August 13, 2025 Federal Government Commissioner for Antigypsyism, Michael Brand, visits the Research Centre on Antigypsyism
On August 13, Michael Brand, the Federal Government Commissioner for Combating Antigypsyism and for the Life of Sinti and Roma in Germany, visited the Research Centre on Antigypsyism (RCA) at Heidelberg University. The long-standing human rights politician in the German Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth (BMBFSFJ) was recently appointed Commissioner for Antigypsyism by the Federal Cabinet on June 18, 2025.
In an intensive discussion, Scientific Director Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter presented the Federal Commissioner with this special research institution, which is unique in Europe and was established at Heidelberg University in 2017. With the RCA's main topics, the Nazi genocide of Sinti and Roma, the continuities of antigypsyism after 1945, civil rights activism, and the manifestations of antigypsyism in popular culture as well as in images and film, there were numerous opportunities for transfer and cooperation, everyone agreed. According to Penter, the university is well positioned both in terms of research and in terms of attracting third-party funding: There are currently groundbreaking projects that are also financed by federal funds, such as the pioneering encyclopedia project on the Nazi genocide of Sinti and Roma in Europe, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, or the research project “Media Antigypsyism – From Interdisciplinary Analysis to Critical Media Literacy” (MeAviA), which receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (now BMFTR). Most recently, in February 2025, a subproject on “Transformations of the police antigypsyist discourse” integrated into the DFG-funded research group “Antigypsyism and Ambivalence in Europe (1850–1950)” began its work.
During his first visit to Heidelberg, the Federal Commissioner also saw great potential for cooperation and for science to influence society in the “Critical Film & Image Hub,” which was launched in January 2025 and is funded by the BMBFSFJ as part of the federal program “Demokratie leben!” as part of the “Cooperation Network Against Antigypsyism” in the field of action “Establishment of a Federal Central Infrastructure.” The project is dedicated to researching visual and media antigypsyism and promotes critical media literacy as well as the reception and production of visual media that is critical of antigypsyism through comprehensive transfer activities.