3.1.1 The First Serbian Gypsy Zadruga for Mutual Aid in Sickness and Death

Notes

1. Kasina is one of the oldest hotels in Belgrade, built in 1856, and especially popular and prestigious during the interwar years.

2. Historically speaking, the Slavic word zadruga has been used to refer to a type of rural community organisation uniting the extended family and its common property, herds and income. The traditional form of zadruga started to decline after the mid 19th century, but the term continued to be used for formally established entities at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century. The zadrugas of that type were equivalents of cooperatives formed to unite agricultural workers from certain regions, craftsmen and small-traders from the same field of specialisation, often replacing the esnaf (guild organisation) system. They had economic and agricultural character, and had to work in various forms for the support of its members, often by selling its members’ production or giving out credits to them.

Source: [No author]. (1922). Покрет Цигана. Правда, An. 18, No. 33, 1922, February 4, p. 3.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. The columns indicating years and months, the rows recording the payment of membership dues, as well as the columns for the chairman’s and the accountant’s signature, have been omitted.

2. Slava is a Patron saint day performed annually on a day of a Saint considered a protector (of a family, a community or a church parish) that is usually the biggest gathering for the respective unit.

3. The Mladi Sveti Nikola (Young St Nikola) or Letnji Sveti Nikola (Summerly St Nikola) is considered, among other things, protector of sick people, helpless children and the poor. On the day of the saint usually all similar associations were celebrating their slava.

Source: LADA. Прва Српско-Циганска Задруга за узаjмно помаганье у болести и смрти. Чланска карта. 1928.

Prepared for publication by Dragoljub Acković and Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. Kafana (pl. kafane) is a term used in South-Eastern Europe to signify a type of local bistro or tavern where men gather to drink alcoholic beverages and coffee, along with some food, and discuss social and political matters. Kafana is thus an important place for social gatherings of the local communities where discussions of various nature take place.

Source: [No author]. (1931a). Св. Бибиja се неће више прослављати на отвореном пољу. Време, An. 11, No. 3331, 1931, April 7, p. 9.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. This highly exaggerated figure is not based on any concrete data, but is rather used as a rhetorical strategy of the speaker to claim rights comparable to the size of a half a million population. There were two population censuses in the interwar period, 1921 and 1931 (Grupković, 1988), and during none of them was collected data that could be directly related to the Gypsy/Roma. The general state policy regarding the population’s identity, especially at the end of the 1920s and 1930s, was to reinforce a common national – Yugoslav – identity among the citizens. There are researchers who quote various numbers, based mainly on ethnographic data. According to Tatomir Vukanović the number of Gypsies in the Serbian territories of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1921 was 34,919 (Vukanović, 1983, p. 121). According to Rajko Djurić Roma in interwar Yugoslavia numbered to 250,000 (Đurić, 1987, p. 67).

2. Karadjordje star medal was established in January, 1904 by King Peter I Karadjordjević to mark the 100th anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising. The medal has been considered to be among the highest Serbian decorations. The Karadjordje star with swords was a military variation of this decoration introduced in May 1915.

3. This refers to the activities of the Serbian Chetnik organisation and the Serbian revolutionary organisation in Southern Serbia and Kosovo (called Old Serbia territories) and Macedonia, that were still under Ottoman rule at that time. From July 1905 to July 1907, the Kingdom of Serbia took over the two organisations’ activities in these territories and sent funds, equipment and apparatus needed, including musical bands to tour among the population.

4. The same as the above number referring to Gypsies in Yugoslavia, the quoted number of 3,000 Gypsies in Čubura is not based on any data. This might be a rhetorically exaggerated figure or an approximate estimation of the speaker based on his observations. The total Belgrade population as of 1931 was 239,000, and even though Gypsies in Belgrade were not living only in Čubura and the neighbourhood itself was inhabited by various ethnic communities, it might be presupposed that the number is not significantly overstated.

Source: [No author]. (1931b). Једна тековина за коју је требало много труда. Београдски цигани подижу Дом културе и цивилизације. Време, An. 11, No. 3353, 1931, May 5, p. 9.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac.

Notes 1, 3 and 4 written by Sofiya Zahova.

Comments

The Roma cultural, political, and civil initiatives during the interwar period were not measures initiated on behalf of the Yugoslav state. This however does not mean that there were no such activities. The selected documents present an interesting and diverse spectrum of activities, all based on grass-roots initiatives and self-organising efforts of Roma in formal (in accordance with the general legislative regulations) or informal activities. They also present initiatives showing Roma’s endeavour for public recognition as citizens with full rights, as well as for their positioning as a community equal to all others by establishing civil associations.

Despite its brevity, the article The Gypsy Movement presents an interesting account of how the Serbian and the Yugoslav press regarded the creation of Roma’s societies and organisations. The press would usually write about these activities in an affirmative or neutral tone. However, often, certain prejudices could be detected. In this case, the journalist underlined the lack of interest in the party among the wider population of Belgrade. The more interesting information in the publication is the mentioning that the Serbian Gypsy Zadruga was founded in 1890. Indeed, in the 1890s numerous Zadrugas for Mutual Aid in Sickness and Death were found all over the Serbian Kingdom. These types of associations were popular as organisations founded with the aim of promoting savings and support within the agricultural domain (Ilijić, 1999). As no conclusive evidences have thus far been found to confirm that Serbian Gypsy Zadruga operated formally in Serbia at thе end of the 19th century, we may presuppose that a form of zadruga, or another form of self-organisation, did exist among the Belgrade Gypsies in that period, even if as an informal entity. The term zadruga might thus have been used as equivalent to community self-organisation or informal structure of support within the local community. The future tense of the sentence reporting plans also points to the fact that the entity was in the process of being established more formally. Regardless of the formal or informal nature of the zadruga, the most important fact here is that Roma were organising themselves on the base of their ethnicity and with the aim to collect funds and provide support to the Gypsy members of the zadruga. Similar to other Yugoslav entities of this type, the Roma have envisaged three functions for the Governing Board of the zadruga: social, national-cultural and humanitarian. The zadruga was certainly formalised at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century, since at the start of February 1909 its Governing Board published several announcements about a forthcoming annual assembly, planned for the 9th of March of the same year. These announcements featured a very detailed programme published on the advertisement pages of Pravda, one of the major newspapers of the period. Publishing in a mainstream media announcement page was common practice only among rather wealthy and well-organised associations of this type and, thus, we can conclude that the zadruga has already been established at that time.

The 1928 Membership card of the First Serbian-Gypsy Zadruga for Mutual Aid in Sickness and Death presents an original document of the organisation. The Extract from the rules shows that the Zadruga was modelled according to what was then popular among similar types of associations for mutual support in sickness and death, which were emerging across Serbia and Yugoslavia. Its name points out that these citizens have used a civil type of initiative to set up a Serbian Gypsy organisation. We can also presuppose that the founders of the organisation where also craftsmen and small-traders who were acquainted with professional forms of guilt organisation, such as esnaf (in the past) and zadruga (since the end of the 19 century), and have decided to use this form for the establishment of a Serbian Gypsy organisation in order to mobilise Gypsy and other citizens sharing similar values. Although in the 19th century these organisations were not usually formed on an ethnic principle, a process of separation of guilds along ethnic lines started, along with the development of national movements among the Balkan nations. For instance, there are several known Gypsy guild organisations in the Balkan states at the end of the 19th century (Marushiakova & Popov, 2016b) and it would be rather logical that Belgrade Gypsies had established similar organisations, in addition to using the legal form of zadruga to unite as a community of citizens and to represent themselves, in accordance with the existing legislation. The Serbian Gypsy Zadruga rules include common standards for this type of associations: Regulation of membership, the establishment of rules for support and reading room for the membership community for them to gather and discuss, and organising the association’s annual event on the day of which all similar organisations for mutual support were gathering. Noteworthy is the organisation’s inclusiveness – any citizen regardless of gender, faith and nationality could be a member. The association even had a special article foreseeing women’s and minors’ (above the age of 15) membership. This points to the fact that the association had a somewhat contemporary (for the period in question) standards for participation, and gender equality which shows that the leadership of the Belgrade Gypsy community was aiming at building an association fitting to the up-to-date standard for civic participation. Along with the written records, a photograph documenting an official gathering of the members of the Zadruga has been preserved (IAB-1165). The photograph presents 36 Roma men and one boy in festive costumes. The handwritten Serbian text under the picture states: “Memory from the 22th May, 1929. Slava [celebration] of the First Serbian Gypsy Zadruga” (IAB-1165). This visual documentation matches the presented above membership card’s information that each year in May should be celebrated the slava of the association.

