In 2025, the Council of Europe designated April as “Opre Roma!” (Stand Up, Roma) month for the first time in connection with International Roma Day (April 8). Not only on April 8, but throughout the entire month, the Council of Europe organizes events aimed at raising awareness and drawing attention to the challenges faced by Roma and Travellers in Europe. The second edition of “Opre Roma!” kicked off this year on April 1 with an exhibition by Czech Romani painter and architect Zdeněk Daniel, held directly at the Council of Europe’s premises in Strasbourg. The exhibition was organized for the Council of Europe by the Prague Center for Romani History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.
The exhibition „Holocaust of the Soul“ follows on from Daniel’s very first exhibition, which was also organized by the Prague Center for Romani History in 2018 under the title „My Black-and-White Shadows, or Memento Mori„. The exhibition „Holocaust of the Soul“ builds on this unique collection of ten black-and-white drawings, which Zdeněk Daniel has since donated to the Museum of Romani Culture. Zdeněk Daniel is now exhibiting eight additional paintings at the Council of Europe, in which he uses color to explore the theme of the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti and the trauma that the families of survivors had to cope with as a result.
At the opening of Zdeněk Daniel’s exhibition, which was part of the opening ceremony in honor of Opre Roma! Month, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke as the guest of honor. Another key speaker was Dafina Savic, Representative of Roma and Traveller Civil Society. The exhibition by the Czech Romani painter was introduced at the opening by Kristýna Najmanová, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the Council of Europe. The Prague Center for Romani History was represented at the opening by Františka Lesáková Dvorská, to whom we also owe a great debt of gratitude for handling all the management and logistics associated with the exhibition.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog in Czech, English, Romani, and French, which features drawings from both the original Memento Mori collection and the new Spiritual Holocaust series. The catalog includes a text by Eva Lehečková, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, which houses the Prague Center for Romani History. Michal Segert, a painter, therapist, and close friend of Zdeněk Daniel, also contributed a reflection on Zdeněk Daniel’s work related to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti for the catalog.
