To the question about oral historyon the example of the misssed Gypsy autonomous republic in the USSR

Funding: This article is written and published as a part of the research project 'RomaInterbellum: Roma Civic Emancipation between the Two World Wars' which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 694656).In the 1920s and 1930, in the USSR, nation-building was carried out in line with the paradigm of “affirmative action”. This led to the creation of many national administrative-territorial units at different levels. The leadership of the All-Russian Union of Gypsies has also repeatedly raised the issue of the need to create a Gypsy national region, which will develop into a Gypsy autonomous republic, and some Gypsy activists have also pleaded for this in their letters to Stalin. In 1936, a meeting of the Council of Nationalities of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to start preparatory work in this direction and issued the corresponding Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. A comprehensive survey of the places of possible future Gypsy national unit in the West Siberian Territory was organised, as well as other preparatory work. However, for various reasons at the end of the 1930s the topic of the Gypsy Autonomous Republic disappeared from the agenda. The article presents these events which were preserved in the oral history of the Gypsies and also how the memory of these events intertwined with the memories of the deportation of nomadic Gypsies from Moscow to Siberia in 1933. As a result of the contamination of memories of these two events, a historical narrative was created in folklorised form. A discussion is offered about method of oral history, in which the interpretation of events can develop into a national narrative, far from always being a reliable historical source. To achieve full historical knowledge, it is necessary to verify the oral history with existing documentary sources, taking into account the general socio-political context in which the Roma historical narrative was created and functions

European policies for social inclusion of Roma : Catch 22?

The article analyzes contemporary political discourses with regard to social inclusion of Roma on the basis of comparison with achievements and failures in the previous historical period of the communist rule in Eastern Europe. It argues that since the vast majority of the European Roma had lived in the past and continue living nowadays in the countries of Eastern Europe, no successful policy for their inclusion is possible without taking into account the experiences and outcomes of the actions for Roma integration in the socialist period. The experience from the times of socialism shows that successful policies are possible only in an appropriate socio-political context and only if accomplished within the mainstream approach. Against this background, the article scrutinizes the European Policies for Social Inclusion of Roma, and explains why they present a Catch 22 situation: There is a vicious cycle of problems which need to be solved; the solution requires a special policy for inclusion, however this policy stigmatizes Roma and sets them even more apart from the rest of society. Thus the vicious cycle of problems expands. The main point of the article is to propose an explanation of this failure of democracy and liberalism, which could constitute a useful lesson for the future.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

7. The first Gypsy/Roma organisations, churches and newspapers

In the 1970s, a young and provocative German scholar, Kirsten Martins-Heuss, shocked the academic public with her statement that Gypsy Studies is “a science of the plagiarist”. It cannot be denied that there are still some grounds for such a critique. In the history of Gypsy (now known as Roma) movements and organisations, inaccurate data and interpretations often make their way from book to book without attempts at verification — for example, scholars refer to the Gypsy Conference in Kannsta..

Conclusion

Funding: European Research Council for the Project RomaInterbellum. Roma Civic Emancipation between the Two World Wars, ERC-Advanced Grant no.69466, hosted by University of St Andrews.Publisher PD

Introduction: The roots

Funding: European Research Council for the Project RomaInterbellum. Roma Civic Emancipation between the Two World Wars, ERC-Advanced Grant no.69466, hosted by University of St Andrews.Publisher PD

Foreword

Funding: European Research Council for the Project RomaInterbellum. Roma Civic Emancipation between the Two World Wars, ERC-Advanced Grant no.69466, hosted by University of St Andrews.Publisher PD

To the question about oral history :on the example of the missed Gypsy autonomous republic in the USSR

In the 1920s and 1930s in the USSR, nation-building was carried out in line with the paradigm of “affirmative action”. This led to the creation of many national administrative-territorial units at different levels. The leadership of the All-Russian Union of Gypsies has also repeatedly raised the issue of the need to create a Gypsy national region, which will develop into a Gypsy autonomous republic, and some Gypsy activists have also pleaded for this in their letters to Stalin. In 1936, a meeting of the Council of Nationalities of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to start preparatory work in this direction and issued the corresponding Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. A comprehensive survey of the places of possible future Gypsy national unit in the West Siberian Territory was organised, as well as other preparatory work. However, for various reasons at the end of the 1930s the topic of the Gypsy Autonomous Republic disappeared from the agenda. The article presents these events which were preserved in the oral history of the Gypsies and also how the memory of these events intertwined with the memories of the deportation of nomadic Gypsies from Moscow to Siberia in 1933. As a result of the contamination of memories of these two events, a historical narrative was created in folklorised form. A discussion is offered about method of oral history, in which the interpretation of events can develop into a national narrative, far from always being a reliable historical source. To achieve full historical knowledge, it is necessary to verify the oral history with existing documentary sources, taking into account the general socio-political context in which the Roma historical narrative was created and functions

In search of own state:Romani attempts to create autonomy before WWII

Text of panels and abstracts accepted for the international conference of the Gypsy Lore Society held in Prague in 2021 (GLS Annual Meeting and Conference on Romani Studies 2021, 8.-10. 9. 2021 - https://gls2021.ff.cuni.cz/)