Samo je nekoliko ljudi u životu postiglo toliko koliko je postigla Ceija Stojka. Romska umjetnica rođena je prije 88 godina, 1933. godinu u Kraubath na Muri, malom selu u središtu Austrije. Njezina je obitelj nekada trgovala konjima, živjeli su na relaciji između Beč i unutrašnost.

Kad je Ceija Stojka rođena, Adolf Hitler je preuzeo vlast u Njemačkoj. Nacisti su 1938. godine pripojili Austriju tokom Anschlussa. U ovim mračnim vremenima Stojka, tada mlada Romkinja, morala se suočiti s najvećim zlom: genocidom nad Romima koji su počinili nacisti, tragedijom poznatom pod imenom Porajmos. Sva je njezina obitelj završila u koncentracijskim logorima. Njezin otac je najprije poslan u Dachau (Njemačka) 1941. godine i ubijen je u dvorcu Hartheim (Austrija). 1943. godine, u dobi od 10 godina, ona je deportirana u Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poljska) s majkom i braćom i sestrama. Jedan od njezine braće, Ossi, umro je od tifusa na ovom strašnom mjestu. Kasnije, s majkom i sestrom, prebačena je u Ravensbrück (Njemačka) i pa u Bergen-Belsen (Njemačka). Sloboda je konačno došla kad su britanske trupe ušle u logor 15. travnja 1945. godine.

Kad je imala 12 godina, Ceija Stojka već je iskusila najokrutnije i najgroznije zločine koje čovjek može učiniti drugima. Stalni progon nacista prema Romima i užas logora nedvojbeno su traumatizirali mladu djevojku. Mnogi članovi njene obitelji umrli su tokom Porajmosa. Ipak su nekim čudom preživjela četvorica njezine braće i sestara i kao njena majka.

Nakon rata preselila se u Beč, gdje je živjela do kraja života. Osnovala je obitelj i zarađivala prodajom tepiha na tržnicama. U početku nije bila voljna i nije mogla govoriti o traumi logora. Međutim, nekoliko desetljeća kasnije, osjetila je potrebu i pronašla način da izrazi ovu prošlost kroz umjetnost. Sve je započelo 1988. godine knjigom "Živimo povučeno: sjećanja na Romnija". Ova je knjiga napisana uz podršku Karin Berger, autorice i filmašice. U ovoj je knjizi iznijela potresno svjedočenje o svom životu iz perspektive djeteta u sustavu nacističkih logora. Kasnije je rekla: "Primila sam se olovke i kista jer sam se morala otvoriti, jer sam morala vrištati, dugo sam sve nosila u sebi." Tada, više od četiri desetljeća nakon Hitlerovih neljudskih organiziranih zločina, javna svijesti o posebnom genocidu nad Romima još uvijek je bila na vrlo niskoj razini. Stojkina knjiga nesumnjivo je sudjelovala u smanjivanju ovog sramotnog neznanja. Nakon nekog vremena, 1992. godine, objavila je svoju drugu knjigu pod naslovom „Putnici na ovom svijetu“ u kojoj je opisala život nakon rata. Od tada je napisala nekoliko knjiga, uključujući knjigu poezije na romani čhibu s pjesmama i slikama. Zatim je objavila "Pisanje je moj izbor, ne mogu to učiniti" (Meine Wahl zu schreiben - ich kann es nicht) 2003. godine.

