Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:54:47.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Roma of the Former Yugoslavia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Judith Latham*
Affiliation:
Voice of America, U.S.A.

Extract

Throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the collapse of communism has led to an unleashing of ethnic strife and a worsening of the economic conditions of the Roma, who by any measurement occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder. In the former Yugoslavia, the situation has been aggravated enormously by war, rampant nationalism, forced emigration, ethnic cleansing, and economic sanctions. The nearly four-year war in the region took a heavy toll on all the successor states except Slovenia.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Livia Plaks (director, Project on Ethnic Relations, Princeton, NJ), interview with author, Washington, 23 April 1996.Google Scholar

2. David M. Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (New York: St Martin's Press, 1996), p. 195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Ibid., pp. 195197.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., pp. 197211.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., pp. 210218.Google Scholar

6. Ibid., pp. 219221.Google Scholar

7. Ibid., pp. 222229.Google Scholar

8. Rudko Kawczynski (director) and Jud Nirenberg (program coordinator, Regional Roma Participation Program, Open Society Institute), interviews with author, Budapest, 24–25 July 1997.Google Scholar

9. Dimitrina Petrova (director, European Roma Rights Center), telephone interview with author, Budapest, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

10. Rajko Djurić (president, International Romani Union), Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

11. Ibid.Google Scholar

12. Ibid.Google Scholar

13. Ibid. See individual sections in this paper for population estimates in the Yugoslav successor states.Google Scholar

14. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

15. Rudko Kawczynski (director, Regional Roma Participation Program, Open Society Institute), interview with author, Budapest, 24 July 1997.Google Scholar

16. Ljiljana Smajlović (foreign affairs editor, Vreme), Belgrade, 2 August 1997.Google Scholar

17. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

18. Dušan Janjić (director, Forum for Ethnic Relations, Belgrade), telephone interview with author, 19 September 1997.Google Scholar

19. Ibid.Google Scholar

20. Ibid.Google Scholar

21. Dragoljub Acković (president, Romani Congressional Party, and editor, Romani show at Radio Belgrade, Belgrade), telephone interview with author, 25 September 1997.Google Scholar

22. Ibid.Google Scholar

23. Ibid.Google Scholar

24. Ibid.Google Scholar

25. Ibid.Google Scholar

26. Ibid.Google Scholar

27. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

28. Hedges, Chris, “Another Victim, 14, in Serbia's War on Gypsies,” The New York Times , 22 October 1997, p. A-8.Google Scholar

29. Djurić, telephone interview with author, 24 October 1997.Google Scholar

30. Ibid. During the Holocaust, Gypsies were forced to wear a brown triangle.Google Scholar

31. Ibid.Google Scholar

32. Ibid.Google Scholar

33. Acković, telephone interview with author, 8 December 1997.Google Scholar

34. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

35. Djurić, telephone interview with author, 3 October 1996.Google Scholar

36. Ibid.Google Scholar

37. Ibid.Google Scholar

38. Orhan Galjus (communication program coordinator, Regional Roma Participation Program, Open Society Institute), interview with author, Budapest, 26 July 1997.Google Scholar

39. Ibid.Google Scholar

40. Radmila Milentijević (Minister of Information, Republic of Serbia), interview with author, Belgrade, 6 August 1997.Google Scholar

41. Ibid.Google Scholar

42. Ibid.Google Scholar

43. Ibid.Google Scholar

44. Vesna Pešić (leader, Civic Alliance Party), interview with author, Belgrade, 3 August 1997.Google Scholar

45. Ibid.Google Scholar

46. Lazló Vegel (coordinator, Soros–Yugoslav Foundation), interview with author, Novi Sad, 5 August 1997.Google Scholar

47. Summarized from interviews with Ibrahim Rugova (president, Republic of Kosova), Priština, Kosovo, 8 August 1997; David Phillips (director, International Conflict Resolution Program, Columbia University), New York, 3 December 1997, 23 March 1998, and 9 April 1998; James Hooper (director, Balkan Institute), Washington, 9 March 1998; Obrad Kesić (International Research and Exchanges Board), Washington, 9 March 1998; and Michael Salla (School of International Service, The American University), Washington, 20 February 1998.Google Scholar

48. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

49. Baškim Redjepi (president, Association of Roma People of Priština), interview with author, Priština, 9 August 1997; and with Šani Rifati (former resident of Priština), interview with author, New York, 30 August 1997.Google Scholar

50. Boško Drobjnak (Secretary for Infomation for Kosovo and Metohija), interview with author, Priština, Yugoslavia, 8 August 1997.Google Scholar

51. Galjus, interview with author, Budapest, 26 July 1997.Google Scholar

52. Ibid.Google Scholar

53. Visit to Dalmatiska, Romani ghetto in Priština, 9 August 1997.Google Scholar

54. Rifati family and their friends, interviews with author, Priština, 9 August 1997.Google Scholar

55. Šani Rifati (former resident of the Dalmatinska Romani ghetto in Priština), interview with author, New York, 30 August 1997.Google Scholar

56. Ibid.Google Scholar

57. Rifati, telephone interview with author, 1 April 1998.Google Scholar

58. Baškim Redjepi (president, Association of Roma People of Priština), interview with author, Priština, 9 August 1997.Google Scholar

59. Anton Berisha (coordinator, Soros–Yugoslav Foundation, Priština), interview with author, Podgorica, 7 August 1997.Google Scholar

60. Nicolas Pano (professor of history, Western Illinois University), telephone interview with author, 23 March 1998.Google Scholar

61. Rifati, telephone interview with author, 1 April 1998.Google Scholar

62. Veton Surroi (editor, Koha Ditore , Priština), interview with author, Washington, 3 April 1998.Google Scholar

63. James Hooper (director, Balkan Institute, Washington), telephone interview with author, 24 March 1998.Google Scholar

64. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

65. Slobodan Franović (president, Montenegrin Helsinki Committee for Human Rights), interview with author, Podgorica, 7 August 1997.Google Scholar

66. Ibid.Google Scholar

67. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

68. Ibid.Google Scholar

69. Djurić, telephone interview with author, 3 October 1997.Google Scholar

70. Ibid.Google Scholar

71. Ibid.Google Scholar

72. Bajro Beganović (president of managing board) and Kemal Tahirović (vice-president, Braća Romi) , interviews with author, Sarajevo, 16 June 1996.Google Scholar

73. Interviews with Bosnian citizens who spoke off the record.Google Scholar

74. Bill Croker (senior field officer, Bosnian Aid Committee of Oxford), interview with author, Split, 13 June 1996.Google Scholar

75. Ibid.Google Scholar

76. Croker, telephone interview with author, 6 September 1996.Google Scholar

77. Tilman Zülch (president, Society for Threatened Peoples, Göttingen), telephone interview with author, 6 October 1997.Google Scholar

78. Ibid.Google Scholar

79. Ibid.Google Scholar

80. Ibid.Google Scholar

81. Ibid.Google Scholar

82. Ibid.Google Scholar

83. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

84. Ibid.Google Scholar

85. Nirenberg, interview with author, Budapest, 25 July 1997.Google Scholar

86. Ibid.Google Scholar

87. Ibid.Google Scholar

88. Ibid.Google Scholar

89. Scot McElvany (international volunteer, Mladi Most) , interview with author, Mostar, 14 June 1996.Google Scholar

90. McElvany, telephone interview with author, 3 October 1996.Google Scholar

91. Claude Cahn (publications officer, European Roma Rights Center), interview with author, Budapest, 24 July 1997.Google Scholar

92. Ibid.Google Scholar

93. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December, 1996.Google Scholar

