Explore the roots of antisemitism and antigypsyism in Central Europe.
This interactive timeline is divided into four historical periods and allows you to move through time by scrolling or by jumping to a specific period, filter events by country, and view short descriptions by hovering over each event, with selected entries offering more detailed historical context.
EXPLORE THE PAST
2004 – 2024
The European Union
Across 2004–2024, antisemitism and antigypsyism in Central Europe persisted and adapted despite EU accession, shifting from overt violence toward politicised discourse, institutional discrimination, and digitally mediated hate. While legal frameworks and inclusion strategies expanded, weak enforcement enabled far-right actors, populist narratives, and online networks to normalise conspiracy theories, historical revisionism, and collective blame. Jewish and Roma communities continued to face symbolic attacks on memory sites, segregation in housing and education, police abuse, and renewed scapegoating during crises such as migration, COVID-19, and military conflicts—revealing a persistent gap between formal commitments to equality and lived experience.
2021
2016
2014
Harassment and Assault in Kędzierzyn-Koźle
Violent Incidents in Andrychów
Brutal Beating in Leszno Park
2013
Anti-Gypsy Demonstration in Zabrze
Attack Against Roma Family in Zabrze
2012
Group Assault on Roma Families in Wrocław
Public Humiliation in Wrocław Milk Bar
Attempted Arson in Wrocław
2011
Molotov cocktail Attack in Krośnica
Wave of Racist Abuse in Siemianowice Śląskie
Organised Assault by Hooligans in Krosno
2010
2008
2007
2006
2005
1991 – 2004
The Time of Democratization
The collapse of state socialism brought democratic freedoms but also enabled the re-emergence of antisemitism and antigypsyism across Central Europe. As economies and national identities were rebuilt, far-right subcultures, nationalist rhetoric, and historical revisionism gained ground, leading to street violence, symbolic attacks, and hostile public discourse. Jewish communities faced vandalism and Holocaust denial, while Roma communities experienced severe violence, segregation, and police abuse amid economic upheaval. Although minority-rights frameworks expanded, inconsistent enforcement allowed racialised exclusion to persist, revealing the fragility of new democracies in protecting vulnerable groups.
2000
Home Invasion in Tarnów
Street Assault in Białystok
1999
Arson in Krośnica
Armed Assault in Białystok
Nowy Sącz Mob Violence
1998
Chorzów Stairwell Arson
Firebombing of Roma Home
Vandalism at the Roma Information and Counseling Center in Łódź
Arson Attack in Sporysz
Violence in Ziębice
Żywiec Racial Attacks
Campaign of Intimidation in Kęty
Organised Attacks in Brzeg
1997
1995
1994
Kraków Railway Station Assault
Burning of a Roma Camp in Kraków
1993
1992
1945 – 1991
The Time of Authoritarianism
After 1945, antisemitism and antigypsyism in Central Europe did not disappear but were reshaped under communist rule through surveillance, repression, and ideological control. Jewish communities faced postwar hostility, obstructed restitution, and later state-led “anti-Zionism” that marginalised Jewish identity, censored Holocaust memory, detroyed careers and forced to emigration[JW1.1]. Roma communities experienced systematic discrimination through forced settlement, cultural erasure, segregated education, and racialised policing, justified as socialist “assimilation.” While regimes proclaimed equality and antifascism, both forms of racism were embedded in state institutions and everyday governance, leaving Jewish and Roma communities silenced, controlled, and vulnerable on the eve of democratic transition.
1991
1981
Martial Law in Poland
Oświęcim Pogrom
Riots in Konin
1965
1964
1957
1953
1952
Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic
Government Resolution No. 452/52: Forced Settlement of the Roma
1951
1948
1939 – 1945
Times of War and Genocide
Between 1939 and 1945, antisemitism and antigypsyism across Central Europe were transformed into state-organised systems of persecution and genocide under Nazi occupation and collaborationist regimes. Jews were systematically stripped of rights, property, and livelihoods before being ghettoised, deported, and murdered in extermination camps, while Roma and Sinti were subjected to forced settlement, labour, internment, mass executions, and deportation as part of the Porajmos. These crimes were enabled not only by Nazi policy but also by local administrations, police forces, and societal participation, embedding racial violence into everyday governance. By the war’s end, Jewish life had been almost entirely destroyed and Roma communities devastated, leaving legacies of loss and trauma that would shape post-war marginalisation and memory across the region.
1945
1944
Liquidation of the Roma Camp (‘Zigeneurlager’) at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Liberation of Majdanek
Roma Resistance in Auschwitz-Birkenau
Murder of 27 Roma by Polish Underground Forces
1943
Second mass murder of Gypsies in Auschwitz gas chambers
First mass murder of Gypsies in Auschwitz gas chamber
Correction to the Auschwitz decree
1942
Himmler’s “Auschwitz Decree” on the Roma
Meeting of Hitler, Bormann and Himmler regarding Gypsies
First Gypsies murdered in gas chamber of Auschwitz
Mass Murder of Roma in Chełmno
Local Massacres and Deportations of Roma in Southern Poland
1941
Creation of the Ghettos for Roma
Deportation of Roma and Sinti from Lackenbach to the Łódź Ghetto
1940
1939
FROM MEMORY
TO MONITORING
You’ve explored the past – now see how history is connected to the present. View recent incidents of antisemitism and antigypsyism across Central Europe.