Forced relocations and the establishment of the Anti-Ghetto Committee

The Anti-Ghetto Committee was established in Miskolc, an industrial town in north-east Hungary. Led by Roma rights activist Aladár Horváth, it was formed in response to local authorities’ efforts to forcibly relocate Roma families evicted from the city centre to a segregated housing estate. This event is considered a milestone in the birth of the Roma civil rights movement. In the committee, Roma and non-Roma intellectuals joined forces to oppose the creation of the planned segregated residential area, or 'ghetto,' successfully thwarting the exclusionary municipal plan. The movement emerged in the broader context of the regime change, directly challenging the party-state’s control over the public sphere and the discriminatory, segregationist policies affecting minorities.