professor Miroslav Vojtĕchovský, these images are a theatre of grotesque characters, irreconcilably different, without redemption. Garish colour can further isolation.
RomaRising offers respectful black and white images of dignity, countering stereotype. Many among these souls are highly educated, and have capacity to function as government ministers and lead within society. Indeed, Mr. Ciprian Necula became State Secretary in the Ministry of European Union Funds, representing the Romanian Government. He is not unique.
Mary Evelyn Porter, educator, researcher, and writer produced oral narratives starting in Bulgaria, some 200 in all. Finally the last piece fell in place: hearing each individual's formational story. These narratives obviate "the tendency to define people of colour, rather than allowing them to speak for themselves." (Alina Şerban, Actor, Romania)
Alas, some of the most prepared Roma we encountered are sequestered to the "Gypsy Bubble" of Romani Affairs. Others, unable to deploy hard-earned degrees, seek locales where they are appreciated, allowing a normal life. Witness the obvious sense of freedom on the visages of those within the Canada folio.
RomaRising became a record of feminine empowerment. Time and again we encounter women of strength and achievement stepping onto the stage, and with impact.
RomaRising also has become an international community: participants from 14 countries met one another at the RomArchive rollout in Berlin, some for the first time.
A RomaRising/EU was possible. Enthusiastic endorsement within the Roma and Sinti community was lost on European underwriting institutions. With notable exception, RomaRising is self-funded, at considerable sacrifice.
Our hope is that majority societies will come to recognise the vast talent in these individuals of RomaRising. They are found treasure within their societies. Regardless of their chosen paths, one discovers them to be superlative embodiments of our common humanity.
A note about the narratives: they are transcribed, as told to us by each participant. They are not journalism. As with the portraits, they occurred at a point in time.
We would like to mention Asen Mitkov, of Bulgaria. When introduced to us by Viktoria Petrova, we knew immediately here was the capable colleague we had always sought: a knowledgeable collaborator, who effortlessly facilitated multiple situations, be it by his spoken Romanes, his equilibrium, his empathy. Asen is at the heart of the project's final decade.
Chad Evans Wyatt and Mary Evelyn Porter
Narrative by Mary Evelyn Porter
"I am a Flower Child".
Johan (Zoni) Weisz was born in the Hague on 4 March 1937. His parents, Jacoba and Johannes Weisz were musicians and owners of a music shop in Zutphen, a town northeast of Arnhem. Zoni had three younger siblings.
In May 1944, Zoni's entire family was caught up in the Nazi Holocaust against Sinti and Roma, known as Porrajmos in Romanes. For a short time Zoni found refuge with his aunt, but they were caught and taken to the Westerbork transit camp from where they were to be deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. A Dutch police officer who was a member of the Dutch resistance, recognized Zoni and helped him to board another train which took him to his grandparent's home. Zoni spent the remainder of the war with his grandparents. His parents and siblings all perished.
After the war, Zoni moved to Apeldoorn where he completed secondary school and horticultural college. His apprenticeship at the Het Loo Palace through the auspices of the Dutch Royal family, launched his career as a florist and flower arranger.
When Zoni returned from two years of military service in Surinam, he began working with renowned Dutch florist Georg Kirsch in Amsterdam. Zoni took courses in landscape architecture and art history. In 1958, Georg Kirsch retired and Zoni took over the business, Bloemsierkunst René.
He became well-known throughout Holland and internationally. Zoni designed the flower stands for KLM's opening in New York City in 1978. He created several arrangements for the Dutch Royal Family including arrangements for the investiture of Queen Beatrix in 1980, and the wedding of Prince Willem-Alexander to Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in 2002. His flower art won top prizes at numerous exhibitions.
In 1972, 1982, and again in 1992 Johan Weisz was the chief arranger of the Floriade, an international horticultural festival held in the Netherlands every ten years. At the close of the 1992 exhibition, Zoni decided to retire and hand his shop over to his employees.
For years Zoni participated in the Bloemen Corso, the Aalsmeer flower parade. His arrangement of 35,000 roses at the Zurellaroos Town Hall is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records.
https://aalsmeervandaag.nl/mensen/zoni-weisz-het-werd-tijd-voor-een-boek
In 2002, Queen Beatrice appointed Johan Weisz an officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau. The chivalric order of Orange-Nassau is awarded to those who deserve recognition for their outstanding contributions to Dutch society. Zoni received the award for his commitment to the Sinti and Roma community and his innovative work in the Dutch horticultural industry. https://www.biltschecourant.nl/nieuws/algemeen/135424/lezing-zoni-weisz-over-de-vergeten-holocaust-
Zoni Weisz is a member of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee and the International Auschwitz Committee.
