Paul Polansky
Illustration — Paul Polansky, 2011 Paul Polansky (February 17, 1942 – March 26, 2021) was an American writer and Romani activist. Polansky held a degree in journalism, history and rhetoric from Marquette University. In the early 1990s, he founded the Czech Historical Research Center in the United States and participated in several American and European scientific conferences on human rights in Eastern Europe.
Paul Polansky

Pino Alpino · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1942 · Mason City.
- Died
- 2021
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- writer · romani rights activist · historian · poet · opinion journalist · human rights defender
- Fields
- human rights · history · poetry
- Education
- Marquette University
- Honours
- Weimar Human Rights Prize
- Languages
- English · Spanish
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Paul Polansky, 2011 Paul Polansky (February 17, 1942 – March 26, 2021) was an American writer and Romani activist. Polansky held a degree in journalism, history and rhetoric from Marquette University. In the early 1990s, he founded the Czech Historical Research Center in the United States and participated in several American and European scientific conferences on human rights in Eastern Europe.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Paul Polansky. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q543817 · wikipedia · Paul Polansky
In this article
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1942
Paul Polansky born at Mason City.
2021
Paul Polansky died.
Publications
In the 1990s, he discovered 40,000 documents in the Czech archives on the Gypsy extermination camp in Lety, run by the Czechs during World War II. After making this discovery, he moved to the Czech Republic to continue his research. He also began organizing conferences devoted to them at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 1999, Polansky began working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to serve as an advisor for Roma (Gypsy) refugees in Kosovo. He headed the Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation (KRRF), an NGO working for the suffering residents of the Romany camps in Mitrovica. From July 1999 to September 2009, he was the head of the mission of the Association for Endangered Nations in Kosovo and Serbia. On December 10, 2004, the Weimar City Council awarded Polansky with the Human Rights Award. Polansky died in 2021 due to an illness.
• Otaker Dvorak and Paul J. Polansky, Antonin Dvorak, My Father, Czech Historical Research Ctr, 1993,. • Living Through It Twice: Poems Of The Romany Holocaust, G PLUS G, 1998,. • Black Silence: The Lety Survivors Speak, G PLUS G, 1998,. • Not a Refugee; The Plight of the Kosovo Roma (Gypsies) After the 1999 War, Voice of Roma, 2000. • The River Killed My Brother, Norton Coker, 2001,. • The Blackbirds of Kosovo, Left Curve Publications, 2001. • Bus Ride in Jerusalem, Roma Refugee Fund, 2003. • To UNHCR, with Love, Divus, 2003,. • Kosovo Blood, KRRF, 2004. • Sarah’s People: Nish Cemetery Poems & Photos, KRRF, 2005. • UN-leaded Blood, published by KRRF (2005),. • Safari Angola, wyd. nakładem własnym, 2006. • Gypsy Taxi, wyd. nakładem własnym, 2007. • One blood, one flame: the oral histories of the Yugoslav gypsies before, during and after WWII, Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation, 2008, • Undefeated, Multimedia Edizioni, 2009. • Deadly Neglect, wyd. nakładem własnym, 2010. • Boxing Poems, Volo Press edizioni, 2010. • Poesie, Damocle Edizioni, 2011. • The Storm, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011,. • Black Silence, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011, 978–1466295742. • La mia vita con gli zingari, Datanews, 2011,. • Paul Polanksy, Roberto Malini, The silence of the violins – Il silenzio dei violini, Il Foglio Letterario, 2012. • Paul Polanksy, Roberto Nassi, The hand of God – La mano di Dio, Il Foglio Letterario, 2012. • Cry, Gypsy, poems of Germany’s Forced Deportations of Kosovo, Volo Press edizioni, 2012. • 'The Search for Bong Way Wong and the Chinese Bullfighters' self-published, 2016.

Beppe Costa with Leonardo Omar Onida, Jack Hirschman and Paul Polansky at International Prize City of Sassari 2011 in theatre
Stefiro
Paul Polansky, Leonardo Omar Onida, Beppe Costa e Jack Hirschman ai giardini pubblici di Sassari
Stefiro
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Paul Polansky”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q543817: Paul Polansky
General reference · Wikidata
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Paul Polansky is recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded as writer, romani rights activist, historian, poet and opinion journalist.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,285 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Paul PăunAuthor
- Paul PellissonAuthor
- Paul Petter WaldenströmAuthor
- Paul Philippe Hohenzollern-LambrinoAuthor
- Paul PottsAuthor
- Paul RassinierAuthor
- Paul RebouxAuthor
- Paul RéeAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Paul Polansky?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.