Book presentation Book presentation “We Escaped on Our Own”

In August 1992, in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, Germany, one of the most severe episodes of racist violence in postwar Europe took place: a pogrom that lasted several days, targeting Romanian Roma asylum seekers and Vietnamese migrant workers. The event exposed the alarming extent of anti-Roma racism and hostility toward migrants, becoming a major reference point in Europe’s recent history.

The book “We Escaped on Our Own”. Eyewitness Accounts of Romanian Roma from the Pogrom in Rostock-Lichtenhagen (1992), edited by the Documentation Center “Lichtenhagen Remembered” and the State Center for Political Education of Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, brings together interviews with survivors of the pogrom. The volume gives voice to those who lived through the events, providing them with space to affirm their experiences, and perspectives. At the same time, it ensures that this history is not forgotten — and, more importantly, that it is remembered through the voices of those who endured it.

The event, organized by the Asociația Centrul de Cultură al Romilor din Dolj in partnership with the Critical Film & Image Hub and hosted by the German Embassy in Romania, will open with a historical introduction to the pogrom by activist Izabela Tiberiade, followed by the screening of an interview with Ioana Miclescu, survivor of the pogrom. The evening will conclude with an artistic reading of selected testimonies, performed by actress Bianca Babașa.

Throughout the event, Maria Alexandra Popescu, a student at the Faculty of Art History and Theory, will exhibit her series Reclaiming the Sunflower: A Past Made Present Through Reinterpretation.

This event invites the public to reflect, to stand in solidarity, and to confront the recent past — through the testimonies of those who survived and who today choose to be heard.

Obligatory registration: ku-11@buka.diplo.de