Country: Serbia

Group: Roma

Date Finalized: 3/23/2020

Team: Aracely Esquer (lead), Gabriel Cardenas, Ray Gerard Regorgo

The Roma people are the largest minority ethnic group inhabiting Serbia. From the 15th century, the Roma have been subjected to discrimination, stigmatization, criminalization, violence, and death because of their nomadic lifestyle, culture, and way of life. On April 6th, 1941 Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia in what was known as the April War or Operation 25. This conflict ended on April 17th with the defeat and surrender of Yugoslavia, which then proceeded to be split among the Axis powers. Serbia was occupied by Nazi Germany (Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, n.d.; Isaacs, 2018). Under Nazi control, the Roma were subjected to the “Romani genocide” where approximately 250,000 Romani were massacred by the Germans and their collaborators through displacement, imprisonment, shootings, and placement in concentration camps (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). Approximately 60,000 Roma people lived in Serbia, and 300,000 in Yugoslavia as a whole. It is estimated that 12,000-20,000 Roma died in Serbia during WWII. The genocide of the Roma was officialy recognized by Germany in 1985 (Nikolic, 2018). However, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is no information on whether the Roma are recognized as victims of the Genocide (Council of Europe, n.d.). This event has evidence (3) for ethnically-targeted lethal violence. 

Sources

  1. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, (n.d.) Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939–1945. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Washington, DC. Retrieved from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/genocide-of-european-roma-gypsies-1939-1945
  2. Nikolic, A. (2018 December 17). Serbia’s Forgotten Role in the Roma Holocaust. Balkan Transitional Justice. Retrieved from https://balkaninsight.com/2018/12/17/serbia-s-forgotten-role-in-the-roma-holocaust-12-14-2018/
  3. Isaacs, L. (2018). Remembering Zigeunernacht – The Night of the Gypsies; August 2nd, 1944. (2018, August 1). Travelers Times. Retrieved from https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/features/remembering-zigeunernacht-night-gypsies-august-2nd-1944
  4. Council of Europe (n.d.). Roma Genocide: Factsheet on the Roma Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/roma-genocide/bosnia-and-herzegovina
  5. Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) in Auschwitz (n.d.). Retrieved from http://auschwitz.org/en/history/categories-of-prisoners/sinti-and-roma-gypsies-in-auschwitz/