94. Ibid.Google Scholar

95. Djurić, telephone interview with author, 3 October 1996.Google Scholar

96. Ibid.Google Scholar

97. Ibid.Google Scholar

98. Zülch, telephone interview with author, 6 October 1997.Google Scholar

99. Ibid.Google Scholar

100. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

101. Ibid.Google Scholar

102. Kawczynski, interview with author, Budapest, 24 July 1997.Google Scholar

103. Zülch, telephone interview with author, 6 October 1997.Google Scholar

104. Ibid.Google Scholar

105. Andrzej Mirga (ethnographer and vice-chairman, Council of Europe's Specialist Group on Roma, Krakow), telephone interview with author, 21 October 1997.Google Scholar

106. Ibid.Google Scholar

107. Ibid.Google Scholar

108. Ibid.Google Scholar

109. Ibid.Google Scholar

110. Ibid.Google Scholar

111. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

112. Druker, Jeremy, “Present but Unaccounted for: How Many Roma Live in Central and Eastern Europe?Transitions, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1997, pp. 2223.Google Scholar

113. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

114. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997; Acković, interview with author, Arlington, VA, 2 November 1997. See also Dragoljub Acković, Roma Suffering in Jasenovac Camp (Belgrade: Museum of the Victims of Genocide, 1995).Google Scholar

115. Dennis Reinhartz (professor of history and Russian, University of Texas–Arlington), interview with author, Washington, 28 April 1998.Google Scholar

116. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

117. Ibid.Google Scholar

118. Galjus, interview with author, 26 July 1997.Google Scholar

119. Jud Nirenberg (senior program coordinator, Regional Roma Participation Program, Open Society Institute) interview with author, Budapest, 25 July 1997.Google Scholar

120. Tomislav Margreitner (director, Prijatelj), interview with author, Zagreb, 12 August 1997.Google Scholar

121. Ibid.Google Scholar

122. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

123. Kawczynski, Rudko, interview with author, Budapest, 24 July 1997.Google Scholar

124. Eran Fraenkel (director, Search for Common Ground), interview with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

125. Ibid.Google Scholar

126. Ibid.Google Scholar

127. Ibid.Google Scholar

128. Esma Redžepova Teodosievski (folk singer and patron, Association of Roma Women), interview with author, Skopje, 20 June 1996.Google Scholar

129. Fraenkel, interview with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

130. Ibid.Google Scholar

131. Faik Abdi (leader, Party for the Total Emancipation of Roma), interview with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

132. Nirenberg, interview with author, Budapest, 25 July 1997.Google Scholar

133. Ibid.Google Scholar

134. Šemci Šajnov (North Rhein–Westphalia Project, Skopje), telephone interview with author, 2 October 1997.Google Scholar

135. Ibid.Google Scholar

136. Ibid.Google Scholar

137. Kevsera Memedova (founder), and Nadire Selman (president, Association of Roma Women-Esma), interviews with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

138. Šajnov, telephone interview with author, 2 October 1997.Google Scholar

139. Selman, interview with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

140. Visit with Ramija Serbezova and her family, Šuto Orizari, Skopje, 19 June 1997.Google Scholar

141. Šajnov, telephone interview with author, 2 October 1997.Google Scholar

142. Ibid.Google Scholar

143. Selman, interview with author, Skopje, 19 June 1996.Google Scholar

144. Ibid.Google Scholar

145. Claude Cahn (researcher, European Roma Rights Center, Budapest), telephone interview with author, 30 September 1997.Google Scholar

146. Ibid.Google Scholar

147. Ibid.Google Scholar

148. Ibid.Google Scholar

149. Ibid.Google Scholar

150. Ibid.Google Scholar

151. Ibid.Google Scholar

152. Ibid.Google Scholar

153. Ibid.Google Scholar

154. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar

155. Nirenberg, interview with author, Budapest, 25 July 1997.Google Scholar

156. Ibid.Google Scholar

157. Acković, interview with author, Washington, 5 November 1997.Google Scholar

158. Petrova, telephone interview with author, 12 December 1996.Google Scholar

159. Acković, interview with author, Washington, 5 November 1997.Google Scholar

160. Galjus, interview with author, Budapest, 26 July 1997.Google Scholar

161. Djurić, interview with author, Berlin, 15 July 1997.Google Scholar