art as a site of memory
"I always try to portray my feelings and memories. I want to show my own world to the people. It is important to
understand that, we are all human beings and art allows us to live and exist. Art can demonstrate and connect us"
~Ceija Stojka (1933 - 2013) Austrian- Romani writer,
painter and musician, survivor of the Holocaust [1].
understand that, we are all human beings and art allows us to live and exist. Art can demonstrate and connect us"
~Ceija Stojka (1933 - 2013) Austrian- Romani writer,
painter and musician, survivor of the Holocaust [1].
The memories of those Roma and Sinti who lived through the War—and the web of family, friends and community members—have no doubt lived well into the present. Yet until relatively recently these experiences remained within the confines of Roma communities. One reason for this public silence may be that the Roma have not tended to control the technical and social resources necessary for broadcasting their experiences in mainstream media [2][3][4]. In the years following the War, the Roma also found themselves attempting to rebuild their communities amongst a dramatic political and social reordering of European society. Thus, in Eastern and Central Europe—where the majority of European Roma live—socialist states sought to repress public expressions of Holocaust memories centered on specific ethnic groups [5]. Furthermore, as recent reports of neo-Nazi anti-Roma violence [6][7] and even state attempts at expelling their Roma populations make clear, the Roma continue to endure widespread hostility or intolerance [8]. It is in this environment the Roma have struggled for the official memorialization of Roma experiences of the Holocaust in museums and at historical sites. However in many genres of art and literature both Roma and non-Roma artists have been hard at work rewriting the links between Roma Holocaust memories and history.
In the 1970s and 1980s a number of Roma autobiographies began to emerge that would break this silence and encourage other Roma to tell their stories of attempted genocide at the hands of the Nazis. Importantly, these artistic expressions of Holocaust memory called attention to the ongoing discrimination of the Roma in the lives of the artists that produced them (see Russel-Brown 2013:152). Many authors point to the autobiography of Roma writer, artist, musician and Roma Holocaust survivor, Ceija Stojka as the impetus for this wave of Holocaust memory art and literature. In describing why she felt she had to share her memories in such a public format she states, "I wanted to talk to someone. But there was no one there to listen to me – and you can say whatever you like on paper. At first it was difficult, but once I had started my memory jolted into action”[9]. Indeed Stojka not only wrote a number of books about her life and the realities of being Sinti in Austria/Europe, but has also painted a prolific number of paintings portraying life in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. In doing so she, and other artists like her, have offered representations of the Holocaust comprised of memories that have generally tended to sit on the margins of mainstream history. In form, content and perspective they offer alternate expressions of memory that expand and challenge the ways audiences might relate to the Holocaust.
[1] http://www.theromanielders.org/elders/2/4/
[2] Stewart, Michael (2004) Remembering without Commemoration: The Mnemonics and Politics of Holocaust Memories among European Roma. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(3):561-582.
[3] Gay y Blasco, Paloma (2002) 'We don't know our descent': how Gitanos of Jarana manage the past. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7: 631-47.
[4] Lemon, Alaina (2000) Between Two Fires: Gypsy Performance and Romani Memory from Pushkin to Post-Socialism. Duke University Press: Durham.
[5] Ibid., 167.
[6] Roma in Europe: Demanding justice and protection in the face of violence.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/roma-europe-demanding-justice-and-protection-face-violence-2014-04-08
[7] The Anti-Roma Riots in Czech Republic (Romedia Foundation). http://romediafoundation.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/the-anti-roma-riots-in-czech-republic/
[8] France sends Roma Gypsies back to Romania. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11020429
[9] http://romani.uni-graz.at/rombase/cgi-bin/art.cgi?src=data/pers/stojkas.en.xml
In the 1970s and 1980s a number of Roma autobiographies began to emerge that would break this silence and encourage other Roma to tell their stories of attempted genocide at the hands of the Nazis. Importantly, these artistic expressions of Holocaust memory called attention to the ongoing discrimination of the Roma in the lives of the artists that produced them (see Russel-Brown 2013:152). Many authors point to the autobiography of Roma writer, artist, musician and Roma Holocaust survivor, Ceija Stojka as the impetus for this wave of Holocaust memory art and literature. In describing why she felt she had to share her memories in such a public format she states, "I wanted to talk to someone. But there was no one there to listen to me – and you can say whatever you like on paper. At first it was difficult, but once I had started my memory jolted into action”[9]. Indeed Stojka not only wrote a number of books about her life and the realities of being Sinti in Austria/Europe, but has also painted a prolific number of paintings portraying life in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. In doing so she, and other artists like her, have offered representations of the Holocaust comprised of memories that have generally tended to sit on the margins of mainstream history. In form, content and perspective they offer alternate expressions of memory that expand and challenge the ways audiences might relate to the Holocaust.
[1] http://www.theromanielders.org/elders/2/4/
[2] Stewart, Michael (2004) Remembering without Commemoration: The Mnemonics and Politics of Holocaust Memories among European Roma. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(3):561-582.
[3] Gay y Blasco, Paloma (2002) 'We don't know our descent': how Gitanos of Jarana manage the past. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7: 631-47.
[4] Lemon, Alaina (2000) Between Two Fires: Gypsy Performance and Romani Memory from Pushkin to Post-Socialism. Duke University Press: Durham.
[5] Ibid., 167.
[6] Roma in Europe: Demanding justice and protection in the face of violence.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/roma-europe-demanding-justice-and-protection-face-violence-2014-04-08
[7] The Anti-Roma Riots in Czech Republic (Romedia Foundation). http://romediafoundation.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/the-anti-roma-riots-in-czech-republic/
[8] France sends Roma Gypsies back to Romania. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11020429
[9] http://romani.uni-graz.at/rombase/cgi-bin/art.cgi?src=data/pers/stojkas.en.xml