International conference: Visibilities of Memory: The Representation of Sinti and Roma in Holocaust Film
The conference of the Critical Film & Image Hub at the Research Centre on Antigypsyism at Heidelberg University from 12 to 14 November 2025 is dedicated to the representation of Sinti and Roma in films and visual testimonies of the Holocaust.
Key data of the event
In-person and online event from 12.11.2025 (starting at 3pm) to 14.11.2025 (closing at 1pm)
Organizers: Critical Film & Image Hub, Research Centre on Antigypsyism, Heidelberg University
Venue: International Science Forum Heidelberg (IWH), Hauptstraße 242, 69117 Heidelberg
Accessibility: Unfortunately, the venue is not wheelchair accessible due to structural conditions. If you require assistance, please contact us well in advance.
Language: majority of sessions in English, certain presentations in German with English interpretation
Participants: from academia, filmmaking, media, activists, self-organizations, multipliers in education
About the Conference
The conference “Visibilities of Memory: The Representation of Sinti and Roma in Holocaust Film” examines the representation of Sinti and Roma in visual formats that engage with the history of the Holocaust. Europe’s largest minority has long been excluded from participation and representation and has been stigmatized within European culture. In what way is this exclusion reflected in visual formats about the Holocaust, and where can we find new perspectives and ways forward?
This interdisciplinary and international conference hosts over 40 speakers from a range of European and U.S.-based institutions. It features academic presentations as well as dialogue sessions with filmmakers. The event provides a unique networking opportunity for minority self-organisations, filmmakers, young academics, researchers, and multipliers in the fields of historical and civic education.
As the primary medium of our time and a tool for political education, film—through its use of emotion, clarity, and directness—is becoming increasingly important in all areas of memory culture, to the point where it asserts interpretive authority.
For a long time, the history of Sinti and Roma was absent from Holocaust cinema and barely mentioned in academic discourse. From the earliest films about National Socialist concentration camps to more recent formats featuring a wide range of staging motifs and representational aspects, narrative patterns emerge that draw upon antigypsyist imagery.
In West-Germany, during the 1980s, a cinematic transformation began in the context of the civil rights movement and the acknowledgement of the genocide of Sinti and Roma by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Feature films were produced that emphasized above all the innocence and despair of the victims. Subsequently, these films also began to feature Roma and Sinti musicians, writers, and athletes as central protagonists. Today, documentaries illuminate historical contexts from the perspective of third- or fourth-generation Holocaust survivors who reflectively pursue their own agency and develop counterstrategies against the antigypsyist gaze.
The aim of the conference is to examine the representation of Sinti and Roma in Holocaust films against the backdrop of memory in diverse societies. Experts from various disciplines will collaborate to revisit an area of research that has largely been overlooked. The conference also aims to establish a network of scholars and practitioners from various fields such as film, culture, and minority rights.
Program
Wednesday, 12.11.2025 (15:00 – 21:30)
- INTRODUCTION: Dr. Radmila Mladenova: Breaking the Frame of Antigypsyism / Introduction of the Critical Film & Image Hub
- KEYNOTE: Prof. Dr. Hans Brittnacher: Gibt es ein Recht auf Märchen? Mihăileanus Train de vie. [EN: Is There a Right to Fairy Tales? Mihăileanu’s Train de vie, in German with English interpretation]
- PANEL 1: The Cultural-political Impact of Holocaust Fiction Film
- PANEL 2: Ambivalent Heroes in Holocaust Fiction Film
- KEYNOTE with film screening: Prof. Dr. Klaus-Michael Bogdal: Nous, les Gitans? Imaginierte Identitäten. [EN: We, the Gitans? Imagined Identities, in German with English interpretation]
Thursday, 13.11.2025 (09:00 – 18:00)
- OPENING SPEECH: Dr. Ismael Cortés: Filming the Abyss: Decoding the Uncounted Holocaust
- PANEL 3: Film as Archive: Visual Research and Post-Memory [DE: Film als Archiv. Visuelle Wahrheitssuche und Nachgedächtnis, German speaking panel]
- PANEL 4: Holocaust Film Aesthetics and Poetics: The Case of Hungary
- PANEL 5: Memory Formation, History Politics, and Film in Europe
- PANEL 6: Transgenerational Trauma, Music and Memory
- RESONANCE SPACE: Scholars and Filmmakers in Dialogue
Friday, 14.11.2025 (09:00 – 13:00)
- PANEL 7: Public Images of the Holocaust: Between Recognition and Education
- PANEL 8: Multimedia and “Cinematic Turn”: Holocaust Representations in Theatres, Museums and Multimedia
- CLOSING PANEL: Holocaust Education through Film
Organizers and donors
The conference is organized by the Critical Film & Image Hub team at the Research Centre on Antigypsyism (RCA) at Heidelberg University. The Hub’s research, funded through the “Cooperation Network Against Antigypsyism” under the federal program “Living Democracy!” of the German Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMBFSFJ), examines the mechanisms of visual antigypsyism. The international conference is supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
