IV.
E. The Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
ADAMOVIC, K., and P. KUREC, eds. Problem vychovzy a vzdelavania
ciganskej mladeze. Bratislava: Psychodiagnosticke a didacticke testy,
1976.
This is an official account of the socio-educational
problems encountered by the Czech and Slovak Roma under the last regime.
BUBELINI, Jan. “Skusenosti z riesena otazok ciganskych obyvatelov vo Vychodoslovenskom
kraji.” Socialna politika 6 (1983): pp. 138-39.
This is one among many official articles written
by order of the government about social problems raised by the Roma in
the former Czechoslovakia.
BULIR, Michal. “Skolni dochazka cikanskych deti v letech 1980-1985.” Demografie,
Vol. 29, No. 1 (1987): pp. 86-89.
This article deals with the ongoing problem of
school attendance among Romany children. One of the cornerstones of the
Czechoslovakia’s efforts to forcibly assimilate its Romany population in
society was education. Almost from the outset, high school dropout rates
seriously undercut the effectiveness of this policy. This article, while
applauding the gains in Romany school attendance over the past two decades,
bemoans persistent problems in this area.
“Cigani.” Encycklopedia Slovenska. Bratislava, 1977, p. 321.
This entry in the official Slovak encyclopedia
represents the prejudicial view towards the Roma in that part of Czechoslovakia
in the 1970s.
Cikanske obyvatlestvo k 31. 12. 1968 [The Gypsy Popuation as of
December 31, 1968]. Prague: Federalni statisticky urad, 1969.
This official publication contains an excellent
analysis of the Romany presence in the Czecholslovak republic. It details
the Roma’s principle areas of concentration and has data on their family
sizes and employment information.
DAVIDOVA, Eva. “The Gypsies in Czechoslovakia. Part I: Main Characteristics
and Brief Historical Development.” Translated into English by D. E. Guy.
Journal
of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. 69, Nos. 3-4 (July-October
1970): p. 84-97.
This article, by one of former Czechoslovakia’s
specialists on the Roma, deals with the history of this group in Bohemia
and Moravia and Hungarian Slovakia from the time they entered the region
in the Middle Ages until the end of World War II. It looks at the different
groups of Roma that dot the countryside, and discusses Romany culture as
well as their relationship to the non-Roma population.
DAVIDOVA, Eva. “The Gypsies in Czechoslovakia. Part II: Post-War Developments.”
Journal
of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. I, Nos. 1-2 (January-April
1971): pp. 39-54.
This sequel to the above article looks at the
status of the Roma in post-World War II Czechoslovakia. It traces the evolution
of government policies designed to forcibly integrate the Roma more deeply
into Czechoslovakian society, and the impact of these policies on Romany
life, history, and traditional nomadic culture.
EDGINTON, B. “Czech Republic: To Kill a Romany.” Race Class 35 (January-March
1994): pp. 80-2.
This article about Romany life in the Czech Republic
recounts racism towards the Roma in postwar Eastern Europe.
European Roma Rights Center. Time of the Skinheads: Denial and Exclusion
of Roma in Slovakia. Budapest: European Roma Rights Center, January
1997.
This report offers an overview of human rights
violations against Roma in Slovakia during the years 1993-1996. The ERRC
describes three main trends in Slovak-Romany relations. These include the
denial by authorities that the rights of Roma have been violated, the existence
of legal, administrative, and social practices preventing the integration
of the Roma into Slovak society, and the Slovak state’s role as a caretaker
state.
FINKOVA, Zuzanna. “Zistovanie plodnosti ciganskych zien.” [Ascertaining
fertility of Gypsy women]. Demografie, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1981): p.
340.
This article provides some details about the
forced sterilization policies of Romany women in former Czechhoslovakia.
FRIEDMAN, Philip. How the Gypsies Were Persecuted. Wiener Library
Bulletin 3-4, 1950.