There is other data that let us conclude that the organisation was well off, active, and respected by the Belgrade authorities. For instance, the Zadruga was represented at the Assembly of the Belgrade Local Government on the occasion of celebrating King Alexander Karadjordjević’s decade of ruling in 1931 (Београдске обштинске новине, 1931, p. 1102). It also had apparently enough capital as it had bought land for securing a place for the traditional culture rituals of the Belgrade Roma community, on the one hand, and for creating a house with social and educational functions according to the spirit of the time in Yugoslavia, on the other hand. Although such a house has not been built in the interwar period, the ideas of the Zadruga leadership were fully fitting into the new societal realities of the time.

The preparation and organisation of the annual assembly of the same First Serbian- Gypsy Zadruga for mutual support in sickness and death was reported in two publications: in the Vreme newspaper of April and May 1931, as well as in a short report, based on the article presented above, in a newspaper published in Czechoslovakia (Neues Pressburger Tagblatt, 1932, p. 5). The first talks about the Governing Board preparations and intentions for the forthcoming annual assembly reported as the first of the zadruga in 1931 (although it was established in the late 1920s), while the second document reports extensively about the annual assembly implementation. This text presents an interesting source for studying the efforts of the Serbian and Yugoslav Roma to emancipate and integrate themselves in the Yugoslav mainstream culture. As was the case with so many other Roma interwar initiatives, the Yugoslav context proves to be inspiring in this sense. The phrase “culture and civilisation” presented one of the dominant slogans in the Yugoslav society as a whole, especially within the borders of the former Kingdom of Serbia. This was part of a wider narrative where it was understood that all efforts concerning “national liberation and unification” had been successfully achieved and that now the new state should work to catch up with other European countries in terms of developing its culture and modernising itself (Dimić, 1996, Vol. 1, pp. 213-218). Thus, it was very natural that the traditional celebration of Bibija in the open field to be transformed and modernised into a chapel for church rituals and a House of culture and civilisation, in the spirit of the new political and social realities. Following the pattern of similar Yugoslav civil society organisations from the same period, the zadruga members had bought land in the Roma neighbourhood in order to build the house, which demonstrates the commitment of its leaders to create the organisation’s public space for collective action and shared interest.

The functioning of this Roma association had all the characteristics of any civil society entity in interwar Yugoslavia: paying homage to the authorities, respecting the decisions of the Directors’ Board and the Supervisory Board, and focus on the wartime merits. Namely, as seen in one of the texts, the Roma representatives insisted on their role in the war efforts of the Serbian Kingdom from 1912 until 1918. Their stress on the propaganda activities in Macedonia prior to the Balkan Wars is also very telling. Propaganda was, in this case, carried out through concerts and tours rather than in the more common ways, such as through opening schools or sending military units. Through this, the association’s leadership sends a clear message about Gypsies as great patriots who are an integral part of the country’s national mission and should be seen as an integral part of the Serbian and Yugoslav ‘brothers’.

The topic of the poor Gypsy children’s education as a civilisational project was also an important aspect of the text. The negative social consequences of being poor and uneducated were made (such as criminality), in order to claim the importance of such a house to host and educate Gypsy children from poor families from all over Yugoslavia. To strengthen the claim and showcase that the process of education had already started, positive examples of educated Roma were presented.

Another important message coming from the Board was the idea that all Gypsies in Yugoslavia should be seen as a whole, with common interests and demands, and to be organised together in order to strengthen their development within Yugoslavia. The leadership’s stress on the unity of all Gypsies in Yugoslavia by referring to an extremely exaggerated number of half a million, on the background of a total of 13,934,038 people in the Kingdom according to the 1931 census (Grupković, 1988), was used to argue the need for a common public representation in a Yugoslav-wide context.

Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova

3.1.2 The Club of the Belgrade Serbian Gypsies

Notes

1. Among Gypsies in Belgrade and in Central Serbia Tetkica Bibija (Auntie Bibija) is celebrated as an uncanonised Gypsy Saint that protects Roma children from dreadful diseases and secures health for them and their families. An oral folklore narrative in various versions explains how Bibija cured and helped Gypsy children during a plague epidemic. The name consists of both the Serbian (Tetkica, in diminutive) and Romani language (Bibija) term for the word Auntie, a substitute name for the Plague/Cholera. In the folklore and calendar customs of many communities in South Eastern Europe, the Day of the Aunt (or the Day of the Plague) is celebrated with different components and prohibitions that have to secure protection from diseases, especially for the children (Popov, 1996). Among Serbian Roma it has developed and perceived as a specific Romani custom, the Aunt thus presented as a black Gypsy woman in narratives and in iconography (Acković, 2004; 2010; Petrović, 1937).

2. Čubura was an area that immerged at the outskirts of the quickly growing Belgrade at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. In the interwar period, it was populated by a large number of Gypsies. Curiously enough, one of the versions for the origin of the area’s name, that is most popular among Belgrade inhabitants, is that it was derived from the Romani language učo bure – a high barrel that was used as a bank to hold the creek (Вуксановић-Мацура & Мацура, 2015ab).

3. Also areas of Belgrade in which Roma were living in the interwar period.

4. Barjak is a type of flag used for ceremonial processes on important celebrations, in this case on the day of Bibija.

5. Most probably, the Club in question was an informal organisation gathering active and established citizens of the Belgrade Gypsy community. It is also possible that the Club was formally registered as later in the article the Club’s President and Secretary are mentioned. There are however no documents, as Statute or registration documents of the Club, to prove its formal establishment as a juridical entity.

6. Sarmi (plural form of sarma) is everyday and festive dish made of (sour) cabbage or grape leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat, that has a non-meat version mentioned here.

7. Pogača or kolač is a festive round loaf of bread that is an indispensable to many celebrations.

8. Ciga is the diminutive form of the Serbian word Ciganin which means a Gypsy man, and is used here as a personal name of a character that is considered typical for the respective community, usually having ironical and mocking connotations.

9. The presence of a priest performing a church ritual does not mean that the celebration of Bibija was part of the official Orthodox church calendar. A widespread practice among Orthodox believers until today is to have a priest performing a ritual and blessing an area of importance for a community of believers or for an individual family (including a new house or starting a new business for instance). At any kind of slava the presence of a priest is obligatory.

10. Marko Vasiljević was a Rom from Belgrade who was awarded an Order of Karadjordje Star for his participation in the Serbian army during the First World War. An article about him was published also in the Roma interwar newspaper Romano lil (Симић, 1935d, p. 2).

11. Zapis, literary meaning ‘a record’ or ‘a mark’; is a term used for a tree that functions as a sanctuary for the community. The tree of Bibija is a wild peach and when big enough an altar could be carved in it where candles are lighted.

