Four kilometers separate the Polish city of Korczowa from the Ukraine.
The leaden sky above the town seems endless, as does the long, tree-lined road that leads to the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Here, two weeks after the conflict broke out, the roar of the bombs dropped by the Russians on the international military training center in Yavoriv, some 10 kilometers from the border, was already clearly heard.
The reception point, established in an old shopping center on the outskirts of Korczowa, is enveloped in an almost surreal silence.
Only the sound of the footsteps of the volunteers walking between the humanitarian aid that is going to be placed on the counters that surround the shelter is heard.
At the entrance to this building used as a dormitory for hundreds of refugees, someone is frying potatoes at a stall.
A boy in a red jacket grabs a ration and, with a faint smile, walks away between the dozens of cots lined up in aisles once packed with strollers and window-shoppers.
“It is very difficult to bring these families together,” explains Ignacy Jozwiak.
“Some are still trapped in Lviv,” adds Elzbieta Mirga-Wójtowicz.
Both work at the Migration Research Center at the University of Warsaw.
A girl plays with her dog on a camp bed, while two other little boys help collect the bags before leaving.
“They have to leave immediately.
This is better”, explain Jozwiak and Mirga-Wöjtowicz.
“These people have fled from the bombs and they face so many problems,” says Monika Szewczyk, another researcher on the team, who is ethnically Roma like Mirga-Wójtowicz.
“They only brought a suitcase with them.
But they also have a baggage full of fears and worries about an uncertain future that they never thought they would have to face”, continues Szweczyk.
Monika Szewczyk, Tomasz Kosiek and Ignacy Jozwiak, in a restaurant in Przmysl, listening to Elizbieta Mirga-Wójtowicz, a Polish Roma researcher (centre), as they plan activities to support the Roma community fleeing Ukraine across the Polish border.
The four work at the Center for Migration Research, belonging to the University of Warsaw, and collaborate with the European Institute of Roma Art and Culture (ERIAC), based in Berlin. Giacomo Sini
Elzbieta and Tomasz walk between buses at the Tesco shopping center in Przemyśl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, at night.
The center has become an initial reception point for refugees fleeing Ukraine.
The buses go to the various destinations in Europe where they will receive the Ukrainian refugees.
Behind, Monica walks with Gnako, a Polish activist who came to the border to collaborate with the activities of the investigators. Giacomo Sini
An area of Kyiv Hall where Ukrainian gypsies sleep.
The shopping center is near the town of Korczowa, on the border between Poland and Ukraine, which has become the initial reception point for this group. Giacomo Sini
Monika walks past the Kyiv Hall – a shopping mall converted into an initial reception point for Ukrainian refugees – in the Polish town of Korczowa, accompanying a Roma woman to one of the buses that will take her and others to Germany. .Giacomo Sini
Monica is a Polish Roma researcher at the Migration Research Center of the University of Warsaw.
Behind her, Artur, a young Ukrainian gypsy refugee, waits in front of Kyiv Hall, near Korczowa, to leave by bus with his wife and children for Germany. Giacomo Sini
Ignacy helps some Ukrainian Roma refugees load their luggage onto one of the buses that will take them to Germany. Giacomo Sini
Monica hugs a young Roma refugee from eastern Ukraine who is about to leave for Germany.
“The gypsies have been expelled from the train stations, they have been denied help, food, accommodation, and they have been transferred from one place to another.
Many have returned to Poland”, denounce researchers from the Center for Migration Research, University of Warsaw. Giacomo Sini
Artur, a young Ukrainian gypsy who has fled the country with his wife, packing his bags before leaving Poland for Germany. Giacomo Sini
A gypsy boy from Ukraine on a bus to Germany.
He is one of Artur's sons. Giacomo Sini
Elzbieta and Monika brief a young Ukrainian Roma woman in front of the Kyiv Hall – a shopping center turned initial reception point for Ukrainian refugees – in Korczowa, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. Giacomo Sini
A Ukrainian gypsy girl in front of the Kyiv Hall.
The Roma people found between Korczowa and Przemyśl are mainly women and children.
Martial law, as we know, forces men to stay in Ukraine in most cases. Giacomo Sini
Elzbieta and Ignacy discuss work in front of the Kyiv Hall.
“Our task is to document the experiences of Roma refugees fleeing Ukraine, as well as actions led by Roma to help Roma refugees on the country's borders,” explains Mirga-Wójtowicz, one of the researchers. Giacomo Sini
“The Roma people with whom we have spoken at the borders were grateful to the Polish population and authorities for the good reception and initial care they have received,” say the researchers.
"They were happy to have a place to stay, rest and eat."
After several days at the border, they usually leave for other cities in Poland or other countries.
“And that is where the problems have started,” they add.
“The gypsies have been expelled from the train stations, they have been denied help, food, accommodation, and they have been transferred from one place to another.
Many have returned to Poland.”
At the train station in the Przemyśl industrial zone, near the first aid point, Mirga-Wójtowicz and her colleagues encountered two women with three children.