In 2007, Zoni Weisz was the keynote speaker at the United Nations exhibit, The Holocaust Against the Roma and Sinti and present-day racism in Europe. On 27 January 2011, Zoni became the first Sinto to address the German House of Representatives (Bundestat) on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. His speech on the Liberation of Auschwitz, touched on the tragic loss of his own family. He stressed the need for an end to anti-Sinti and anti-Roma discrimination in Europe.
In 2016, Zoni Weisz published his biography, Zoni. The Forgotten Holocaust: My life as a Sinto, Entrepreneur and Survivor.
In her review of the original Dutch edition of ZONI: De vergeten Holocaust (2016) the flower artist, Inge Quint, gives us an idea of the high esteem Johan Weisz is accorded by his peers, the world-famous horticulturists of the Netherlands.
"Johan Weisz is my great example and inspiration, the flower designer who conquered the world and for a long time was the favorite arranger of the Dutch Royal Family. But above all, he was a very sympathetic Amsterdam florist, and a Sinto. Every floral student should read this book, an intense document, but also a loving story of the florist who decorated the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Máxima.
Johan awarded me first prize for a stand we arranged for the RAI Amsterdam Exhibition and Conference Centre in 2004. Zoni told me 'You deserved to win. I couldn't fault this beautiful stand!' A compliment from the master; a master at connecting people and arranging flowers."
https://www.hortipoint.nl/floribusiness/johan-weisz-bloemenheld/
"My story had to be written now," Zoni explained to Deutchland Radio broadcaster, Michael Köhler. on the release of the German translation of ZONI in 2018. "I had been working on the book, in my head, for years because too few know about the Sinti and Roma Holocaust. Much has been written about the fate of the thousands of Jewish Dutch who were rounded up by the NAZIS and sent to concentration camps. Almost nothing is known about how the Sinti and Roma fared during the same period.
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/das-leben-des-sinto-zoni-weisz-ich-bin-ein-blumenkind.694.de.html?dram:article_id=436992
Zoni Weisz was seven years old when he saw his parents, his sisters and brother for the last time on May 19, 1944. "The scene is burned into my memory forever." Police officers and uniformed soldiers on the platform in Assen. Zoni's parents, Johannes and Jacoba Weisz along with his sisters Augusta and Helena, and his baby brother Emile loaded onto a cattle car destined for Auschwitz. The door of the car is opened briefly and Zoni sees his parents' faces. His father calls his name. His mother's long black hair has been shaved off. He glimpses his little sister's blue coat. Then the door slams shut, and his family and 240 other Sinti and Roma pull away from the station in what is labeled the 'Gypsy Transport' by the Nazis.
"On that platform I lost everything that was dear to me.
Everything, including my sister's blue coat
I prayed, screamed, I want to be with you
Together, die together, feel the same pain."
Zoni's mother and siblings were murdered at Auschwitz. His father was killed at the Mittelbau-Dora extermination camp in northern Germany.
https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/p/zoni-weisz/
https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanRomaRightsCentre/posts/zoni-weisz-was-seven-years-old-when-his-mother-father-and-siblings-were-arrested/868937343174323/
"Like the diary of Anne Frank, this book by Johan or Zoni Weisz shows us that our life force can overcome crushing adversity and lead us to thrive against all expectations" writes Ronald Leopold, General Director of the Anne Frank Foundation, Amsterdam in his Forward to Zoni: The Forgotten Holocaust.
'So many horrific experiences and yet he has not lost faith in people', writes Gerdi Verbeet, Chair of the WWII 4th and 5th of May Remembrance Committee and former Chair of the Dutch House of Representatives in her cover notes to ZONI.
https://www.amazon.com/vergeten-holocaust-leven-ondernemer- overlevende/dp/9024569931/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Zoni Weisz appeared at the RomArchive festival, Performing RomArchive at the Akademie der Künste from January 24-27, 2019.
On October 14, 2019 Zoni spoke at the Tuighuis (Town Hall) in Den Bosch, Holland at the dedication by the city of a plaque honouring Sinti from Den Bosch, who were murdered by the Nazis. That evening featured the opening of the Exhibition of O Lungo Drom, (the Long Road).
Below is a summary of Zoni's speech at Den Bosch in English. The original speech in Dutch is available on the RomaRising Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/RomaRisingPage/O Lungo Drom. Johan (Zoni) Weisz. 14th of October, 2019.
