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.
2024
2023
Criminal Complaints Against Anti‑Roma Online Hate Speech in Slovakia
UN Criticises Slovakia for Roma Rights
Roma Children Taught in Containers in Krompachy
2022
Death of Roma Teenager in Custody
Hate Speech by Politicians During Elections
2021
Roma Denied Housing in Spišská Nová Ves
Roma Children Segregated in Primary Schools
2020
Racialised Media Coverage of Roma and COVID-19
Militarised COVID-19 Lockdowns of Roma Settlements
2019
2018
2017
2016
ĽSNS Enters Parliament
Extremist Train Patrols Targeting Roma Passengers
2014
2013
Police Raid Against Roma Community in Moldava nad Bodvou
Construction of Segregation Wall in Košice
2012
2010
2009
Segregation Wall in Ostrovany Enforcing Separation of Roma Residents
Anti-Roma Protest and Collective Punishment in Šarišské Michalany
2008
2005
1989 – 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.
2004
Roma Music Festival Celebrates Identity
UN Criticises Slovakia’s Roma Policies
Riot in Trebišov Following Police Beating
2003
European Court Accepts Roma Rights Case
Housing Project in Rudňany Sparks Backlash
2002
Roma Language Conference in Banská Bystrica
Roma Women Reveal Forced Sterilisations
2001
Roma Education Pilot Projects Launched
Death of Karol Sendrei Sr. following Police Intervention
Anti-Roma Rhetoric in Parliamentary Debate
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
Racist Skinhead Rampage and Murder in Žiar nad Hronom
Forced Evictions from Informal Settlements
1993
1992
1990
1945 – 1989
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.
1989
1987
1983
Ban on Roma Language in Schools
Anti-Romani Hate Propaganda in Socialist Czechoslovakia
1980
1975
1972
1970
1968
1960
1958
1955
1952
State Surveillance of Roma Settlements
Forced Relocation of roma to Urban Peripheries
1950
1948
1947
1946
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
Deportation of Roma to NAZI Camps
Mass Execution of Roma in Dubnica nad Váhom
Persecution of Roma after the Slovak National Uprising
Mass Executions at Kremnička after the Slovak Uprising
1943
1942
Roma Forced Labour and Internment Camps in the Slovak State
Expulsions of Roma from Slovak Cities
1941
Racial Laws and Labour Restrictions on Roma
Roma Forced to Wear Distinctive Badges
1940
Ban on Roma Using Public Transport
Restrictions on Roma Settlements
Forced Registration and Racial Classification of Roma
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.