seo cizmich
Director of the Kher
Born in Rome (Italy) of Romani origin. His ancestry belongs to the former Yugoslavia. He grew up in Genoa (Italy), belonging to a large family (ten brothers and sisters) where the main language of communication was Romano, and where knowledge and stories were passed on through the oral transmission of knowledge, here he learned the richness and the privilege of belonging to a family and a millenary culture, of knowing how to share and live with people with different ways of thinking, which allows one to be more open to society.
At the age of eleven he discovered his passion for swimming, however due to the prejudices that existed at that time against the Roma population, he was unable to learn this sport, it was not until he was thirteen years old, and after trying in various ways that He was able to join a team, at the age of fifteen he participated in semi-professional competitions, at the age of seventeen he became the first Romani lifeguard in Genoa. With this he learned the value of effort, and the desire to fight for the rights of the Roma people grew in him.
He received training at the Artistic Lyceum of Genoa, through the art of performance, poetry, exhibitions, photography and dramaturgy. He also trained at the Ipotesi Theater, where he deepened his knowledge and skills in dramaturgy.
It started in Roma activism due to the situations and the almost natural exclusion of the Roma People. He chose to educate himself informally and orally about the Roma people, in the same way that his ancestors did, since there was no academic training on this type of knowledge. He began his studies about its history, through oral communications with the elders, also through his various trips and life stories, he met various realities of Roma in Europe. Above all, he was able to learn more about the Barómudardipe.
Based on everything learned, he has worked to combat anti-Gypsyism, the recovery of historical memory as well as the defense of the Romani Language and its use as an instrument of struggle.
As among his works he fights for human rights, he has fought together with various activists for the eradication of all informal settlements in Genoa and provided decent housing for the resettled population.
Researcher and curious about the historical memory of the Roma people, especially the Barómudardipe. It has used audiovisual documents to be able to make the history of the Roma people known and to combat anti-Gypsyism
In addition to this, in 2018 his poem Na Bistar is found in the monument to the victims of the holocaust located in the Municipality VII, Rome. Poem resulting from the interview with Piero Terracina, a Jewish survivor of the Barómudardipe. That same year, the initiative entitled "Testimonies in the classroom - Vindication of the memory of the Roma People" was promoted for the development of a living monument in memory of Johan Trollman "Rukeli" , the monument that is located in the Terra Roja institute of Santa Coloma de Gramenet. The first living monument, and consists of a Weeping Willow, referring to the nickname Tree, in Romanó Rukeli, and the force with which the boxer did not fight and did not fall in the ring.
Because of this, in 2019 it was Kali Sara who named him the first honorary ambassador of the Romani Language, for his commitment to the defense, promotion and conservation of the Romani čhib.
He is currently the co-founder of the Alliance against Antigypsyism, he is the director of the Romaní Zor documentation center. He is also the director of the Romanó Kher: Memoria i Cultura.
“Every night I fell asleep with sounds foreign to my ears
The wind carried them through the barbed wire
Men, women and children dancing
around a bonfire,
Still hoping to be able to travel.
Then there was silence.
The violin stopped playing
There was no music anymore
There was no dancing anymore.
there was no hope
Just the gas chamber.
A look at the sky
from where the snow falls… then I think,
On the second of August the snow does not fall.
smoke in the towers,
just tears of ashes
Oh devla! ”
-Seo Czmich