“They were exhausted, and the children were sick.
After talking for a bit, they told us that they were going back to Ukraine”, continues the researcher.
“We were shocked.
How could they return in the middle of the bombs?
But the women were very determined.
“They had been first to Przemyśl, then to Warsaw, Szczecin, Wrocław and Berlin.
They did not feel welcome anywhere, they had no food;
so they returned to central Ukraine, despite all the dangers.
Problems often start, unfortunately, far from the Polish border.”
Artur, a young Ukrainian of Roma ethnicity who has managed to date his wife and five children, is very worried;
he has never been abroad, and the fact that he has left part of his family still stuck on the Polish border adds to his concerns.
"Artur's parents will stay here waiting for the rest of the family trapped in the Ukraine," explains Tomasz Kosiek, another investigator.
"His youngest son is not even a year old."
The man says that his mother asked him to go to a "safe place" and asked him to "take care of the children and his wife, the most important things in his life."
The gypsies have been expelled from the train stations, they have been denied help, food, accommodation, and they have been transferred from one place to another
The beds begin to empty.
One of the girls traveling with Artur's family asks a volunteer to help her carry a heavy bag out of the house.
The girl stops for a moment to look at the nearest exit, but the volunteer, impatient, violently throws the bag to the ground.
“Artur's wife seems worried.
She knows that her origins are going to arouse prejudice”, Tomasz stresses.
“She wonders what conditions her children will live in, if they will have a home.
She has searched for information on the internet about the German association that will receive them, and about the city where they will arrive”.
After some logistical difficulties, Artur's family and several of his relatives finally board the two buses that will take them to Germany, while Kosiek talks to one of the drivers.
Shortly before leaving, a young Ukrainian refugee gets out of the vehicle and complains to the driver about her fellow passengers.
She doesn't want to go with the gypsy families.
Soon, the protest is silenced by the driver, who invites everyone to get on the bus.
Before leaving, one of the women hugs Szweczyk.
The bus leaves.
Another group of people walking away from the bombing.
“They have risked their lives and trusted us.
My heart goes out to them”, celebrates the researcher.
In the reception center in Korczowa, isolated from other refugees, part of Artur's family still remains.
But if the rest of the relatives make it to this Polish town, maybe they too can leave soon.
“The Roma people found between Korczowa and Przemyśl are mainly women and children.
Martial law, as we know, forces men to stay in Ukraine in most cases,” explains Mirga-Wójtowicz.
"In the reception center we met Nina, an older woman," says the researcher.
She was waiting for her brother, who is in a wheelchair and trapped in the Ukraine.
The agents did not allow her to cross the border because she had no documents, “but where can you get documentation in times of war?”
Last March, in addition to the bloody news about explosions and air raids, there were some about racial incidents against Africans and Asians fleeing the war
Last March, in addition to the bloody news about explosions and air raids, there were some about racial incidents against Africans and Asians fleeing the war.
Tragic stories about the Roma community were also published, such as that of Rubinta, collected by Movemento Kethane
of Italy, an Italian Roma organization.
"Rubinta and her family have been hiding for several days without food in a basement in Kharkiv, one of the cities hardest hit by bombing," explains Dijana Pavlovic, spokesperson for the movement.
"We are organizing a fundraising campaign to try to help her and her family escape."
Arrival in Lviv on free trains for women and children "costs each Roma man 200 euros," reports Rubinta.
“When they arrived at their destination, a soldier beat a 16-year-old boy while he was drinking tea, and prevented the children from asking the Red Cross for food.
Men who wanted to cross the border were charged 1,500 euros," they say from Kethane.
For many years there have been dramatic events against the Roma community in Ukraine and Poland.
“In 2018 there were regular problems on Ukrainian territory,” says Mirga-Wójtowicz.
“It all started with the murder of a nine-year-old Ukrainian boy, of which some gypsies were accused.
Nazi gangs and people who had gypsy neighbors began to take the law on their own.”
They killed a 24-year-old and "stabbed a Roma activist in front of a supermarket," adds the expert.
“The situation is a bit better in Poland, perhaps because the number of Roma is lower than in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary.
And because there are activists and organizations that stand up to difficult situations by applying preventive measures”.
The research team is also there at the initiative of the European Institute of Roma Art and Culture (ERIAC).
“Our task is to document the experiences of Roma refugees fleeing from Ukraine,” explains Mirga-Wójtowicz, “as well as actions led by Roma to help Roma refugees on the country's borders.”
The researchers are creating an archive that can "collect testimonies of racism directed against Roma in times of war, and stories of solidarity created by the entire community," recalls Mirga-Wójtowicz.
In fact, the goal of ERIAC is to educate and inform the majority population, through the arts, culture, history and the media, about the Roma community, which is often the victim of racist acts.
Although in 1971 the World Roma/Gypsy Congress established a national anthem and a flag to protect itself, the road to overthrow prejudice and receive this community without discrimination remains very uphill.
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