The Legacy of Ceija Stojka: Art, Memory and Resistance

In this podcast episode, we learn about the life, art and writings of Roma Holocaust-survivor Ceija Stojka, one of the first Roma survivors to publicly bear witness to the genocide of her people. Deported as a child, Stojka survived three concentration camps: Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen. Like many other Roma victims, she carried her memories in silence. That is, until she reached her fifties and began pouring her trauma into paintings and poems. Stojka died in Vienna in 2013 at the age of 79, but her groundbreaking work lives on to inspire, inform and commemorate a history that the world has long refused to see. Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, Director of ERIAC (the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture in Berlin), talks us through Stojka’s life, work and influence on Roma Holocaust remembrance by means of one of Stojka’s most striking paintings: 'Persecutions in the Forest of Auschwitz' (1994). The painting is an emotionally charged depiction of Roma during the war, and speaks to something particular about the Roma genocide. Unlike the mass murder carried out inside the camps, much of the killing of Roma took place in forests, fields and on the outskirts of towns. Leaving unmarked graves, few records and therefore little trace in public memory is part of why the number of Roma victims remains so difficult to establish, and moreover why the genocide stayed invisible for so long.Together with Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, podcast host Lovro Kralj traces Stojka’s life, art, and the long struggle for Roma Holocaust recognition that continues against the backdrop of enduring antigypsyism. After the war, Roma were denied acknowledgement as victims and were often blamed for their own persecution, leaving little space for them to speak. Stojka was among those who broke that silence, and her first-hand, first-person testimony helped bring the Roma genocide into public view, encouraging many others to speak out as well. This episode also reflects on the many forms Roma resistance took during the war: from the uprising in Auschwitz family camp to quieter acts of rescue and care as well as the power of art and culture to carry memory where archives and records fall silent.Featured guest: Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka is the Director of ERIAC – the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, based in Berlin. She is a Polish-Roma anthropologist who has spent her career at the intersection of academic research and Roma civil society. Podcast host is Lovro Kralj.Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka will tell the story of Ceija Stojka and the plight for Roma Holocaust recognition.Music accreditation: Blue Dot Sessions. Tracks – Opening and closing: Stillness. Incidental, Gathering Stasis, Pencil Marks, Uncertain Ground, Marble Transit and Snowmelt. License Creative Commons Atttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (BB BY-NC 4.0). Andy Clark, Podcastmaker, Studio Lijn 14