Born on November 26, 1962, in Oberwart, and raised in a large Burgenland family with siblings, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents in Rettenbach.
Attended the multi-grade primary school in Rettenbach, followed by the Secondary Academic School (BG/BRG) in Oberschützen, where he graduated (Matura) in June 1981.
Studied English and German at the University of Vienna.
Employed as a teacher by the Education Directorate of Burgenland since September 1986 (at BAfEP Oberwart, Secondary School Markt Allhau, and EMS Oberwart).
Active in adult education within the framework of the Berufsreifeprüfung (university entrance qualification for professionals) and the Lehre mit Matura program (apprenticeship with diploma).
Has been deeply interested in languages, politics, and society since youth.
Completed alternative civilian service (at that time still subject to a conscience examination).

Stefan Horvath (*born 1949) is a storyteller, contemporary witness and board member of the Roma Volkshochschule Burgenland. He has lived in the Roma settlement in Oberwart since childhood and is regarded as one of the most important voices of the Burgenland Roma community.

Following the racially motivated pipe-bomb attack in Oberwart in 1995, in which he lost one of his sons, he began to tell and write his story – both as a personal way of coping and as a means of making memory, dignity, and history visible. This process gave rise to powerful narrative works that connect individual experiences with collective history.

His books – including Ich war nicht in Auschwitz (2003), Katzenstreu (2007, also released as an audiobook with Willi Spuller), and Atsinganos – The Roma of Oberwart and their settlements (2013) – were published by edition lex liszt 12.

To this day, Stefan Horvath travels throughout Austria as a contemporary witness, engaging in dialogue with students and young people about Roma history, antigypsyism, remembrance culture and social responsibility.

is a trainer, translator, author, human rights consultant, and university lecturer in the field of political education, focusing on issues such as anti-racism, anti-discrimination, sensitive language use, violence prevention, extremism prevention, and peace and democracy education.
She has developed numerous educational and cultural projects in the areas of human rights and gender democracy. Furthermore, she conducts research and publishes on topics related to social inclusion and exclusion, peace and democracy education, anti-discrimination, and currently on violent extremism and applied human rights.
Melinda Tamás is a member of the Vienna Integration Council.
In addition, through art performances, she explores the impact of racism, discrimination, and exclusion — and why they persist so tenaciously.

Andreas Lehner is a visual artist, exhibition designer, and exhibition organizer who lives in Kitzladen in Burgenland.
His artistic practice ranges from installations in public space to visual adaptations of literary texts to sculptures, as well as exhibition and museum design. He has been artistically active since the early 1980s, with documented museum and gallery work since 1989.
He has developed museums such as the Museum Hartberg and the Burgenland geschichte(n)haus, and has curated and designed numerous exhibitions at major institutions, including the Landesmuseum Burgenland in Eisenstadt, the European Museum for Peace in Stadtschlaining and the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest. His work engages with themes such as border experiences, Jewish heritage, war history and regional identity, and has been recognized with the Austrian MuseumOnline Award 2009, among others, as well as multiple Austrian Museum Quality Seals.
For decades, he has engaged with the history and present-day situation of the Roma. The exhibition Roma 2000 (later Roma 2020) was shown, among other venues, as the first exhibition on Roma history at the Austrian Parliament in Vienna and at the European Parliament in Brussels. Further exhibitions addressed the Oberwart attack and childhood stories of Roma in the second half of the 20th century.
As a regional developer, he played a significant role in the development of public transport in Burgenland and in site development for southern Burgenland.
As editor, he was also responsible for the volume "letters of fear," which brings together artistic and literary explorations of the theme of fear, and as author of the ironic account written for the centenary of Burgenland, "Hundert Jahre Burgenland – durch die Augen der Resl-Tant" ("A Hundred Years of Burgenland – Through the Eyes of Tante Resl").

With her studies in business education and subsequent doctorate, Verena Liszt-Rohlf has long been engaged with educational processes across various educational levels. In her doctoral dissertation, she explored the professionalization pathways of adult educators through biographical analyses. These insights have contributed to her focus on diverse biographies and their consideration in research and teaching as a central element of her work.
Currently, Verena Liszt-Rohlf works at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland in the Department of Business, where she is responsible for research projects in the field of socioeconomic education, particularly in the area of entrepreneurship promotion. At the Roma Adult Education Center, she contributes her experience in project development and in designing innovative teaching and learning settings that take diverse biographies into account.

Grew up in Zahling, married since 1986 in Oberwart, mother of two children. Completed training at the School of Nursing.
From 1999 to 2001, she worked as a presenter in Burgenland Romani at the multilingual radio station Antenne 4, which broadcasts daily in Croatian, Hungarian, and Burgenland Romani.
Since January 2, 2003, she has been employed at the ORF Regional Studio Burgenland, where she is responsible for the weekly radio program Roma sam. She also produces TV segments for the minority programs Romano Dikipe and WIR.
Romani language courses are offered twice a year at the Roma Adult Education Center in Oberwart.

grew up in Neudörfl and has lived and worked in Oberwart since 1986. After his apprenticeship as a toolmaker, civilian service, then educator in the Pöttsching children's village and labor market supervisor for the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs with the task of work and social projects for the long-term unemployed - first women's counseling, renovation courses - Schlaining Castle, Güssing Castle, Cselley Mill Osilip, Wiesen festival grounds, Oberwart Youth Center - Open House Oberwart, first Roma association, women's counseling center, etc. Co-founder and chairman of Offenes Haus Oberwart, the R.E.F.U.G.I.U.S. association, of the edition lex liszt 12, the first Austrian Roma association in Oberwart, the children's festival Burg Forchtenstein Fantastisch, the Roma adult education center Burgenland, the eu-art-network as well as active and co-initiator of peace, environmental and third world movements, anti-nuclear movement, day of action against fascism, Roma Oberwart association, SOS-Mitmensch - in the main coordination team for the “Lichtermeer” and much more.

Awards:

(joint leadership together with Horst Markus Horvath, since 1 September 2026)
Melinda Tamás, MA works professionally in several languages and is an educational scientist, trainer, translator, author, human rights consultant, and university lecturer in the field of political education, focusing on anti-racism, anti-discrimination, sensitive language use, violence and extremism prevention, and democracy education. She has developed numerous educational and cultural projects in the fields of human rights and gender democracy. She also conducts research and publishes on topics such as social inclusion and exclusion, peace and democracy education, anti-discrimination, and — most recently — violent extremism and applied human rights. Melinda Tamás was a long-standing member of the Vienna Integration Council. In addition, through art performances she explores what racism, discrimination, and exclusion cause, and why they persist so tenaciously.
Since 1 September 2026, Melinda Tamás has been Managing Director of the Roma Adult Education Center Burgenland, in a joint leadership team together with Horst Markus Horvath. In this role, she is primarily responsible for project design and development, shaping the educational programme, the organisation's operational management, as well as networking and cooperation with partner organisations, funding bodies, and European and national institutions.