In Minorita is a citizens’ initiative in Slovakia that was founded in Bratislava in 1999 by ethnologist Arne B. Mann (born 1952) and ethnologist, historian and Romni Zuzana Kumanová (born 1970). Its goal is to combat discrimination against Roma actively.
The NGO is one of the most active and influential organisations shaping the culture of remembrance in today’s Slovakia with regard to the persecution and murder of Roma. In this context, In Minorita has also published several publications on the Nazi genocide.
Activities
Since 2005, In Minorita has focused on commemorating the Nazi genocide of the Sinti and Roma and the persecution of the Roma in the Slovak state, including the Slovak territories occupied by Hungary at the time, as part of the project ‘Ma Bisteren!’ [Romanes: Don’t forget!].
The citizens’ initiative is represented in the Slovak public sphere through magazine articles, interviews and radio reports, and regularly organises commemorative events at various former murder sites. Of particular significance are the annual commemoration held in February in Dubnica nad Váhom and the commemorative events held on 2 August at the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica.
Since 2005, a total of seven monuments have been erected on the initiative of In Minorita: in Dubnica nad Váhom, in the Memorial Hall for the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica, in Lutila, Nemecká, Hanušovce nad Topľou, Zvolen and Slatina. In Valaská Belá, the citizens’ initiative installed a commemorative plaque.1See http://www.romaholocaust.sk/en/dont-forget/161-in-minorita-civic-association [accessed: 14/10/2026].
The findings of In Minorita on acts of violence and homicides against Roma in Slovakia during World War II have been published in several books. The first to appear was the 2007 anthology ‘Nepriznaný holocaust: Rómovia v rokoch 1939–1945’ [Unacknowledged Holocaust: Roma in the Years 1939–1945], with contributions from a workshop of the same name; this was followed in 2014 by ‘Ma Bisteren! Pripomínanie Rómského holocaustu’ [Don’t forget! Remembering the Romani Holocaust in Slovakia], and a year later by ‘Nové poznatky o holocauste Rómov na Slovensku’ [New Findings on the Romani Holocaust in Slovakia], and most recently Branislav Oláh’s (born 1974) stories about the Second World War, ‘Zápisky o smrti a životě’ [Notes on Death and Life].
In Minorita also produced the documentary film ‘Ma Bisteren!’ [Don’t forget!] in 2007 and, together with the association Jekhetane, the documentary film ‘Baro mariben’ [The Great War] in 2014.
Jekhetane [Together] is a Slovak NGO based in Prešov. It was founded in March 1993 as an association of Romani journalists. Today, the association publishes the magazine Romano Nevo Ľil [Romani New Paper].
