ACIPSS Director Paul Schliefsteiner as Expert at the International Roma Day in Parliament

On April 8, 2025, a commemorative event was held at the Austrian Parliament to mark International Roma Day. Under the title “Violence in Austria. 30 Years Since the Oberwart Roma Attack,” the event remembered the racially motivated attack in February 1995, in which four members of the Roma community were killed by a letter bomb. This attack is regarded as one of the most severe acts of far-right violence in Austria’s Second Republic and has left profound social scars to this day.

ACIPSS Director Paul Schliefsteiner participated as an invited guest and expert. The panel discussion focused on the “Legacy of Oberwart”—addressing the lessons learned from the attack and how society deals with the resulting historical trauma. Alongside Paul Schliefsteiner, other participants included Emmerich Gärtner-Horvath, Chair of the Roma Ethnic Group Advisory Council, as well as other representatives from academia and civil society.

A key topic of discussion was the rising Antigypsyism across Europe and the responsibility of politics and society to actively counter discrimination and exclusion. The event served not only as a place of remembrance but also as a strong signal for recognition, critical reflection, and social cohesion. ACIPSS expresses its gratitude for the invitation and the opportunity to contribute to the critical examination of violence, ideology, and memory culture.