This article examines signs of the growing pre-war
intolerance and persecution of the Roma, such as the dramatic cannibalism
trial in what is today Slovakia.
GROSS, T. The Czech Republic: Citizenship Research Project. Unpublished
report for The Tolerance Foundation, Senovazne Nam. I, Prague I, 1994.
It is mentioned in I. Fonseca’s Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their
Journey, p. 310.
This paper, though unavailable to the general public, reports
on how the new Czech citizenship law is intended to affect nomadic Czechs
such as the Roma.
GRULICH, Tomas, and Tomas HAISMAN. “Institucialni zajem o cikanske obyvatelstvo
v Ceskoslovensku v letech 1945-1958.” Cesky lid, Vol. 73, No. 2
(1986): pp. 72-85.
This article traces Czechoslovakia’s communist
leaders’ growing awareness of the Roma’s serious social, economic, and
educational problems. Anchored by valuable demographic data, the article
looks at the evolution of policies designed to halt Romany nomadism and
to integrate the Roma more deeply into Czechoslovak society.
HANA, Jiri. “Vybrane problemy cikanske etnicke skupiny v okrese Cheb.”
Demografie,
Vol. 29, No. 2 (1987): pp. 167-71.
The author looks at Roma life in the Ohre valley
district in western Czecholsovakia. Most of the issues addressed here such
as high unemployment and low educational achievement are common to the
Roma throughout the country.
HOLOMEK, Miroslav. “Soucasne problemy Cikanu v CSSR a jejich reseni.” Demografie,
Vol. 11, No. 3 (1969): p. 205.
This brief account, published after the brief
Prague Spring experiment with liberalization, looks at the plight of the
Roma in the Czechoslovak republic.
HORVATHOVA, Emilia. Cigani na Slovensku. Bratislava: Vytadel stvo
Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1964.
This monumental history of the Roma in Slovakia
traces their entrance into the region from India during the latter part
of the Middle Ages. It also includes information on the much smaller Romany
presence in Bohemia, one of the important districts that would later form
the western portion of the Czechoslovak republic. In addition to an excellent
historical overview, this study looks at Romany culture and folklore. There
is a rich selection of photographs and drawings throughout this work, and
a solid bibliography. It also has a modest English summary.
HÜBSCHMANNOVA, Milena. “Co je tzv.[tak zvana] Cikanska otazka.” Sociologick
y casopis. Vol. 6, No. 2 (1970), pp. 105-120.
The author of this important article was one
of the most prominent Czechoslovakian specialists who attacked Jaroslav
Sus’ earlier work claiming that Romany life, culture, and language was
devoid of any significant value, and that the only course open to them
to improve their status in Czechoslovakia was through total assimilation.
She argues that in order for there to be any real hope of Romany assimilation
into greater Czechoslovakian society, the Roma must play an important,
equal part in deciding those issues which will pave the way for integration.
Unless Roma and non-Roma approach this process as equals, Roma assimilation
will be ineffective and unfair. Most important, any approach to Romany
assimilation must be respectful of Romany traditions and culture, which
can only be insured by Romany equality in planning for the process of assimilation.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki. Roma in the Czech Republic: For- eigners
in Their Own Land. New York Human Rights Watch, 1996.
An update of the publication below, this report
argues that the plight of the Roma has changed positively and negatively.
While the Roma now enjoy new freedoms and opportunities, the social climate
has seen a rise in anti-Roma pre-judice and violence. The report documents
the murders of several Roma, and scrutinizes the behavior of the police.
Discrimination abounds in housing, education, and in the job sector. Moreover,
the 1993 Czech citizenship law is indirectly discriminatory against the
Roma.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch. Struggling for Ethnic Identity: Czechoslovakia’s
Endangered Gypsies. New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992.