"O Lungo Drom, The Long Road, that is the name of the exhibition we see here. And it was a long road indeed. A long road that we have traveled with our diaspora. From North India to our dispersion over the entire world. A road of centuries, before we, Sinti and Roma, more or less settled down. Some of us, especially Sinti, continued to live nomadically, until, in many countries, a prohibition was put in place against this way of life, and with that, a part of our culture disappeared. It was also a road of exclusion and persecution, throughout the centuries. With at an all-time low being the attempt by the Nazis to eradicate our people. They did not succeed! Ladies and gentlemen, and because of that, we are here together today. Look! Here we all are. We survived. And we will continue to do so in the upcoming thousands of years.
The Nazi period was an all-time low in our history. Based on Nazi race-laws enacted in 1935, Roma and Sinti were persecuted and killed. More than 500,000 of our people did not survive this Nazi madness. The consequences of this tragedy are still palpable in our community. We don't make a big fuss of it, but it's there.
Here in the Netherlands, where we have lived since the 13th century, we were persecuted. I am thinking of the so-called 'heathen' hunts' of the 16th and 17th centuries. We were declared heathens. There were already attempts to make the Netherlands 'gypsy-free'. Xenophobia, the fear of strangers and those deemed foreign, has always existed, ladies and gentlemen. The annals of the municipality of Deventer, in the year 1420 noted that a group of exotic-looking people were camped on the outskirts of the city and were entertaining the population – who had come out to watch – with music, dance, and acrobatics. We have enriched the world with our music, our craftmanship and our art.
The exposition O Lungo Drom, The Long Road, which you can see here, is an exposition that gives a complete overview of the history of the Sinti and Roma in the Netherlands. It is a very informative and educational exhibit, especially for outsiders. Chairwoman, Beike Steinbach and Secretary, Peter Jorna have put a lot of effort into making this a success. And, in my view, they completely succeeded. Thanks to their un-wavering efforts, this traveling exhibition has been shown in many cities. "One only loves what one knows" as the saying goes. Thanks to this exhibition our Sinti and Roma history is no longer the unknown.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is inevitable, I have to talk about it: May 16, 1944. This is the darkest day in the history of the Dutch Sinti and Roma. In deepest secrecy, the Nazis – please note that I am saying the 'Nazis' and not the 'Germans', as there is a difference-in deepest secrecy, prepared a raid, during which all Sinti and Roma throughout the Netherlands were to be arrested and brought to Camp Westerbork. This raid was commissioned by the Germans but executed by the Dutch police. Here in Den Bosch, our people were arrested and transported by the Dutch railways to Camp Westerbork. Once they arrived, Sinti and Roma were immediately put in the punishment barracks. The Jews still had to work: to take apart batteries and that sort of thing, but the Sinti and Roma were immediately put into the punishment barracks. Their heads were shaved, they were 'deloused'. Why? Why? I still wonder.
And they stayed there for three days. Three days. Then on May 19th, they were deported to Auschwitz on the so-called 'gypsy-transport'. Imagine: after a three-day journey, in a cattle car under the most pitiful conditions. There was one little tub of water and well, about the rest I cannot and should not speak. That is what people had to endure.
There were many who didn't survive the journey. And the final stop was Auschwitz.
In contrast to the Jews, most of whom were immediately selected on arrival: Go to the left, you went to work. Go to the right, you went immediately into the gas-chamber. The Sinti and Roma, with their families, were put into the so-called 'Zigeunerfamilienlager' (The Gypsy Family Camp). Conditions in the Zigeunerfamilienlager' were unimaginable: hunger, cold, and contagious diseases, which took their toll every day.
I often think back on all those mothers, including my mother, who had to take care of their children. And who did everything possible to keep their children alive. They sometimes had to submit to horrible medical experiments being performed on their children. There was a man, Doctor Mengele, you all know the name, of course, who walked around and handing out sweets to the children. And the children called him "Uncle Mengele". Just imagine! While he was handing out sweets, he was selecting children for his medical experiments. How sick can someone be in the head.
Today, it is hard for us to imagine the incredible suffering these families endured. After the uprising in the 'Zigeunerfamilienlager', one of the few uprisings in Auschwitz-Birkenau, all the men were deported to other camps, and only old people, mothers, and children were left behind. During the nights of August 1st and 2nd 1944, the remaining almost three thousand women, children, and elderly in the 'Zigeunerfamilienlager' were gassed. Among those who died were my mother, my little sisters, my little brother, and many more family members.
Of the Sinti who were deported from Den Bosch to the extermination camps, thirteen were killed by the Nazis. Ladies and gentlemen: if your name is no longer mentioned, you are forgotten. You no longer exist.
Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Jack Mikkers and Monique Ruzius Brummens of the municipality of Den Bosch, today a plaque will be unveiled with the names of the Sinti from Den Bosch who were killed by the Nazis. They will remain in our memories, forever."
