Recognition of the Roma Genocide

 Recognition, official texts

The Republic of Croatia recognises that, together with Jews and Serbs, the Roma have suffered the most in the Second World War in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). In the first few days after the establishment of the NDH - 10th April 1941 - the Ustasha regime introduced a number of laws which have led to the destruction of particular ethnic groups, racial and religious groups as well as those with different ideologies.

In the “Law on Racial Affiliation” (30th April 1941) and the “Law on the Protection of Aryan Blood and Honour of the Croatian People” (30th April 1941), which were actually copies of Nazi racial laws, the so-called “pure Aryans” were specified and it was precisely defined which persons are Jews or Roma. According to the “Law on Citizenship” from 30th April 1941, a citizen of the NDH could have only been a person of Aryan descent, which implied that the Ustasha regime would use violence against citizens whose background or religion is “non-Aryan”. After publishing the Guidebook for Drafting a Statement on Racial Affiliation, on 3rd July 1941, the NDH adopted the Decision on the Obligatory Listing of the Roma, and at the same time the issue of their colonisation became relevant, for which purpose the Institute of Colonisation was established with the aim of achieving “internal colonisation” (Croatian State Archives, documents from the Independent State of Croatia, no. 26841).

In the baseline study document submitted by the Republic of Croatia to the ITF (Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research) in 2005, the Genocide against the Roma was explicitly mentioned. The document was a prerequisite for achieving the full membership in the Task Force, which took place in November 2005.

2nd August is officially recognised as International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day, as of 12th December 2014, and additionally Genocide of the Roma is commemorated along with other victims of the Holocaust and 2nd World War at specific events held every year on 27th of January, The Day of Holocaust Remembrance and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity.

 Data (camps locations, Remembrance places, measures etc.)

(Information provided by Jasenovac Memorial Area)

The first mass arrests of Roma began in July 1941. From 20th May 1942, mass arrests of Roma were organised across the entire territory of the NDH as well as their deportation to the Jasenovac Concentration Camp, including Camp III Ciglana in Jasenovac and the concentration camp in Stara Gradiška.

Jasenovac Concentration Camp
Mass arrests and deportations of the Roma to the Jasenovac Concentration Camp took place from 20th May until the end of July 1942. Upon arrival to the concentration camp, their personal valuables were confiscated and a list of inmates was kept only in the early days. Additional records and documents of the Ustaše origin about the deportation of the Roma to the concentration camp do not contain names but only the number of persons or train cars used for transport.
In June 1942, when the number of incoming Roma to the concentration camp was particularly high, they were divided into two groups. Older men, together with women and children, were separated from younger men and immediately dispatched to Donja Gradina for extermination. Younger men were placed in Camp III C, so called “Brickworks”). In Camp III C prisoners died in large numbers of hunger, thirst, exhaustion and physical mistreatment. They were led to be exterminated on a daily basis. Only a small number of the Roma were divided into groups to perform physical labour, where they predominantly worked on the most demanding jobs.
In the village of Uštica, adjacent to Jasenovac, the Ustasha concentration camp for the Roma, a so-called “Gypsy Camp” was set up. Roma families were placed there, predominantly women and children, for whom there was no room in Camp III Ciglana Jasenovac due to cramped conditions after deportations. A portion of the prisoners was transported during the summer of 1942 to Donja Gradina and exterminated there in the most horrific ways whilst others were killed in the camp itself. Twenty-one mass graves at the Roma cemetery in Uštica bear witness to this.

Memorial Site at Danica
From 1941 to 1942, the Ustashas incarcerated several thousand people in the industrial area of Danica, town of Koprivnica. Approximately 5 600 prisoners passed through the Danica camp between 1941 and 1942. Although no executions or deliberate killings took place, some 200 to 300 prisoners died of the terrible conditions they were subjected to. Over 3 000 former prisoners of the Danica camp were murdered by members of the Ustaša, mostly in the camps at Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška. In total, about 3 000 Serbs, 1 000 Croats, over 600 Jews and about 400 Roma were incarcerated at Danica.

The Massacre of Hrastina
On 24th April 1945, members of a retreating German SS unit caught 43 German Sinti who had fled to Croatia and were hiding in a village near Zagreb. Some of them were tortured and all 43 of them - men, women and children - were then killed and burned in a barn.                                   

