Teaching about the Roma Genocide

 Inclusion of the topic in the school curriculum

The topic is not included in the compulsory school curriculum, neither in the draft of the state educational programs of the subjects like National History and Geography, or History and Civic Education.

 Inclusion of the topic in the school textbooks

The topic is included in the complementary textbooks for primary and secondary schools, but very inadequately. The Roma topics are in the textbooks very short, not enough, and the Roma Genocide is only a very small part of the topic of the Genocide of the Jews. In fact, the only information that is possible to find in many cases is that, during the war, there was also an extermination of the Roma people.

 Training of teachers and education professionals

The topic is a part of the continuous training of pedagogical employees during the teacher training seminars made by the Terezín Memorial, the Czech Ministry of Education, the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno (project “How to teach about the Holocaust”). The topic is also presented as a part of the course for the students of the pedagogical faculties and the teachers of Roma language, literature, culture and civilization. The Historical Department of the Museum of Romani Culture also provides lectures about the Genocide of the Roma for elementary and high schools teachers. In 2009 it has received status of an authorised teacher training institution.

There are often problems with the prejudices of teachers, which do not want to talk more about the Roma history in the lessons. And that is maybe because the teachers are not interested any more in this topic. Furthermore, the teachers are sometimes afraid of the topic of the Genocide of the Roma, because of the common atmosphere in the society. There is also another problem: the lack of summarizing handbook about the Roma history for teachers in the Czech Republic.

 Particular activities undertaken at the level of education institutions

The Museum of Romani Culture´s departments on education and history provide both students and the wide public with lectures on Roma history, culture and traditions and on the Roma genocide. The latter cover history of the Roma genocide, including screening of the documentary film „These are the painful memories" and a successive discussion. During the lecture each student can see prominent contemporary documents as newspaper articles, official papers, legal edicts and regulations, personal letters or photographs. The documentary has been realised also thanks to financial support of the Czech-German Fund for the Future, the Foundation for Holocaust Victims and the Open Society Fund Prague.

The MRC´s department on education has also developed special programmes that concentrate on the most tragic period between 1939 and 1945. Every year about 1500 pupils and students participate on lectures and interactive workshops conceived to help different target groups (e.g. age, level of education) understand the issue.

Every year in March the MRC holds a week-long programme for pupils and high school students within the framework of the European-wide Action Week Against Racism. The programme focuses on the Roma genocide and related issues as human rights, racism, discrimination or society's attitude towards minorities. The MRC co-operates closely with the public beneficial organisation Živá paměť (Living Memory). During the lecture series Disappeared Roma and Roma Today in the Czech Republic, the associates of Living memory have been visiting primary and secondary schools. Since 2005 two thousand pupils and students attended the discussions with the witnesses of the Roma Holocaust and experts on Roma issues.