Press release “Roma slavery. Documentary testimonies from the 18th-19th centuries” Exhibition of historical documents at the ASTRA Sibiu County Library 26.10.2022 – 06.11.2022

PARI project in partnership with the Iași County Service of the National Archives of Romania and the ASTRA Sibiu County Library organizes the exhibition of historical documents entitled “Roma Slavery. Documentary testimonies from the 18th-19th centuries”.

The exhibition takes place in the Foyer of the ASTRA Sibiu County Library ( 7 George Barițiu Street, Building B), between October 26th and November 6th, 2022, public access is free, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on October 26th, starting at 6:00 p.m.. Special guests at the event are Mirel Bănică, sociologist of religion and Romanian publicist, who will give the presentation “Roma: culture, religion and spirituality” and Carl Emil Vogt, historian at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies in Oslo, who will give the presentation ” State and Church Response to Historic Atrocities Towards the Norwegian Roma”.

“Roma slavery. Documentary testimonies from the 18th-19th centuries” capitalizes on the documentary fund (manuscripts, iconography) existing in the Special Collections of the ASTRA Sibiu County Library. The catalogs of slaves (1831-1834) held by Hatman Constantin Paladi in localities in Moldova will be exhibited for the first time. Thanks to the partnership with the National Archives, documents related to the slavery of the Roma from monastic, church and administrative funds from the period 1750-1840 in Moldova will be displayed in the exhibition. They reflect the status of slaves as free people, their obligations and rights, and the relationships between slaves and their masters.

The pages in manuscript format of the Romanian Encyclopedia from 1898 – 1904 will be presented, and portraits and pieces of iconography that reproduce the past and present traditional habitat of the Roma population will be displayed on the walls of the exhibition space.

Stefan Tobler, PARI project manager, states: “The institution of slavery is a dark chapter in human history. This is also valid for Romania. In history books, Roma slavery is almost always hidden. This is a great injustice, and through this project we are working to make the truth known and accepted.”

The exhibition is organized within the research project “The role of religion and religious actors in the social inclusion of the Roma: towards a participatory approach” – acronym PARI – project of the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu and the VID University in Norway, funded by the Norway program Grants 2014-2021 and administered by UEFISCDI, through contract no. 38/2021 (www.participatory.ro). The project initiates, stimulates and supports Romanian and Norwegian research on the inclusion of the Roma population, focusing on the (potential) role of religion and religious actors in relation to the inclusion/exclusion of Roma. The project combines sociological, theological and historical research.

Resources: 

Roma slavery. Documentary evidence from the 18th – 19th centuries

Sibiu Exhibition Gallery

Notes: Constantin Paladi , Micro tags , Census Podu Iloaii 1832

Iasi Exhibition Gallery

Notes: Tags