U međuvremenu je počela slikati kao samouka. Kroz više od tisuću slika i crteža, prikazala je sreću svog života prije rata, kao i svoje strašno iskustvo Porajmosa. U svojoj umjetnosti koristila je različite vrste tehnika bojama, tintom i pisanjem na različitim površinama poput papira ili platna. Dodajući riječi slici, na istom licu ili na poleđini umjetničkog djela, predstavila je vrlo jedinstven i osoban umjetnički izraz. Od ljepote suncokreta do mraka Auschwitza, od njezine sretne romske obitelji koja je pozirala pored svog karavana do iskrivljenih tijela koja su patila u neljudskim uvjetima u koncentracijskom logorskom sustavu, Stojkin rad ilustrira tanku liniju između raja i pakla u kojem je živjela. Ispunjena osjećajima na temelju svog života i sjećanja, predstavila je neprocjenjivo svjedočanstvo svoje stvarnosti koju su iskusili mnogi njezini vršnjaci. Njezina umjetnička djela, koja su pružila jedinstveni opis Porajmosa, ubrzo su privukla pažnju muzeja širom Europe. Uz ova iskustva koja je prenosila kroz umjetnost, Ceija Stojka bila je i aktivistica, čak je postala glasnogovornica prihvaćanja istine o Porajmosu u Austriji i često je intervenirala na konferencijama ili u školama kako bi podigla svijest o genocidu nad Romima. Nadalje, Ceija Stojka svjedočila je o svom životu kroz dva dokumentarna filma u režiji Karin Berger. Na kraju je Stojkin rad služio njezinom glavnom cilju: svjesno se boriti protiv svog najvećeg straha, novog vala anticiganizma.

Stojkina baština je bezvremenski trag najštetnijeg doba u povijesti Roma. Unatoč smrti 2013. u 79. godini, njezina umjetnost i dalje je prezentirana širom svijeta. Tokom svog života dobila je brojne nagrade kao priznanje za svoju umjetnost, kao i za svoju odlučnu ulogu u širenju informacija o stvarnosti zločina nacista. Štoviše, godinu dana nakon njene smrti, 2014. godine, trg u Beču dobio je ime po njoj. To ilustrira koliki je utjecaj Ceije Stojke bio prisutan izvan njezine vlastite zajednice. Doista, imenovanje javnog mjesta po Romima i dalje je iznimno rijetko u Europi.

Dok slavimo rođenje ove velike osobe, žalosno je primijetiti da Romi još uvijek doživljavaju neprihvatljivu diskriminaciju na mnogim teritorijima, uključujući Austriju. Od nepotpunog postupka denacifikacije do izbora bivšeg nacističkog obavještajca Kurta Waldheima za predsjednika Austrije 1986. godine, Stojkina zemlja nije uvijek bila željna suzbiti ideologiju krajnje desnice. Nedavno je populistička Slobodarska stranka Austrije (FPÖ) uspjela privući mnogo glasača na nacionalnim izborima, kako na predsjedničkim tako i na parlamentarnim. FPÖ je čak bio dio koalicije na vlasti između 2017. i 2019. godine. Unatoč ogromnom skandalu koji je izazvao izborni poraz stranke, i dalje je ključna komponenta austrijskog političkog krajolika.

Ceija Stojka znala je reći: „Bojim se da Europa zaboravlja svoju prošlost i da Auschwitz samo spava. Prijetnje, politike i postupci anticiganizma jako me zabrinjavaju i rastužuju." Njezin je glas imao za cilj borbu protiv takve katastrofe. Sada je naša zajednička dužnost osigurati da njezino djelovanje ne bude uzalud.

She was a Roma writer, painter, activist and musician. She survived the Porajmos. She was Ceija Stojka.

Few people accomplished as much in their lives as Ceija Stojka. The Roma artist was born 88 years ago, in 1933 in Kraubath an der Mur, a small village in the centre of Austria. Her family used to trade horses, living between Vienna and the Austrian countryside.

While Ceija Stojka was born, Adolf Hitler reached power in Germany. In 1938, the Nazis annexed Austria during the Anschluss. In these dark times, the young Roma girl had to face the Greatest Evil: the genocide of Roma perpetrated by Nazis, a tragedy known as the Porajmos. All of her family ended up in concentration camps. Her father was first sent to Dachau (Germany) in 1941 and was murdered at Hartheim Castle (Austria). In 1943, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) with her mother and siblings. One of her brothers, Ossi, died from typhus in this dreadful place. Later, with her mother and sister, she was transferred to Ravensbrück (Germany) and Bergen-Belsen (Germany). Freedom finally came as British troops entered the camp on April 15, 1945.

