On September 5, 2022, in Tuscany, Italy, the Swiss poet Mariela Mehr, who belonged to the Jenish people (term for Roma in Switzerland) died
She was born on December 27, 1947 in Zurich. At a very young age, she underwent the "Kinder der Landstrasse" eugenics program run by the Swiss government and based on the extraction of children from families of Jenish, Roma and Sinta ethnicities. In 2012 Mariella became part of 100 thousand poets for change and the Lavinia Dickinson project, publishing her poems in the Italian Anthology of 100TPC (Lavinia Dickinson Edizioni). She participated with her dedication and her lyrics in some of our actions in defense of the rights of the Roma and in the cases for the termination of discriminatory policies against these peoples in the European Union and for the protection of refugees and migrants.
Mariela was a delegate to the 2nd IRU Congress in Geneva in 1978.
