Category Archives: Viva!

Obama to make historic visit to Cuba

Following a deepening of ties between the two countries, US President Barack Obama is due to visit Cuba in March. He will be the first sitting US president to make a trip to Havana in nearly 90 years.

Rare Color Photographs of The Nazi Regime Isolate and Eventually Destroy the German Gypsy Population from 1938-1940

In 1939, 30,000–35,000 people known as Gypsies lived in Germany and Austria, which was incorporated into Germany in March 1938.

Gypsies are believed to have arrived in Europe from northern India in the 1400s. They were called Gypsies because Europeans thought they came from Egypt. This ethnic minority is made up of distinct groups called “tribes” or “nations.” Most of the Gypsies in German-occupied Europe belonged to the Sinti and Roma tribes. The Sinti generally predominated in Germany and western Europe, and the Roma in Austria, eastern Europe, and the Balkans. The Sinti and Roma spoke dialects of a common language called Romani, based in Sanskrit, the classical language of India.

The research of racial scientist Dr. Robert Ritter and his associates served both as instrument and justification for the Nazi regime to isolate and eventually destroy the German Gypsy population.

By studying Gypsies, Ritter, who was a psychiatrist, hoped to determine the links between heredity and criminality. With funding from the German Association for Scientific Research and access to police records, Ritter began in 1937 to systematically interview all the Gypsies residing in Germany.

To do so, he traveled to Gypsy encampments and, after the deportation and internment of Gypsies began, to the concentration camps. Ritter developed detailed genealogies—family histories to distinguish “pure” Gypsies from those of “mixed blood” and to root out assimilated Gypsies from the general German population.

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1938. A Roma woman and child in a camp during an investigation by the Racial Hygiene Research Center at the Reich Bureau for Health.

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1938. Eva Justin interviews a Roma woman about her family and ancestry.

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1938. Dr. Robert Ritter conducts an interview with a Roma woman.

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1938. Dr. Ritter takes a blood sample from a Roma woman.

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1938. Sophie Ehrhardt of the Racial Hygiene Research Center conducts an interview with an elderly Roma woman.

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Pope Francis urges governments to ‘open hearts’ to migrants

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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — In a moment filled with powerful political symbolism, Pope Francis prayed Wednesday at Mexico’s dusty northern border for the thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach the United States and appealed for governments to open their hearts, if not their borders, to the “human tragedy that is forced migration.”…

Palestinian teacher announced one of top 10 in the world – PNN

Hanan Al-Hroub, primary class teacher who grew up in Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem, has been shortlisted to the top 10 international teachers nominated for the one million dollar 2016 Global Teacher Prize, organised by the Varkey Foundation. Hanan was named amongst nine other teachers from countries all over the world including Kenya, India, Pakistan, USA, Japan, Finland, Australia and the UK. According to the Varkey website, the inspirational teacher was regularly exposed to acts of violence. She went into primary education after her children were left deeply traumatised by a shooting incident they witnessed on their way home from school. Her experiences in meetings and consultations to discuss her children’s behaviour, development and academic performance in the years that followed led Hanan to try to help others who, having grown up in similar circumstances, require special handling at school.

Source: Palestinian teacher announced one of top 10 in the world – PNN