Hope After Horror:
Ceija Stojka’s Journey

Ceija Stojka (1933–2013) was an Austrian Romani Catholic writer, painter, musician, and Holocaust survivor whose work preserves the memory of Roma persecution under Nazi rule. Born in Austria, into a Lovara Roma horse-trading family, she spent her early childhood traveling across Austria with her parents and siblings.

During World War II, Stojka and her family were deported by the Nazis because they were Roma. She survived imprisonment in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ravensbrück, and Bergen-Belsen. Her father was murdered after imprisonment in Dachau, and her youngest brother died in Auschwitz. Ceija, her mother, and several siblings were liberated by British forces in 1945 and returned to Vienna.

As an adult, Stojka worked as a market vendor before becoming an artist and writer in the 1980s. Through paintings, books, music, and public speaking, she documented Roma life before the war, the horrors of the camps, and the importance of remembrance. In 1992, she became a leading voice for recognition of the Roma and Sinti genocide. Her work stands as testimony, resistance, and remembrance.

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The following images are are on display at the Pop-Up Holocaust Museum 136 E. Maumee in Adrian MI from March 3 - April 26.