 Specialised institution, commission, research centre etc., dealing with this issue

There is no specialised institution, commission or research centre dealing only with the issue of the Roma Genocide. However, the Croatian State Archives which are under the authority of the Ministry of Culture, may provide additional information.

The Jasenovac Memorial Area is responsible for maintaining authentic sites and monuments of the former Ustasha Concentration Camp Jasenovac; it collects, classifies and presents museum material and documentation relevant to the operation of the Ustasha Concentration Camp Jasenovac. It also educates visitors and preserves the memory of the victims of the concentration camps.

Besides a furnished and regularly maintained commemorative area of the former Camp III Ciglana Jasenovac in the town of Jasenovac itself, the Jasenovac Memorial Area maintains the Roma cemetery in Uštica, which is located next to the entrance to the town cemetery.

Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državni arhiv)
Marulićev trg 21
10000 Zagreb Croatia
Telephone: +385 1 4801 999
Fax: +385 1 4829 000

Jasenovac Memorial Area (Spomen područje Jasenovac)
Braće Radić 147
44 324 Jasenovac Croatia
Telephone/Fax: +385 44 672 319

Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities (Ured za ljudska prava i prava nacionalnih manjina Vlade Republike Hrvatske)
Mesnička 23
10000 Zagreb Croatia
Telephone: +385 1 4569 358
Fax: +385 1 4569 324
E-mail: [email protected]

 Official initiatives (campaigns, actions, projects, commemoration days, museums)

Each year, on Sunday closest to 22nd April, the occasion of the final breakout of prisoners from Camp III Ciglana Jasenovac, which occurred on 22nd April, members of a Roma delegation from the area of the former Socialist Federative Republics of Yugoslavia lay wreaths at the Roma cemetery in Uštica. The following representatives address the ceremony: President of the Republic, representatives of the Government, representatives of the Parliament, different religious communities as well as representatives of all groups victimised in Jasenovac, including the Roma. The commemoration is broadcasted on national television.

The victimisation of the Roma in the Ustasha Concentration Camp Jasenovac is presented as a separate thematic unit in the permanent museum exhibition of the Jasenovac Memorial Area Memorial Museum through documents, photographs, commemorations and audio-video testimony from a surviving Jasenovac prisoner (Nadir Dedić). The curriculum of the Jasenovac Memorial Area Educational Centre also shows the victimisation of each ethnic group against which the Genocide was committed and which were victims of the Holocaust - it is through the use of museum material and documentation that pupils and students learn about the victimisation of the Roma in the Ustasha Concentration Camp Jasenovac. Groups of visitors also visit the Roma cemetery in Uštica, with the help of a professional guide, as well as the entire Memorial Area.

In 2003, as part of its publishing activities, the Jasenovac Memorial Area published the book “Genocid nad Romima - Jasenovac 1942” (Genocide against the Roma – Jasenovac 1942), by author Narcisa Lengel-Krizman. In 2004, at the proposal of the Association of Roma Native to Croatia (LOVARI), the Jasenovac Memorial Area had helped set up the “Permanent Documentary and Historical Exhibition of Roma Native to Croatia and the Little Library” by providing copies of documents from museum archives and books from the library. In the Jasenoavac Memorial Area Library, which is open to outside users, a large amount of books on the victimisation of the Roma in World War II has been collected (authors: Dragoljub Acković, Bajram Halipi, Antun Miletić and Dr. Rajko Đurić). In the database of “The List of Names of the Victims of Jasenovac Concentration Camp, 1941-1945”, which was published in 2007, information on 15 151 Roma who were killed in various ways at the Ustasha Concentration Camp Jasenovac has been collected. In accordance with the Law on Changing and Amending the Law on the Jasenovac Memorial Area (Article 6, NN 22/01), representatives of the Roma in the Republic of Croatia have their representative in the Council of the Jasenovac Memorial Area.

In 2003, the Ministry of Education and Sports has adopted the Decision to Establish 27 January as the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity and since then the schools are encouraged to commemorate events that took place.

On 12th December 2014, the Croatia's Parliament has adopted the Decision and thereby declared the 2nd August as International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day.