Source: [No author]. (1926). Тетка Бибиjин дан. Јуче су београдски Цигани свечано прославили своју Тетка Бибију. Политика, An. 22, No. 44, 1926, March 3, p. 7.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. Alexander I (16 December 1888-9 October 1934) of the Karadjodjević Serbian dynasty, served as a prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later became King of Yugoslavia from 1921 to 1934 (prior to 1929 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). He was assassinated during an official state visit in Marseille, France, by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO), who at that time was part of an Ustaša group preparing the assassination.

Source: [No author]. (1934). Хумано, културно и просветно удружење југословенских Цигана у Београду. Правда, An. 30, No. 10759, 1934, October 16, p. 8.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac.

Note by Sofiya Zahova.

Comments

Activities of the Club of the Belgrade Serbian Gypsies (Клуб београдских српских Цигана) were reported in media, although no documents related to a formal organisation under this name have been found so far. Most probably, the Club in question was an informal organisation gathering active and established citizens of the Belgrade Gypsy community engaged in community leadership around the Gypsy kmet of the time, Marinko Savić, and as such organised the celebration and building of the monument. It is also possible that the Club was formally registered as the Club’s President and Secretary are mentioned here and in other media articles. Regardless of its formal or informal status, the mentioning of such a Club and its activities in relation to the Gypsy community organisation and stressing the importance of the Roma citizens’ contribution to the national army is an important sign for the citizen’s activities and visions of the Belgrade Roma seeking public recognition as part of the wider society in the Kingdom.

Many Gypsies, as citizens of the Kingdom of Serbia at that time, participated in various divisions of the Serbian army and were mentioned in memoir of their contemporaries (Šarenac, 2020). Some of them were later awarded Order of Karadjordje star for their participation in the army as for example Ahmet Ademović from Leskovac, under whose name was named also a street in Belgrade at the end of 20 c., and Marko Vasiljević from Belgrade, who is mentioned later in the document (Acković, 2017b). The memory about the war and the soldiers who lost their lives in it or fought in the army played an important role in the public field of the newly created Kingdom after the First World War (Newman, 2015). The creation of the monument built among the Roma houses of Čubura devoted to the Gypsies who perished during the Balkan and the European war is a unique self-initiative of the Belgrade Roma demonstrating their belonging to the commemoration and national-identity practices of the state.

The monument is made of stone in the form of an obelisk on the front side of which is written ‘Serbian Gypsy Youth to its Heroes [who] perished and died from 1912 to 1918’ followed by the names of the Gypsy heroes (the current state of the monument does not allow clear reading of the names). On the back side of the monument on a stone with the same design and style of the inscription are written the following names as benefactors: Veselin Marinković, Stevan Mihajlović, Ilija Stojanović, president of the society, Aleksa Rančić, tradesman, Petar Simić, Toma Pavlović, Hristina Stojanović, Panta Tadić, tradesman, Pera Vujanac, Žika Djordjević, Radojko Stojanović, kmet of the Belgrade Gypsies, Josif Dajić, stonecutter, followed by names of 25 members of the Governing Board, the first one of which is Hristofor Jovanović, who appears in other materials as President of the Association of Belgrade Gypsies Worshippers of Bibija (see below 3.1.3.2).

According to a plate on the left side of the monument, that was probably added a bit later (as the style of the plate and inscription letter is different), it was erected ‘Under the initiative of Marinko Savić, kmet of the Gypsies in Belgrade’. On the same plate are also inscribed the names of the first benefactors (dobrotvori) and on the first place are Belgrade municipality and Marinko Savić, which means that the building of the monument was supported by the Belgrade local authorities either directly or indirectly. They were followed by 16 other names (Živ. Pravdić, Bož. Maksimović, Krst. Miletić, Iv. Miličević, Deca Al. Rančića kaf, Mil. Baltić, Jak. Čelebanović, Per. Jovanović, D. Z. Bojić, Zdr. Milosvljević, Vuč. Simić, Jov. Simić, Rad. Gavrilović, Maks. Rešić, Mid. Svetanović, Pet. Glišić) which, judging by the style of inscription, were most probably carved at the same time. The right side of the monument contains a plate on which is written ‘Association of Belgrade Gypsies Worshippers of Bibija’ established on 15 May 1935 Belgrade, along with the names of the Governing Board members (given below in 3.1.3.). Thus, it seems that all Belgrade Roma organisations and leaders of the time aimed at leaving a record on the monument.

It is unknown when exactly after the war the monument was built, but from the material and the style of inscriptions, it is clear that the left and right side stone plates were added later to the original monument. It is preserved until today and is currently located in the yard of 59 Gospodar Vučić street on the land bought by the Belgrade Gypsies for hosting Roma community activities of different nature (discussed above). Today both the celebration and the monument continue to be of great importance for the Belgrade Roma community.

At the same time, the choice of monument’s location – in the local sanctuary place for community celebrations where Bibija is worshipped – and the names of the heroes fallen in the war, along with the name of established citizens, e.g. these who donate for the club more than 200 dinars (Petrović, 1937, p. 127), shows the importance of the identity of the community as a separate unit of citizens’ bond by their own Roma community identity within a larger social context and national commemoration narrative. Thus, in this public space are intertwined commemorating practices of importance for both the ethnic (Roma) and national (Serbian, Yugoslavian) identity of the Roma citizens.

The Club of the Belgrade Gypsies continued to be active in other commemorative practices related to the Yugoslav national belonging, as for instance the assassination of the King Alexander which was a significant moment in the history of the Kingdom. Apart from the enormous significance of this event for the internal development of Yugoslavia, the ceremony surrounding his funeral became an important political and social phenomenon. Thousands of telegrams poured into the court in October 1934 while masses awaited the train carrying the dead king on his way through the country. The Yugoslav Roma took part in this process expressing their grief in a published telegram. It seems that the event was of such significance for the Roma community, that even half a year after the assassination the first issue of the first Roma newspaper in Yugoslavia, Romano Lil has an article ‘Our people mourn their King’ (Симић, 1935b, p. 3). The Belgrade Gypsy Club telegram can be seen as a sincere emotion but also as a step in the process of integration of the Yugoslav Roma in the South Slav society and in the body of the Yugoslav nation. Being part of the official politics of sorrow can also be seen as an expression of loyalty and belonging, especially as the telegram was addressed to the future ruler, prince Peter II.

Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova

3.1.3 The Association of the Belgrade Gypsies Worshippers of Bibija (Tetkica)

Notes

1. The text refers here to the Balkan wars and to the First World War, after which the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established to be renamed in 1929 as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. By ‘our people’ the Statute meant all people living in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and demonstrated the belonging of the organisation to the nation and participation in the national identity memorial practices.

2. This was the land bought by the First Serbian Gypsy Zadruga for mutual support in sickness and death of the 1920s. The property was confiscated after the Second World War and never returned to the Association despite the numerous attempts for restitution under article 37 of the rules above that foresee that the re-established association as heir of the property.

Source: LADA. Препис Устава Удружење београдских Цигана свечара Бибиje (Теткице).

Prepared for publication by Dragoljub Acković and Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. Struga kafana was one of the symbols of Čubura neighbourhood, famous as the Gypsy kafana and its musicians.

Source: [No author]. (1937). Јуче су београдски цигани одржали своjу врло живу скупштину. Било је препирања, пребацивања, свађе, али се ипак све лепо свршило. Правда, An. 33, No. 11710, 1937, May 27, p. 18.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Comments

The preserved transcript of the main part of the Statute of Association of Belgrade Gypsies Worshippers of Bibija (Tetkica), established in 1935, has united, inherited, and advanced the assets, strategies, and visions of all earlier formal and informal associations presented above. The establishment and way of arrangement of the Association show how a traditional community celebration important for the Belgrade Roma identity, becomes the fundament for a civil society organisation. In this way, we see the development of this community in unison with the new social realities.

