The traveling exhibition “I find thee with God, my brother! – Gypsy Stories” continues with new highlights

The Ethnographic Museum’s traveling exhibition, I Will Meet You with God, My Brother! – Roma Stories, has arrived at its new venue, where it not only showcases the exhibition but also actively involves local communities. The exhibition opened on April 8, on the occasion of Roma Culture Day, at the János Tornyai Museum—serving as a city-wide celebration with the participation of local and neighboring Roma communities.

Photos from the opening event

The exhibition is based on the extraordinary legacy of Kamill Erdős (1924–1962): photographs, audio recordings, and notes documenting the daily life of Roma communities in the 1950s and 1960s. The collection was digitized by experts at the Museum of Ethnography and supplemented with new research, so the exhibition is built on a dialogue between the past and the present.

In many ways, this current presentation marks a new chapter in the life of the traveling exhibition: the opening is linked to Roma Culture Day, making it not only an exhibition opening but also a major community event for the host city, in which local Roma communities are actively involved. The exhibition has also been expanded with a new module created specifically for this stop, which locals fill with their own family photos and stories, thus enriching the exhibition with new meaning at every venue. In addition, the Museum of Ethnography is using a “two-voice” guided tour for the first time: Benjamin Dániel Rézműves-Balogh (Beni) speaks from a personal, Romani perspective on the topics he highlights, while curator Vera Schleicher interprets the other parts of the exhibition from an ethnographic perspective; the two narratives complement each other, creating a dialogue for visitors.

The exhibition is not merely a historical record: in addition to historical photographs, it also offers contemporary points of reference. The exhibition in Hódmezővásárhely, for example, is supplemented by local photographs that provide a glimpse into the daily life of Roma people in the 20th century: featuring Roma families and musicians from the interwar period, the world of the so-called “Gypsy” KTSZ in the 1970s, as well as daily life in the shantytown on Pálma Street in Újváros. 

The Museum of Ethnography aims for the exhibition not only to present the histories of Roma communities but also to create an opportunity to collectively rewrite them, with the involvement of local residents, from multiple perspectives, and in a dynamic, living way.

The exhibition will be open to the public from April 8 to May 3, 2026, at the János Tornyai Museum.