This fine report, prepared by Rachel Tritt, is
based on a series of fact-finding missions conducted by the author in Czechoslovakia
from the fall of 1991 through the spring of 1992. Beginning with an historical
overview of the Roma in the Czech and Slovak lands, this study concentrates
on the treatment of the Roma in that area since 1989. One of its principal
contributions is the section dealing with the forced sterilization of Romany
women before and after 1989. Its subsequent sections concentrate on issues
surrounding Romany education, housing, employment, relations with the police
and the judicial system as well as exclusion from public and private services.
It also looks at the image of the Roma in Czechoslovak media, and has an
extensive collection of documents that detail government policies towards
the Roma since 1972.
“In a Gypsy School.” Translated from Czech by S. E. Mann. Journal of
the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. XIII, No. 3 (1934): pp.
117-118.
This touching article deals with the opening
of a Romany school in Uzhorod in eastern Slovakia. The school, run by Mr.
Hegeds, helped transform the Romany community in Uzhorod, and gained international
acclaim for its innovative curriculum.
KALVODA, Joseph and David M. CROWE. “National Minorities in Czechoslovakia,
1919-1980.” In Stephan Horak, ed., Eastern European National Minorities,
1919-1980: A Handbook. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1985.
This essay has a modest bibliography on the Roma.
Its historical overview provides some interesting demographic information
on the Roma, and underscores the difficulty that the Roma have had in gaining
any sort of official recognition via census data.
KAPPEN, O. van. “A Prague Edict against Gypsies (1710).” Journal of
the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series 42, nos. 3-4 (July-October 1963):
pp. 117-121.
This is an account of a harsh anti-Roma decree
issued in Prague in the early 18th century.
KOSTELANCIK, David, J. “The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia: Political and Ideological
Considerations in the Development of Policy.” Studies in Comparative
Communism, Vol. 22, No. 4 (winter 1989): pp. 307-321.
This excellent study provides an incisive look
at the development of official Roma policies in Czechoslovakia. It is essential
reading for anyone interested in the political and ideological considerations
that went into the development of that country’s controversial Romany programs.
Koudelka, Josef. Gypsies: Photographs. Millerton, NY: Aperture,
1975.
This photographic collection and accompanying
commentary detail the poverty and richness of Romany life in eastern Slovakia.
NECAS, Ctibor. Nad osuden ceskych a sloveanskych cikanu v letech 1939-1945.
Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1981.
This excellent, groundbreaking study looks at
the plight of the Czech and Slovakian Roma during the Holocaust. According
to the author, there were only 17,000 to 18,000 Roma in the Czech lands
transformed by the Germans into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
The puppet Slovak republic initially had a Romany population of 60,000,
though these figures increased to 100,000 during the war. Czech Roma were
sent to two forced labor camps at Lety and Hodonin, and many were later
sent to Auschwitz and death. Slovakia’s Roma were more fortunate, though
they too suffered from extremely discriminatory policies. Estimates are
that only a few hundred of Slovakia’s Roma died during the Holocaust. This
study is anchored by an extensive bibliography and a rich collection of
charts.
SRB, Vladimir. “Nektere demograficke a kulturni charakteristiky cikanskeho
obyvatelstva v CSSR 1980.” Demografie, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1984): pp.
161-78.
This article, using 1980 demographic data, shows
an official Romany population of 288,440, a 31.4% jump over 1970 figures.
Other data suggests a Romany population of over 306,000, with substantial
growth of the Romany population in the Czech republic. It details the successes
and failures of government policies designed to improve the quality of
Romany life, centered around intensified efforts to destroy Romany slum
housing and the further mainstreaming of Romany children into the public
education system. Government efforts to raise the Roma’s standard of living
by an improved employment program met with mixed success
SRB, Vladimir., ed. “Ustavujici sjezd svazu Cikanu-Romu v CSR v Brne.”
Special Edition. Demografie, Vol.11, No. 4 (1969).