Similar to other humanitarian associations in Yugoslavia, it was declared a non-party humanitarian character and support for all Belgrade Gypsies for ‘raising the cultural level’, a common slogan of the time for all cultural organisations. Following in the footsteps of the First Serbian Gypsy Zadruga and the Club of the Belgrade Serbian Gypsies, a special emphasis was put on maintaining the house of the association and educational support for gifted children and young people.

With the renaming of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, certain policies in the field of education and culture were designed in order to reinforce a Yugoslav identity as one of the responses to activities on the Kingdom’s territories (Gligorijević, 1986; Dimić, Vol. 1, 1996). The period of the 1930s in Yugoslavia was related to a general discourse and policies for building a Kingdom-wide network of youth clubs related to various sport, cultural and educational activities, and was connected to a general strategy of building a Yugoslav identity among the new generations (Žutić, 1991). Elevation of the general educational status was one of the strategies present in the Yugoslav public discourse. The special stress on Gypsy youth and the future generation in the status of the organisation shows that the Belgrade community activists were shaping policies in the spirit of the Yugoslav time and context, and at the same time planning a future educated Roma leadership. Thus, this organisation allowed even children to be members of the association under certain conditions.

It’s noteworthy that the Statute foresaw what should be done with its property and assets in case of organisational seizure and closure so that they could be kept for the future Belgrade Roma generations. It mentions also a sizeable estimate of the organisational property which points to the fact the members and founders of the organisation were part of the entrepreneurial citizens of Belgrade of good standing. According to Dargoljub Acković, Governing Board members were President Hristifor Jovanović, former Belgrade Gypsy chief (starešina), Vice President Djoka P. Simić, Blacksmith, Secretary Jovan Milosavljević, locksmith, treasurer Milorad Vasić, musician, and the following were members of the association: Stevan Djordjević, greengrocer, Dušan Simić, accordion player, Vojislav Vasić, driver, Djurdje Marković, musician, Djura Djordjević, musician, Vucko Simić, renter, Vujica Balić, locksmith, Radoslav Stojanović, renter, Marko D. Vasiljević, greengrocer, Živojin Simić, musician, Lazar Stojanović, musician, Milan Nikolić, musician, Petar Bimbasić, petty-trader, Radojko Stojaković (Acković, 2010, p. 110).

The property of the Association mentioned in the Statute was confiscated by the Yugoslav state in 1946. In 1981 it was given to Association Rom – Belgrade to serve as premises of the organisation, but the ownership of the property has never been restored to a Belgrade youth association as stipulated in the Statute itself. Until today Association Rom – Belgrade is located there and the annual Bibija celebrations take place there too. The attempts of the Belgrade Roma community leadership to get ownership of the property continue until today, including petitions (to the local and central government), and even establishment of a new association under the same name – Association of Belgrade Gypsies, worshipers of Bibija Auntie – in 2018.

The media article from 1937 provides information about an annual assembly of the Association of Belgrade Gypsies, worshipers of Bibija Auntie. It showed that the association was implementing its concrete programme for securing financial support for its members in case of sickness and death, as well as self-organising the Roma citizens of Čubura neighbourhood for landscaping activities to improve the conditions the for celebration of the Day of Bibija.

The presented discussion demonstrates that the organisation was trying to formally manage solidarity and support along ethnic lines for the Roma from Čubura, and was transparently organised. The report that women were also present and participated in the discussions is proof of the civil organisation’s inclusiveness.

We can presume that the three organisations discussed above were somehow interrelated, and maybe chronologically following each other or simultaneously existing under different leadership. The form of zadruga was in unison of the time at the end of the 19 and beginning of the 20 century, while the association and the club were fitting better into the socio-political realities and also into the legislative regulations for civic organisations of the late 1920s and in the early 1930s. Regardless of their formal arrangement, they were all civil initiatives undertaken by Roma intertwined and built upon traditional community celebrations important for the identity of the Belgrade Roma community.

Sofiya Zahova

3.1.4 An Educational Club of the Yugoslav Gypsy Youth

Необичан догађаj у обоjеном народу. Београдски цигански клуб

пред великим задатком … Може ли от Цигана нешто да буде?

Наука вели да су Цигани чистокрвни ариjевци и индоевропљани, као и наjнапредниjи народи Европе.

Племенита циганска раса

Цигани, наравно, не знаjу каквоj племенитоj раси припадаjу, али jе под циганском чергом увек тињала свест у супериорности циганске расе. Циганин и човек су на циганском jезику синоними. “Ром” jе Циганин, али истовремено значи и човек. Сви други народи за Цигане су “гаџе”, – онако исто као што су за старе Jелине сви други народи били “варвари”. Пошто jе “Ром” човек, значи да “гаџе” ни су људи. По циганском предању, Цигани су изабран народ, њих jе небо прве створило, а цигански цар Фираун био jе први цар на свету, цар над царенима.

Хоће ли немачки пример изазвати и у другим земљама мере против Цигана?

Као да су предвиђали да ће циганско питање доћи на ред, београдски Цигани на Jатаган-мале и Маринкове Баре основали су пре месец и по дана своj културни клуб, са великим задатком цивилизовања Цигана. И пошто се велико дело не може да створи без потпоре штампе – затражили су потпору “Политике”.

“Задатак клуба: да окупља све циганске омладнице и да помаже њихов напредак на просветном и културном пољу; да омогући школовање сиромашнима, да се бори против криминалитета и просjачења, да се бори да свако циганско дете има своj занат. Клуб ће постизавати своjе циљеве путем власти, одржавањем стручних и поучних предавања, оснивањем своjе читаонице …”

Цигани и власт

Оно путем власти замолио нас jе да подвучемо претседник клуба г. Симић, Циганин, студент права и судски званичник. Своjу лоjалност према властима истичу београски Цигани сваком приликом. Тако пре неколико година у jедноj београдскоj кафаници одржали су своjу скупштину Цигани-музиканти. Са скупштине jе упућен поздравни телеграм и – члану и писарима кварта.

– Зашто, бре, и писарима? приметно jе jедан кафански гост.

– Да виду да нисмо антинационални! … обjаснио jе претседник, иначе угледан београдски музикант.

Поштуjу власт, али су несносни када jе сами репрезентираjу (“Кад Цигaнину падне секира у меду не уме да се снађе”).

Пре ратова учио jе школе jедан Циганин. Свирао jе, иначе, у друшству “Суа” где jе било више професора Универзитета. Они су му ишли на руку да заврши права, радознале да виде шта ће да изпадне от Циганина. Отишао jе у полициску струку, а чак постављен за среског начелника у Свилаjнцу. И прво што jе као начелник учинио било jе да – похапси све местне Цигане! Направио се урнебес, депутациjа грађана допутовала у Београд да се жали, и – њега су брзо отпустили на службе… Сама циганска предања кажу: кад jе Фираун постао цар, прво jе обесио свога оца, да пакаже како jе страшан …

“Ми, престонички Цигани! …”

Цигански клуб има три отсека – просветни, музички и спортски. У правилама дословно стоj: “Просветни отсек имаће за циљ да учи писмености неписмене, а ко jе већ писмен да га просвети и култивише. Музички отсек имаће за циљ да негуjе и усвршава музичку способност своjих чланова …”

Члaнове управе клуба, у коjoj поред омладинаца има и људе средњих година, музиканти су или занатлиjа, а неки имаjу и по коjи разред гимназиje. Они нам кажу:

– Ми, престонички Цигани треба да знамо више него они на селу и ови наши стари коjи су овде. Ми смо Цигани, ми от тога не избегавамо, – из ове се коже у другу не може. Али ми хоћемо да створимо добре, културне и поштене Цигане …

За аналфабетски течаj приjавило се досад осамнаест Цигана. Основаће се, кажу, и позоришна дружина. Сада прикупљаjу фолклорни материjал за први комад из циганског живота, коjи ће се звати “Венчање око врбе”. За здравствено просвећивање Централни хигиjенски завод обећао jе да ће клубу ставити на расположење предаваче са проjекционим апаратом и филмовима. Нарочито ће се повести борба против сифилиса, кога међу београдским Циганима има у изобиљjу.

