Thursday, January 23, 2020

 Roma also Fought: The History of Romani Participation in the Anti-Fascist Movement in Croatia during World War II. 

Roma Rights Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre, 1 (2017), pp. 9 – 16.
https://www.academia.edu/33081648/Roma_also_Fought_The_History_of_Romani_Participation_in_the_Anti-Fascist_Movement_in_Croatia_during_World_War_II._Roma_Rights_Journal_of_the_European_Roma_Rights_Centre_1_2017_pp._9_16

Danijel Vojak

The Roma settled in Croatia in the second half of the 14th century and are one of the oldest minority groups in Croatia today.1 Their history in Croatia was for the most part marked by periods of unsuccessful assimilation – attempts made by state and local authorities that were often accompanied by antiziganist violence. The violent, repressive pressure exerted by Croatian authorities against the Roma reached its peak during World War II, when the pro-fascist Ustaša government committed genocide against them. Most of the pre-war Roma population was destroyed, but a small part of it managed to survive the war. Historiographical research on the suffering of Roma in the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska – NDH) is still in its infancy and many of its aspects therefore remain almost completely unknown. One of these aspects concerns research on the active armed resistance of Roma towards the pro-fascist Ustaša authorities. The author intends to show that the Roma participated in the Croatian anti-fascist resistance movement and to present a comparison to similar examples of resistance in several other European countries. The research is based on archival and museum research in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as well as an analysis of relevant periodicals and literature.

Roma and Conflict: Understanding the Impact of War and Political Violence - 
 https://www.academia.edu/33208065/Roma_and_Conflict_Understanding_the_Impact_of_War_and_Political_Violence_-_Roma_Rights_Journal_1_2017

Roma Rights Journal 1/2017

Marek Szilvási

This issue of Roma Rights Journal examines the impact of conflict on Romani populations in modern Europe. As marginalised populations subjected to both random and very specific cruelties, Roma were viewed by warring parties with a mixture of ambivalence and contempt, and deemed to be communities of little consequence. As a consequence, Roma were also excluded from the peace-building processes that followed the conclusion of hostilities. In addition to situations where Roma were the direct targets of murderous aggression, or written off as collateral damage " caught between two fires " , articles in this issue also examine incidents where Roma actively took a side, and refute notions of Roma and Travellers as being " a people without politics. " The contributions in this issue address long-standing lacunae, for as long as Europe's largest ethnic minority is rendered invisible and written out of the histories of Europe's wars and conflicts; and excluded from the politics of reconstruction and peace-making, the continent's self-understanding will remain fatally flawed.



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