This important report details the founding of
the Congress of the Alliance of Gypsy-Romani in Czechoslovakia after the
Prague Spring of 1969. The congress report criticized the government for
failing to give the Romany nationality status, which in turn robbed them
of important sudsidies granted to other recognized ethnic groups. This
congress helped spur a brief Romany renaissance in Czechoslovakia, though
by 1973 the Romany congress was removed from the rolls of the National
Front, while other Romany organizations were outlawed.
SRB, Vladimir. “Zmeny v reprodukci Ceskoslovenskych Romu 1970-1980.” Demografie.
Vol. 30, No. 7 (1988): pp. 305-308.
This essay traces the dramatic increase in the
Romany population in Czechoslovakia from 1970 to 1980. Drawn principally
from official census data gathered at the beginning and end of this decade,
it underscores the 31.4% increase in Romany population figures vis-à-vis
the national population increase of only 6%. The increase in Romany population
statistics was most dramatic in the Czech republic, where Romany figures
rose by 47%, followed by a 25.5% in Slovakia. Such growth became the source
of growing government and public concern over the country becoming what
the newspaper Express would call the Romska republika.
SRB, Vladimir and O. Vomackova. “Cikanu v Ceskoslovansky v roce 1968.”
Demografie.
Vol. 11, No. 3 (1969), pp. 221-230.
The authors look at the dramatic changes and
challenges that faced the country’s large Romany population in the aftermath
of the dramatic Prague Spring developments in 1968. Slovak Roma founded
the Union of Gypsy-Romanies (Zvaz Cikanov-romov) that year, followed by
a similar Czech organization in 1969. Both organizations would later band
together while retaining separate republic organizations.
SUS, Jaroslav. Cikanska otazka v CSSR. Prague, 1963.
In this highly controversial study that influenced
government thinking, the author claimed that the Romany way of life was
a primitive blend of nomadic tribalism that led to continual tribal infighting.
The author called Romani, the language of the Roma, a hodgepodge that was
unworthy of study or preservation. He argued that the only way to resolve
the country’s Romany problem was to force them to totally assimilate. In
1969, Sus’ study became the source of growing attacks, led by the prominent
Roma specialist, Milena Hübschmannova.
ULC, Otto. “Communist National Minority Policy: The Case of the Gypsies
in Czecholsovakia.” Soviet Studies, Vol. 20, No. 4 (April 1969),
pp. 421-443.
This is one of the earliest detailed essays to
appear in the West that discusses in some depth the early development of
an integrative governmental policy towards the Roma in Czechoslovakia.
This article underscores the government’s shift from a policy that praised
Romany educational achievements to one that grudgingly began to acknowledge
that the Roma rested at the lowest rung of the country’s socio-economic
and education ladders. By 1956, the country’s leaders began to speak of
the Gypsy crisis that was likened by the Slovak journal Smena to the plight
of the Negro in the United States.
ULC, Otto. “Gypsies in Czechoslovakia: A Case Study of Unfinished Integration.”
East
European Politics and Societies. Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 1988), pp. 306-332.
This follow-up to the author’s earlier study
of the Roma and governmental policies towards them calls this early period
of government experimentation the ‘wrong policy phase’. By 1965, the government
adopted new tactics designed to force full employment on the Roma and to
destroy Romany settlements. This also involved the forced resettlement
of the Roma throughout the country. He spends some time on the brief Romany
fling with liberalization and a sense of greater national identity during
the Prague Spring, followed by an era of ‘normalization’ in the 1970s that
saw many of these gains destroyed. Human rights activists decried the plight
of the Roma in 1978, while the government continued to press forward with
programs designed to raise the literacy rate of the Roma and improve their
socio-economic status. The article ends with a detailed account of the
deep prejudice encountered by the Roma throughout Czechoslovak society.
ULC, Otto. “Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia.” Ethnic Groups,
Vol. 9, No. 2 (1991): pp. 107-117.
This article focuses on the political emergence
of the Roma human rights movement after the Velvet Revolution of 1988-1991
which brought a peaceful end to communism in Czechoslovakia.
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