Ставио им се на расположење jедан предавач, коjи ће у клубу одржати нис предавања о религиjи. На томе пољу има да се међу Циганима много ради. Формално, они припадаjу религиjе средине у коjоj живе, али jе њихова стварна религиjа – религиjа примитивног човека, заснована на страху и вери у срећу.

Цигани, например, немаjу уопште специjалну реч за Бога. “О Дел” у циганском jезику може да има и значење Бога, али та реч значи и небо, и облак, и све оно што jе над нама …

Немаjу специjалну реч ни за душу. Реч ђи (у другим краjевима “ођи”, или “вођи”) означава све оно што jе смештено у средини. Она може да значи срце, aли значи и – срце от лубенице, срце от краставца, и безброj других ствари …

(Ово су последње сензациjе науке о Циганима.)

Клуб намерава да преведе Jеванђеље на цигански jезик. Истина, Jеванђелско друштво недавно je издало на циганском Jеванђеље по Луци, превод нашег наjбољег познаваоца циганског jeзика професора г. Ухлика из Приjедора. Али београдски Цигани веле да га не разумеjу, jер jе писан на диjалекту босанских Цигана; треба додати да jе г. Ухлик у своме преводу морао да употреби кованице за апстрактне поjмове коjе Цигани немаjу.

Шта да се мисли о свима тим плановима? Jе ли то само лепа жеља?

Нико неће порећи да Цигане треба научити редовним занимањима.

Имаjу ли Цигани диспозициjе за културу?

Не може се порећи ни потреба музичке секциjе клуба. Данас се тражи нотално свирање, и Цигани сневаjу о музичким нотама, ма да им jе “цигански прст” досад сметао да постигну у томе погледу веће успехе. Циганка се данас поноси своjим дететом коjе jе научило ноте:

– А, дете моjе нотално! … тена му она.

Али мало ће њих поверовати у способности Цигана за jедну вишу духовну културу. Ко jе видео отличног ђака Циганина?

Оснивачи клуба имаjу, наравно, повољно мишљење о себи и своjим сународницима. Указаjу на људе коjи су свршили високе школе и коjе криjу своjе циганско порекло.

– Ми смо свесни да треба нешто да оставимо омладини коjа иза нас долази и да отклонимо проклетство са нас Цигана, коjе сви сматраjу за последње и наjгоре људе … вели нам претседник клуба г. Симић.

Покушаjмо, уосталом, да будемо логични. Нису ли Цигани индоевропљани, као и ми? У физичком и духовном погледу не разликуjу се от других индоевропљана. Значи да имаjу и њихове способности.

Мa да су и jедни и други индоевропљани, Скандинавци су културно далеко одмакли от Албанаца, jер су живели у бољим приликама.

А какве су биле прилике Цигана? Вечити номади, скитачи, одувек третирани као нечиста, презрена каста лопова, варалаца, разбоjника и свакоjаких других преступника, вечито гоњени, нескључени за сваког духовног додира са своjом културниjом средином, – они нису могли да што науче и такве прилике нису могле погодовати развитку способности за културниjа схватања. Ма да се код нас поступало са Циганима нешто боље но у другим земљама (“Ако су и Цигани, – душу носе” кажу наши сељаци), Србин jе увек сматрао Циганина нижим от себе. Држава ниjе чинила ништа за цивилизовање Цигана, а мали броj Цигана коjи jе продро у школу, био jе увек “Цига”, то jест предмет изругивања.

Треба резликовати чергаре от Цигана коjи су стално настањени у селима и варошима. Чергари готовo немаjу стално место становања, нити изгледа да имаjу за то смисла; њихов морал jе у сукобу са нашим моралом и они немаjу осећања за оно што се може и што се не може. Наjгори су руски Цигани и Цигани коjи овамо прелазе из Мађарске. Морално понашање Цигана настањених у селима и градовима околина контролише, и они воде рачуна о поштењу.

“Бунапарта” и “Африка, бато!”

Не смемо, ипак заборавити да су се дедови и прадедови и наjуглађениjих београских Цигана-свирача родили под чергом. Да би се циганско духовно биће прилагодило вишоj духовноj култури, потребно jе да прођу генерациjе прекаљене радом и истраjношћу.

Предавачи у београдском Циганском клубу мораће, зато, да поступаjу обазриво, ако желе да им Цигани посећаjу предавања и без новчане награде. Предавања не смеjу бити академска, не сме бити теоретисања и просвећености, култури и хришћанским врлинама. Никаквог система не може бити. За неку нарочиту ерудициjу Цигани нису jош сазрели. Треба се ограничити на конкретни ствари, служити си примерима из самог циганског живота.

Рецепт за предавања у Циганском клубу могао би се назрети из jедног разговора коjи jе водио претседник г. Симић са jедним стариjим Циганином, коjи, наравно, гледа скeптично на оваj цигански покрет.

– Код нас Цигана – почео jе г. Симић – често се помиње Наполеон Бонапарта. Па jош не кажете Бонапарта, него Бунапарта. “А бре, каки си, дигао си нос ко Бунапарта, нећеш да говориш с мене!” А да нас човек пита ко jе таj Бунапарта, не би умео ниjедан да одговори. Доћите у Цигански клуб, па ћете о њему да чуjете …

Таj метод зачикивања могао би, можда, да успе код Цигана, коjи имаjу обичаj да причаjу, о стварима коjе не разумеjу. Ево jедног Циганина коjи jе досадио свима своjом Африком:

– Африка, бато! … има он обичаj да каже.

Наравно, нема он поjма шта jе Африка, и предавач, указуjући на њега, могао би да постави овакво питање циганском аудиториjуму:

– Е, браћо, ви сте чули за Африку! А шта jе то Африка?

Цигански клуб на послу

Засад, Цигански клуб држи седнице, има одобрена правила, печат, униjач, мало хартиjе и 165.20 динара “на приплоду” у Поштанскоj штедионици. И има jедног приjатеља коjи се обавезао да ће им давати месечно по 100 динара, због чега неки Цигани (нису у управи) кажу за њега да jе “дило”, то jест будала.

Сад им треба књига и ормана за књиге (макар из телалнице), а сад су пука сиротиња. Што jе наjважниjе, треба им локал, jег гости циганске кафане “Струга”, где jе сада смештен њихов клуб, не даjу мира члановима управе кад држе седницу, пошто немаjу поjма шта значи jедна културна акциjа. Клубу су потребне приjатељи коjи имаjу пара. Али чланови управе неће нипошто да изгледа као да они “биjу циганску жицу”. Пронашли су начин да то не изгледа као прошња, коjа им jе, веле, одвратна. Приjатељи Цигана могу се уписати за добротворе, помагаче и утемељаче клуба и добиће за узврат чак и дипломе, како обећаваjу чланови управе. Утемељач се постаjе са 100 динара, добротвор са 50, а помагач са свега 20 динара.

