The Suffering of the Roma in Serbia during the Holocaust
Milovan Pisarri
Forum for Applied History; Belgrade, 2014
171 pages
The Shoah and the genocide of the Roma are intertwined. Jewish and Roma people were persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime and their collaborators. German physicians conducted medical experiments on both Jewish and Roma prisoners. Jews and Roma were sometimes interned in the same camps and ghettos, killed in the same pits and burned in the same crematoria. For instance, Anna Maria “Settela” Steinbach was born in Limburg, The Netherlands, in 1934. Settela, from a Roma family, was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenau on May 19, 1944 together with other members of her family – just as many other Dutch Jews. The iconic photograph of “Settela” has appeared in so many Holocaust-related films documenting the deportation of Nazi victims to extermination camps. In essence, her face has become a “child Madonna,” symbolizing the many train shipments of “human cargo” to be murdered in Nazi-controlled Poland during the 1940s.
Anti-Jewish ideology was the core of Nazism and a pillar of the Nationalist Socialist Party from the very beginning of its establishment. For example, the framework of Das Programm der NSDAP (The Program of the National-Socialist German Workers' Party), published in Munich on February 24, 1920, twice refers to Jews as follows: "Only Nationals (Volksgenossen) can be Citizens of the State. Only persons of German blood can be Nationals, regardless of religious affiliation. No Jew can therefore be a German National" and "The Party…fights against the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us." Although Roma were considered to be racial and asocial enemies of the Third Reich, they were not at the center of the Nazi weltanschauung. As the author notes, “…since the 19th century, i.e. since the creation of modern race theories, none of the race theorists ascribed to the Roma the wish to dominate Germany or the Christian world, unlike the Jews, and no-one seemed overly interested in creating a race theory on the Roma. Similarly, unlike anti-Semitic propaganda, anti-Gypsyism wasn’t overly present in discussions among Nazi leaders" (p. 21).
Since the persecution of the Roma varied in different regions as a result of local circumstances, regional historical research is needed to provide a more detailed picture of how the Roma genocide and the Shoah often took place in parallel – highlighting similarities and differences. It seems as though due to the ambivalence towards the status of the Roma, especially whether they were defined as nomadic or permanent residents in some regions, Nazi genocidal policies toward the Roma were not always consistent or clear. Pisarri’s new research sheds light on this important aspect. For example, he states that, “Unlike Jewish women… the Roma women and their children [in Belgrade] could at least repeatedly attempt to escape the clutches of their executioners. … Specifically, just several days after arrests, the first groups of Roma women were released from the camp, since they had succeeded in procuring the necessary permit, thereby proving permanent residence in the Serbian capital” (p. 127).
This book places a heavy emphasis on the occupational system established in Serbia during World War II. In addition to describing the actions of the German authorities, the author also documents the development of the appointed leadership of the “Serbian commissary government,” with a specific focus on their anti-Jewish and anti-Roma policies issued in the name of the Military Commander in Serbia on May 30, 1941 (pp. 43-47). The author focuses on the ideologies and activities of other armed groups active in the former Yugoslavian Kingdom, such as the communists and the Chetniks, as well as describes the factors that led to the establishment of the collaborationist puppet regime of Milan Nedic.
In the words of the world-renowned historian Professor Christopher Browning, "In Serbia situational and ideological factors combined with deadly effect." Pisarri devotes a significant section of his book to outline German reprisal policies which later had special implications for Jews and Roma who were especially targeted for execution in retaliation for the killing or wounding of German soldiers in Serbia. The author also notes that the murder of both of these victim groups did not seem to bother “anyone in Belgrade too much,” especially since they were marginalized and their “removal would certainly not represent a problem for fellow citizens" (pp. 155-156).
Although the death of Jews and of Roma did not seem to influence Serbian public opinion, Pisarri documents the fact that Serbs were well aware about the victims' suffering and that their respective persecution was highly noticeable to bystanders living in the Serbian capital. He describes that,
“The Jewish captives and their suffering were visible daily to not only to onlookers, but also to passers-by. The newly formed camp for Jews…was located in a densely populated part of the city: Marinkova bara and Jatagan mala were located at its southern and south-eastern side, while in the north, where the camp entrance was, there was an important traffic artery of Belgrade, primarily the tram route. That way, from the moment the camp was founded, the Roma looked at those buildings every morning, every afternoon, every evening, without a hint that for many of them – for all men – it would be their last residence before death. At the same time, other Belgrade citizens commuted to the city center and back to work, shopping or simply entertainment. Pupils regularly went to nearby schools, football fans cheered for their favorite team every Sunday and the BSK stadium, just five hundred meters away from Tupovske šupe [the camp] while patrons filled taverns and restaurants.” (p. 110).
Conducting one’s everyday life next to a concentration camp in the middle of an urban center raises various questions about human apathy. After all, the citizens of Belgrade could not have denied knowing about its existence, or about the inhumane treatment of prisoners or the transports of prisoners to and from the camp. Therefore, this section of the book may be of particular interest to educators who wish to address these complex issues, especially about moral indifference, with their students.
Pisarri's book gives readers a good historical context, starting from genocidal policies against the Roma in collaborating states, followed by the persecution of Roma in Serbia and specifically in Belgrade. A concise overview of actions against Roma in other Serbian cities is provided as well. The book unfortunately lacks an index. All in all, this is a well-researched work and adds to the corpus of needed research on the Roma genocide and about the Shoah in Balkan countries.
The author would like to thank Professors Yehuda Bauer and Kimmy Caplan, as well as Shulamit Imber and Dr. Noa Mkayton, for their helpful feedback on this review.
