Seminar Series in Romani Studies: A Comparative Approach to Roma and Jewish Survivors’ Post-War Compensation Claims in Communist Romania

Only via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89808124536?pwd=z9z1s5bnrLhbKEX8QNd4UObJaG08ZB.1

The talk will focus on the post-Holocaust individual compensation question for Roma and Jews in Romania in the 1960s-1980s. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Romania pursued West German compensation for its Jewish and Roma victims of the Holocaust. The Romanian authorities initially acted unofficially through Jewish proxies; however, the actions were formalized in 1970 when the direct discussions on the compensation issue with West Germany began. When West Germany refused to open negotiations, the compensation was put on hold in the late 1970s. Nevertheless, Romania's notorious secret police, the Securitate, remained vigilant, and their attention seemed to yield results in the 1980s when some Romanian Roma activists became associated with the International Romani Union. The Romanian Roma activists, e.g., Ion Cioabă, became proactive, which shifted dynamics and the impact of international movements on local Roma advocacy efforts: the Romanian Roma started to have their own voice in the international arena.

Dr. Petre Matei received his PhD in history from the University of Bucharest with a thesis on the history of the Roma in Romania. He has received several fellowships, including a DAAD and a Tziporah Wiesel Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and, most recently, at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. He is the author of numerous articles and and co-edited books in English, Romanian, German, and French.

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