Откако jе Цигана на свету, културне акциjе међу њима свакако ниjе било. Jе ли претседник клуба г. Симић цигански месиjа? Боже сачуваj. Школован и вредан Циганин, он не личи на каквог месиjу, а други оснивачи клуба на то jош мање личе. Жели ли се да оснуjе специjална циганска култура? Ни то ниjе случаj. За то, уосталом, нити jе било нити има услова данас. Цигани немаjу заjеднички jезик, не везуjе их заjедничка религиjа, а растурени су и не постоjи велика концентрациjа Цигана на jeдноме месту. Без тога се не може створити специjална култура. Њихове су амбициjе, кажу скромне: теже да се бар у варошима развиjу у добре и културне Цигане, како би се могле стопити са своjом средином.

Ђ. Н.

∵

An unusual event among the dark-skinned people.

The Belgrade Gypsy Club facing a big task … Could the Gypsies achieve anything?

Science says that Gypsies are pure-blooded Aryans and Indo-Europeans as the most advanced peoples of Europe.

The Noble Gypsy race

Gypsies, of course, do not know what kind of noble race they belong to, but under the Gypsy tent there has always been a consciousness about the superiority of the Gypsy race. Gypsy and man are synonymous in the Gypsy language. ‘Rom’ is a Gypsy, but at the same time means a man. All other people for Gypsies are ‘gadže’ [1], the same way as for the ancient Hellenic people all other people were ‘barbarians’. Since ‘Rom’ is a man, this means that ‘gadže’ are not people. According to the Gypsy legend, the Gypsies are chosen people, they were the one created first by heaven, and the Gypsy Kind Firaun [2] was the first King in the World, a Kind of all Kings.

Will the German example lead to measures against the Gypsies in other countries as well?

The Belgrade Gypsies at Jatagan-mala [3] and Marinkova Bara [4] founded their cultural club a month and a half ago, with the great task of civilising the Gypsies, as if they had predicted that the Gypsy question would be brough to the agenda. And since a great deed could not be made without the support of the press – they asked the newspaper Politika for support.

The authorities have approved the rules of the club that is called Educational Club of the Yugoslav Gypsy Youth. Apart from central offices in Belgrade, branches of the club are foreseen in other bigger places. The rules state:

“The task of the club: to gather all Gypsy young people and to help their advancement in the educational and cultural field; to enable the education of the poor, to fight crime and begging, to struggle for every Gypsy child to obtain a craft. The club will achieve its goals with the help of the authorities, by holding professional and instructive lectures, by establishing its own reading room …”

Gypsies and authorities

The phrase with the help of the authorities was underlined by us upon the request of the president of the club Mr. Simić, Gypsy, a law student and a court official. Their loyalty to the authorities is emphasised by the Belgrade Gypsies on every occasion. So, a few years ago, the Gypsy Musicians had held their Assembly [5]. The Assembly sent a complimentary telegram to both the local parliament member and the office staff of the neighbourhood management.

– Hey, but why also the office clerks? a kafana guest has noticеably marked.

– To make them see that we are not anti-national [6]! … explained the President, otherwise a respected Belgrade musician.

They respect the authorities’ power, but are undurable when they represent it themselves (“When the ax of the Gypsy drops in honey, he does not know how to cope” [7]).

Before the wars, a Gypsy was going to school. He had played, in fact, in the association ‘Sua’ where there were a lot of University professors. They offered him to graduate in law, curious to see what would come out of the Gypsy. He specialised in the field of police profession, and he got even appointed as a regional police chief in Svilajnac. And the first thing he did as a chief was – to arrest all the local Gypsies! He provoked a commotion, a group of citizens’ representatives came to Belgrade to complain, and – he was quickly fired from his job … The Gypsy legends themselves say: when Firaun became a king, he hung his father to demonstrate how dreadful he is …

“We, the Capital’s Gypsies! …”

The Gypsy club has three sections – educational, musical and sports. In the rules is literally stated: “The educational section will aim to teach literacy to the illiterate, and whoever is already literate will be educated and cultivated by the Club. The musical section will aim to nurture and enhance the musical skills of its members …”

The club’s management members, in which, besides young people, there are middle-aged people, who are either musicians or craftsmen, and some also have graduated from high school. They tell us:

– We, the Capital’s Gypsies, are supposed to know more than those in the countryside, as well as our old people who are here. We are Gypsies, and we do not avoid it, – it is not possible to transform from this skin to another. But we are going to create good, cultural and honest Gypsies …

Eighteen Gypsies have applied for the course for illiterate people. It is said that a theater group is going to be founded as well. Now they are collecting folklore material for its first piece from the Gypsy life, which will be called A Wedding at the Willow. For the sake of health education, the Central Hygiene Institute promised to make available to the club lecturers with projection technique and films [8]. Particular attention will be paid to the fight against syphilis, which is in a plenitude among the Belgrade Gypsies.

A lecturer has been assigned to them with the aim to hold a series of lectures about religion in the club. There is a lot to do among the Gypsies in regards to this. Formally, they belong to the religion of the environment in which they live, but their real religion is the religion of the primitive man, based on fear and faith in destiny.

Gypsies, for example, have no special word for God at all. ‘O Del’ in the Gypsy language can mean God as well, but that word also means sky, as well as cloud, and all that is above us …

They don’t have a special word for a soul either. The word ‘dji’ (in other regions ‘odji’ or ‘vodji’) means all that is placed in the middle. It can mean a heart, but also means – the heart of a watermellon, heart of a cucumbmer, and millions of other things …

(These are the last sensations from the science about Gypsies.)

The club intends to translate the Gospel into Gypsy language. Indeed, the Bible Society recently has published the Gypsy Gospel of Luke, a translation of our best Gypsy language expert professor Mr. Uhlik from Prijedor [9]. But the Belgrade Gypsies say they do not understand it, for it has been written in the Bosnian Gypsy dialect; It should have been added that in his translation Mr. Uhlik had to use coined words for abstract concepts that the Gypsies do not have.

What to think about all these plans? Is it just a beautiful wish?

No one will deny that Gypsies should be trained for regular occupations.

Do the Gypsies have disposal for culture?

The need for the music section existence can not be denied either. Today, playing the notes is required, and Gypsies dream about the music notes, although the “Gypsy finger” has so far been an obstacle for them to achieve greater success in this regard. Today, a Gypsy woman is proud of her child who has learned the notes:

– Oh, my child knows how to play the notes! … descants she.

But they will be just a few of them to believe in the Gypsy’s ability for a higher spiritual culture. Who has ever seen an excellent Gypsy student?

The founders of the club have, of course, a favourable opinion about themselves and their compatriots’ Gypsies. They point to people who have graduated from high schools and who are hiding their Gypsy origin.

– We are aware that we need to leave something to the youth that is coming after us and eliminate the spell over us, the Gypsies, who are considered by all to be the lowest and worst people … tells us the President of the club Mr. Simić.

Let’s try, after all, to be logical. Aren’t all the Gypsies Indo-Europeans, just like us? In terms of physical and spiritual characteristics, they do not differ from the other Indo-European people. This means they also have their abilities.

Even though both are Indo-European people, Scandinavians are culturally far from the Albanians, because they have lived in better conditions.

But what were the opportunities of the Gypsies? Mainly nomads, wanderers, always treated as impure, despised cast of thieves, cheaters, bandits and all other offenders, eternally driven away, excluded from any kind of spiritual relation with their cultural environment, – they could not learn anything and such conditions could not facilitate the development of ability for the cultural concept. Even though here the Gypsies have been treated somewhat better than in other countries (“Even if they are Gypsies – they also have a soul”, say our peasants), the Serb has always considered the Gypsy to be of a lower position than himself. The state did nothing to civilise the Gypsies, and a small number of Gypsies who succeeded to enter school was always “Ciga”, that is, an object of mockery.