At the age of 12, Ceija Stojka already experienced the cruellest and atrocious crimes that a human can do to one of his one. The constant persecution of Roma by the Nazis up to the horror of the camp undeniably traumatised the young girl. Many of her relatives died during the Porajmos. Miraculously though, four of her siblings and her mother survived.

After the war, she settled in Vienna, where she lived for the rest of her life. She founded a family and earned money by selling carpets on markets. At first, she was unwilling and unable to speak about the trauma of the camps. However, a few decades later, she felt the need and found the mean to express this past through art. It all started in 1988 with the book We Live in Seclusion. The Memories of a Romani, that she wrote with the support of Karin Berger, an author and filmmaker. In this book, she delivers a heartbreaking testimony of her life as a child in the Nazi concentration system. She later said, "I reached for the pen because I had to open myself, to scream." Back then, more than four decades after the inhuman crimes organised by Hitler, the awareness of the public regarding the specific genocide of Roma was still at a very low level. Stojka’s book undeniably participated to tackle this shameful ignorance. A few years later, in 1992, she published her second book titled Travelers on This World, in which she describes life after the war. She kept writing several books since then, including poetry in Rromani ćhib with Poems and Pictures. My choice to write; I can’t do it, was published in 2003.

In the meantime, she also started painting as an autodidact. Through more than a thousand paintings and drawings, she depicts the happiness of her life before the war as well as her terrible experience of the Porajmos. In her art, she used a wide range of techniques with paints, inks and writing on different supports like paper or canvas. Adding words to the picture, either on the same face or in the back of the art piece, she delivered a truly unique and personal artistic expression. From the beauty of a sunflower to the darkness of Auschwitz, from the happy Roma family posing next to their caravan to the distorted bodies suffering from inhumane labour in the concentration system; Stojka’s work illustrates the thin line which exists between the heaven and hell she lived in. Filled with emotions based on her own life and memories, she presents a priceless testimony of her reality. A reality that has been experienced by many of her peers.

Her work soon attracted the attention of museums all around Europe, delivering a unique description of the Porajmos. In addition to these witnesses through art, Ceija Stojka has also been an activist, as she became the spokesperson for the recognition of the Porajmos in Austria and often intervened in conferences or schools to raise awareness of the Roma genocide. Ceija Stojka also testified of her life through two documentaries realized by Karin Berger. In the end, Stojka’s work was serving her main goal: to tackle her most colossal fear, knowingly a new surge of antigypsyism.

Stojka’s heritage is the timeless trace of the most harmful episode in Roma history. Since she died in 2013 at the age of 79, her art is still being exposed all around the world. During her lifetime, she received numerous awards as a recognition for her art as well as for her decisive role in enhancing the knowledge on the reality of Nazis’ crimes. Moreover, a year after her death, in 2014, a square of Vienna has been named after her. It illustrates how monumental the influence of Ceija Stojka has been, far beyond her own community. Indeed, naming a public place after a Roma remains exceptional in Europe.

As we celebrate the birth of this great figure, it is deplorable to notice that Roma still experience unacceptable discrimination in many territories, including Austria. From an incomplete denazification process to the election of former Nazi intelligence officer Kurt Waldheim as a President in 1986, Stojka’s country has not been always eager to shatter far-right ideology. Recently, the populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) managed to attract many voters in national elections, both in presidential and parliamentary ones. The FPÖ was even part of the coalition to power between 2017 and 2019. Despite a huge scandal that caused the electoral breakdown of the party, it remains a key component of the Austrian political landscape.

Ceija Stojka used to say, “I’m afraid that Europe is forgetting its past and that Auschwitz is only sleeping. Antigypsyist threats, policies and actions worry me greatly and make me very sad.” Her voice aimed to fight against such catastrophe. Now, it is our common duty to ensure that her action has not been useless.