Injustice and Resistance – Romani Rose and the Civil Rights Movement to be screened on Holocaust Memorial Day
INJUSTICE AND RESISTANCE, a film about the Roma and Sinti genocide and the Romani civil rights movement - featuring the German Romani activist Romani Rose - will be shown on Holocaust Memorial Day (Friday 27th January), at the Goethe-Institut in central London.
Injustice and Resistance, a Peter Nestler film, covers the genocide of the Sinti and Roma during the Nazi regime and their struggle for recognition of the crimes against them, and their resistance against the ongoing discrimination against them in Germany.
Booking details for this event are at the bottom of this article. Booking is essential.
The centuries-old racism directed against Sinti and Roma turned into systematic persecution and genocide under the regime of the Nazis. It is estimated that between 220,000 and 500,000 Sinti and Roma became victims of the Nazis and their collaborators; over 25,000 Sinti and Roma from Austria and Germany were among them. But the end of the Third Reich did not mean the end of racism and discrimination for those that survived. Symptomatically, it was not until March 1982 that the racially motivated genocide of the Sinti and Roma people was officially recognised by the German government.
Using archive material and extended interviews, Peter Nestler’s carefully researched documentary traces the ongoing humiliation and injustice that Sinti and Roma people have experienced in Germany and Austria since the Second World War, and their continuous resistance and fight for recognition.
At the centre of his film are the testimonies of the long-term civil rights activist Romani Rose, who has been the head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma since 1982. Rose lost thirteen close relatives in the Nazi camps. From what he tells about his father and his uncle, we learn about the failure of the Catholic Church to protect the Sinti and Roma, and about the medical experiments they were subjected to in the Neckarelz concentration camp. From the 1970s onwards, Rose has been deeply involved in the civil rights struggle to achieve justice and equality for the Sinti and Roma in Germany. For example, the film covers a hunger strike at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site in 1980, which Rose took part in – a protest against the decision of the Bavarian authorities to deny the Sinti and Roma community access to important documents relating to their oppression. Gaining much international attention, this strike became an important catalyst for advancing the recognition of the civil rights of Sinti and Roma.
PETER NESTLER: INJUSTICE AND RESISTANCE - ROMANI ROSE AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
FRIDAY 27.01.2023; 19:00
Goethe-Institut London
50 Princes Gate
Exhibition Road
SW7 2PH London
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY SCREENING
Germany, Austria 2022, colour &. b/w, 115 mins. With English subtitles.
Director: Peter Nestler, Camera: Rainer Komers, Editor: Dieter Reifarth, Sound: Michael Busch, Production Companies: Strandfilm GmbH (Frankfurt am Main) in coproduction with Navigator Film Produktion (Vienna) in cooperation with Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) / 3sat (Mainz) Producer: Dieter Reifarth, Line Producer: Monika Lendl.
Price: £5, concession £3, free for Goethe-Institut language students and library members, booking essential
Book tickets through Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holocaust-memorial-day-screening-tickets-514958152697
Together with the Essay Film Festival the Goeth-Institut are showing Injustice and resistance, the first of two new films by Peter Nestler with and introduction by Professor Emeritus Rainer Schulze. The screening will be followed by a discussion.
This event will lead up to further screenings, including Peter Nestler’s second new film THE OPEN VIEW during this year’s Essay Film Festival (24-30 March 2023).
TT News/Goethe-Institut press release
(Lead photograph: © Strandfilm / photo: Rainer Komers)