It is necessary to distinguish between nomadic Gypsies [10] and Gypsies who are permanently inhabiting villages and towns. The nomadic Gypsies do not have a permanent place of residence, nor do they seem to have a sense for it; their moral is in conflict with our morals and they have no sense for what can and can not be done. The worst are the Russian Gypsies and Gypsies who are coming here crossing the border from Hungary. The environment controls the moral behavior of the Gypsy inhabitants in the villages and cities, and they take care of being honest.

“Bunaparta” and “Africa, bro!”

We must not forget, however, that even the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers of the most representable Belgrade Gypsy-musicians were born under a tent. To adapt to a higher spiritual culture, the Gypsy spiritual being needs generations to pass through work and persistence.

Lecturers at the Belgrade Gypsy Club will have to behave cautiously if they want Gypsy students to attend lectures even without cash awards. The lectures should not be academic, there should be no theorising and enlightenment, culture and Christian virtues. No system could be applied. Gypsies have not yet matured for a particular erudition. Lectures should be limited to concrete things, using examples from the Gypsy life itself.

The recipe for lectures at the Gypsy Club could be seen from a conversation that the president of the club Mr. Simić had with an older Gypsy who, of course, looks skeptical towards this Gypsy movement.

– Among us, the Gypsies – started Mr. Simić – Napoleon Bonaparte is often mentioned. Furthermore, we do not say Bonaparte, but Bunaparta. “Hey you, look at you, you raised up your nose as Bunaparta, you don’t want to talk to me!” And if a man asks us who that Bunaparta is, no one would be able to answer. Come to the Gypsy Club, and you’ll hear about him [Bunaparta] …

This mockery method might, perhaps, succeed among the Gypsies, who have the habit of talking, about things they do not understand. Here is a Gypsy who has bored all with his talking about Africa:

– Africa, bro! … he has the habit of saying.

Of course, he does not know what Africa is, and the lecturer, pointing to him, could ask the Gypsy auditory the following question:

– Well, brothers, you have heard about Africa! And what is Africa?

The Gypsy Club is busy

For the time being, the Gypsy Club held a meeting session, has approved rules, a seal, an emblem, a few documents and 165.20 dinars “for growing” in the Postal Savings Bank. And there is one friend who has committed to give them a monthly fee of 100 dinars, which is why some Gypsies (not in the Governing Board) say about him that he is a “dilo”, that is, a fool.

Now they need books and bookshelves for books (even from ruined places), and now they just have nothing. Most importantly, they need a club, as the guests of the Gypsy kafana Struga, where their club is currently located, do not provide peace to the members of the Board when they hold a meeting, because they have no idea what a cultural activity means. The club needs friends who have money. The members of the Board, however, do not like at all to look as if they are “pulling the Gypsy wire”. They have found a way to not look like a begging, which is, they say, disgusting to them. Friends of the Gypsies can sign up for benefactors, helpers and founders of the club and in return they will even receive diplomas, as promised by the members of the Governing Board. One can become a founding member with 100 dinars, a benefactor with 50, and a helper with only 20 dinars.

Since the Gypsies have existed in the world, there has certainly not been any cultural activity among them. Is the president of the club Mr. Simić a Gypsy Messiah? God forbid. An educated and hardworking Gypsy man, he does not look like any kind of messiah, and the other founders of the club are even less like that. Is the intention to create a special Gypsy culture? It’s not the case either. For that, after all, there have not been conditions neither in the past nor today. Gypsies do not have a common language, they are not bound by a common religion, they are dispersed and there is no big concentration of Gypsies in one place. Without this, a special culture could not be created. According to them, their ambitions are modest: they aim at the development, at least in the towns, of good and cultural Gypsies so that they could melt with their environments.

Đ. N.

Notes

1. Gadže (plural form of gadžo) is a term in Romani language used for designating all non-Roma people.

2. Throughout the Roma in Balkans there are numerous legends about a Gypsy King whose name was Pharaoh (Phiraun, Pharun, etc.). See more details in Chapter I.

3. Jatagan-male is one of the Belgrade neighbourhoods that developed as an effect of the growing Belgrade population after the First World War, where many people, including Gypsies, started building their houses.

4. Marinkova Bara is another neighbourhood with a majority of Roma inhabitants that appeared in interwar Belgrade as an effect of the growing population in the city.

5. The association in question is most probably the Association of Serbian Gypsies worshipers of Auntie Bibija, as their assembly in 1937 was reported to take place in Struga kafana as well (see 1.9 above).

6. The terms anti-national (anti-nacionalni) in the period was often used to describe activities that are against the Yugoslav state and Yugoslav identity.

7. The Serbian idiomatic expression and a popular saying ‘pala je sekira u med’, literary meaning ‘the axe fell in honey’, is used to indicate a great chance that comes unexpected, a surprising stroke of luck.

8. We can presuppose that Simić as President of the Club was cooperating with Aleksandar Petrović, a researcher at the Institute for Hygiene and author of several studies on Gypsies in Serbia (including in co-authorship with Simić himself), one of them devoted to venereal diseases (Петровић, 1937). The discourse on racial hygiene was present also in interwar Yugoslavia.

9. The translation in question is O devlikano ramope e Sumnale Lukahtar nakhadino pe romani chib katar Rade Uhlik sikamno (Gospel of Saint Luke translated into Romani language by Rade Uhlik a researcher) (Uhlik, 1938). Rade Uhlik (1899-1991) was a linguist and one of the few researchers interested in studying the Roma in Yugoslavia throughout 20th century. He was born to a Bosnian Croat family, and graduated in German studies (from universities in Vienna, Pecs and Belgrade). Uhlik has actively collected oral traditions and studied the Romani Bosnian dialects creating a Romani language dictionary and numerous collections that were later published, while some remain unpublished. His first Romani language collection of traditional folklore, Roma songs, was published in 1937 (Uhlik, 1937).

10. The word used is čergari.

Source: Н[иколић], Ђ. (1939). Необичан догађаj у обоjеном народу. Београдски цигански клуб пред великим задатком … Може ли от Цигана нешто да буде? Политика, An. 35, No. 4, 1939, January 4, p. 10.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Comments

While the Belgrade Gypsy Club and the First Serbian Gypsy Zadruga for mutual support in sickness and death of the 1920s, as well as the Association of the Belgrade Gypsies worshipers of Tetkica Bibija of 1935, seem to be of the same nature (organisations of the local Belgrade Roma community) and probably run by the same people, at the end of 1938 or in the very first days of 1939 the first nation-wide (at least in terms of ideology and concept) Roma organisation Prosvetni klub jugoslovenske ciganske omladine (Educational Club of the Yugoslav Gypsy Youth) was established in Belgrade, gathering young generation of Roma of different background – belonging to different Roma groups, with various religion and mother language. No original documents presenting the Statute or administration of the organisation were found so far, and only two articles published in Politika daily newspaper remain as the documents of the time witnessing the establishment and the activities of the Club. The club was modelled similarly to other Yugoslav-wide youth organisations, so its primary goal was gathering Roma youth for their further education and enlightening. There were several types of activities typical for youth organisations of that time that were developing in Yugoslavia as part of the Kingdom’s politics of identity – sport activities, cultural activities, including amateur arts, and the so-called analphabetic streams (analafabetski tečaj) that were supposed to fight illiteracy among large groups by basic literacy lessons and by public lectures on topics such as health, hygiene, history, etc. These activities were also part of the Club’s programme and in this respect, the Club was following a general youth organisations’ pattern to organise the Gypsy youth in activities such as literacy classes, theatres, religious lectures, etc.

