Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
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.
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. 195–197.Google Scholar
4. Ibid., pp. 197–211.Google Scholar
5. Ibid., pp. 210–218.Google Scholar
6. Ibid., pp. 219–221.Google Scholar
7. Ibid., pp. 222–229.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. 22–23.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