The Notebooks of Austrian Romani Writer, Artist, Activist, and Educator Ceija Stojka

FAIN: RZ-292818-23

Pacific University (Forest Grove, OR 97116-1797)
Lorely Elsa French (Project Director: November 2022 to present)

Planning for a website exploring the thirty-three unpublished notebooks of Ceija Stojka (1933-2013), an Austrian Romani Holocaust survivor, as art, literature, and social and political commentary. (12 months)

As a Planning International Collaboration opportunity, this project aims to transcribe, annotate, translate into English, and plan for digital presentation the thirty-three unpublished notebooks of Austrian Romani writer, artist, activist, and educator Ceija Stojka, who survived three concentration camps. Experts from the U.S., France, and Austria transcribe the notebooks, which are in phonetic Austrian German and Vlax Romany dialect, and meet virtually in fall 2023.The team convenes in Vienna in January, 2024, to review progress and to research in archives and museums. In spring, the team completes the English translations. In August, 2024, the team presents the project in Bad Ischl during an exhibit of Stojka’s art works. Finally, they develop a plan for the digital presentation that will provide an unexplored perspective on Romani cultures and history and contribute to Stojka’s multifaceted oeuvre and that of the Romani peoples, whose voices have yet to receive overdue attention.