engleski

The relations and attitudes of non–Romani people towards the persecution and suffering of Roma in the Independent State of Croatia, 1941 – 1945.

The Roma population settled in Croatia in the second half of the 14th Century, which makes them one of the oldest minority communities in this area. From that time, they have mostly been subjected to state and local policies of assimilation and persecution, which they attempted to resist by protecting their way of life, customs and language. During the Second World War in the pro-fascist Independent State of Croatia, a significant number of Roma were systematically murdered and tortured in concentration camps as a result of racial laws and policies that led to genocide. My presentation will focus on analyzing the relation between the non-Roma population and Roma in the context of their race annihilation in the Independent State of Croatia. The first part of the presentation will analyze the position of Roma in the period between the two World Wars (1918 – 1941) and the impact of prejudice and stereotypes towards Roma on the non-Roma population and Croatia’s authorities. In the main part of this presentation, I will analyze cases where the non-Roma population participated in the persecution of Roma. These cases describe the participation of the non-Roma population in looting Roma property, organizing and carrying out deportations to concentration camps and the killing and torture of Roma. Cases in which non-Roma inhabitants defended the Roma and tried to save them from the persecution of the Ustasha authorities will be then analyzed. Among other things, the role of Roman Catholic priest, Anton Medven in rescuing Roma in Bosnia and during the war as well as the role of some Muslim intellectuals in the protection of "White Gypsies" and examples of resistance from the non-Roma population towards deportations of Roma in Ustasha and Nazi concentration camps will be presented. In addition, the relations and attitudes of the majority Croatian population towards Ustasha’s persecution of the Jewish minority and Roma minority will be compared. This presentation will be based on mostly unpublished archival material from Croatian archives, museums and other institutions, periodicals as well as an analysis of relevant literature.

Roma; World War II; Independent State of Croatia; collaboration.

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