Workshop Romani Responses to Persecution: Transnational Histories of Repression and Resistance (1850–1950)

From July 13–24, 2026, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., hosted the Moskowitz/Rafalowicz International Research Workshop “Romani Responses to Persecution: Transnational Histories of Repression and Resistance (1850–1950).” Co-convened by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, the two-week workshop brought together researchers working on the history of antigypsy persecution and Romani resistance across different regions and historical contexts.

Paula Simon participated in the workshop and presented her research on “Contesting and Resisting Racialisation, Discrimination and Persecution: The Case of (Romani) Muslims in Western Serbia.” Her contribution examined the experiences and strategies of (Romani) Muslim communities in Western Serbia from 1850-1945 and explored how ethnic, religious, and social identities were negotiated in the face of racialisation and discrimination.

The workshop provided an important opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers from different geographical and disciplinary backgrounds and to situate individual case studies within broader transnational histories of repression and resistance. Alongside the workshop discussions, Paula Simon used the opportunity to conduct research in the collections of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, consulting materials relevant to her research on Roma in Yugoslavia between 1918 and 1945. 

The two weeks thus combined intensive scholarly exchange, the development of new transnational perspectives and comparisons, and archival research, while creating opportunities for future collaboration with researchers working on Romani history and historical Antigypsyism.