The article seems to be based on an extensive talk with the Club’s leadership, mainly its President Svetozar Simić (1913-1979), as there are many references to information about Roma that the author had probably obtained during this talk. Noteworthy are the general reflections on the current European developments, such as the Nazi racial policies and the fact that Roma are Indo-Europeans who might not have achieved the highest results because of the conditions in which they are living. The Club’s leadership positions its visions about the Roma in a general context, referring to historical, linguistic, religious, and folklore data, including legends and beliefs about the origin of the Roma.

The Club’s Board was comprised of Gypsies, based in the capital of the Kingdom. They see themselves as leaders, as being on the forefront, as being more cultural and educated and who would lead the advancement of all Yugoslav Gypsies by creating branches all over the country. Their views also reflect various internal divisions between the Gypsy community, such as dialectical and group differences, especially when it comes to the division between Gypsies leading a settled way of life (presented as more advanced) and the nomadic ones (presented in a pejorative light). This discourse was common also for other Gypsy organisations in Europe during the interwar period (Marushiakova & Popov, 2020). Despite these differences, it is clear that the aim of the Club was to work for all Gypsies within Yugoslavia with the ultimate aim not to create a special Gypsy culture, but to lead to the ‘development, at least in the towns, of good and cultural Gypsies so that they could melt with their environments’. In other words, to make the Gypsies citizens equal to all others in the Kingdom. This was the first explicit statement foreseeing a unity for all Gypsies, regardless of group and other divisions, under the leadership of the educated Roma individuals and, thus, is a sign for the development of a Yugoslav-wide Roma movement for unity at another level.

The Board of the Club of Yugoslav Gypsy Youth underlined its loyalty towards the government, stressing that Belgrade Gypsies had always acted with the help of the authorities and were not anti-national. This statement was, on the one hand, related to the general context of the time, when a supranational Yugoslav identity was promoted as opposed to separatism and nationalism among other communities. It thus should be interpreted in the context of the Yugoslav state efforts in the fields of culture, civil organisations, and religious activities, both centrally and locally, to strengthen Yugoslav identity especially among the youth, counteracting activities labelled as nationalist and anti-Yugoslav (for instance of Croatian nationalism).

A short German daily press article reporting on the initiative reveals information that was not reported in the Yugoslav newspapers, namely that the Club’s members had sent telegrams to the King and the Prime Minister in which they declared their loyalty as good citizens who would work for the Yugoslav fatherland (Jeversches Wochenblatt, 1938, p. 10). It is worth quoting a passage from this newspaper material, which reveals the new stage reached in the development of the Roma community on its way to civic emancipation:

The young Gypsies […] have also made a program for their lives, that is very different from the one that is traditional for the Gypsies, which consists of permanent vagabonding. And although they do not completely give up the violin and the guitar, because the Gypsy cannot live without music, from now on their instruments must be a book and a newspaper in order to raise their educational status. (Ibid.).

According to research done by Dragoljub Acković (Acković, 2009, p. 60), the Club might have been affiliated to and funded by Jugoslovenska radikalna zajednica (Yugoslav Radical Union, founded by Milan Stojadinović in 1935, then Prime Minister of Yugoslavia), the main political movement in the country until 1939. This form of self-organisation of Belgrade Roma was of a short span, lasting until the beginning of the Second World War, but was the first sign of a Yugoslav-wide Roma movement.

All these civil society organisations’ accomplishments were led by Belgrade Roma and took place in the Kingdom capital, Belgrade, where all Yugoslav institutions were located and where the Kingdom’s policies were designed. Many of the plans and visions never materialised and this fact was probably linked to the arrival of the world economic crisis in Yugoslavia and later the Second World War. But the presence of these ideas in the public space and on the level of formal and informal organisations’ programming showed that groups of Belgrade Roma citizens were actively working for the advancement of the Roma/Gypsies as people within the Yugoslav national or/and local context. These organisations were often continuing, intertwined with, and based on traditional forms of community gatherings, that were appropriated into new forms of civil organisations for the Roma/Gypsies, comparable to other Yugoslav organisations of the same period.

The Roma usually organised their assemblies in kafanas indicating that they were also following the usual steps in launching a political initiative. Kafanas, pubs, and beer cellars were a dominant meeting point of all political activists in Serbia in the 19th and well into the 20th century. Simultaneously, in this way, the Belgrade Roma testified that they were part of the social life in the country.

All four organisations discussed were based in Belgrade. It is, of course, natural that Belgrade Gypsies, being based in the Kingdom’s capital, i.e. at the forefront of the socio-political arena where policies were coined, positioned themselves as an elite that should represent all Gypsies in the state and come up with leadership ideas and strategies for the development of the whole community within Yugoslavia. It should be noted however that these organisations were not the only examples of Roma community initiatives of civil nature in interwar Yugoslavia. There also were Roma local initiatives active in the cultural, social, or religious life at the local level. Such examples are the initiative for the building of so-called ‘Gypsy Church’ after the First World War in Privlaka (the region of Vukovar, today in Eastern Croatia) with donations from the Rom Čedomir Nikolić where in 1938 the priest Lazar Staminirović had read in front of Roma audience from the Vukovar-Srijem region the newly translated Gospel of Luke (Acković, 2014, pp. 205-208). The news about Čedomir Nikolić’s initiative and reading of the Bible’s texts in Romani in the church of Privlaka has been in nation-wide Yugoslav daily media (Комски, 1938, p. 9; Рајчевић, 1938, p. 8). The news has apparently made it internationally as short material about the initiative was reported also in the Ukrainian newspaper Dilo, published in Poland (Дiло, 1938, p. 6).

In Niš, Southern Serbia, in 1928 was established the Gypsy Singing Society Sloga (Accord), and in 1932 was founded the football club Gajret (Zeal) (Jašić, 2001, p. 25) that according to the local memory of the Roma community was entirely comprised of Roma, although it was not officially stated that it had an ethnic character. Speaking about the network of associations named Gajret, initially started in Bosnia in 1903 (Banac, 1988, p. 366) and spread throughout Yugoslavia during the interwar period that became particularly active under the state control in the 1920s and early 1930s (Giomi, 2019, pp. 45-47), we have to point out that it is highly probable that many Gajret branches in the territories of Central and Southern Serbia were in fact set up and managed by Muslim Gypsies. In 1862 and 1867 Muslims had to leave the territories of the Principality of Serbia and only Muslim Gypsies who exclusively declared as such were allowed to stay (Clayer & Bougarel, 2017, pp. 27-28). Thus, in these territories, the Muslim organisations from this time on could have been set up by Serbian/Yugoslav Gypsies and in fact working for the mobilisation of the Muslim Gypsy community (similarly to processes among Muslim Gypsy organisations in Bulgaria, see for details Chapter 2). Further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

This also brings us to a reflection on the sources about the activities of the Roma organisations in interwar Yugoslavia. The materials preserved in the official Archive of Yugoslavia are scarce or more precisely lacking even though at least two of the organisations were formally registered (Association of Belgrade Gypsies, worshipers of Bibija Auntie and Educational Club of Yugoslav Gypsy Youth) and, thus, must have been submitting some documents to the respective authorities. Although in theory the documents of all civil, religious, cultural, and sports associations of the interwar period should have been preserved in the Archive of Yugoslavia, the archival research there showed that in practice only documents of nation-wide and state-sponsored associations have been kept. We might suggest that the Roma organisations’ documents, along with other, considered less important associations’ papers, were either not archived or did not survive turbulent times. In the local memory of the Belgrade Roma, narratives about these organisations have been preserved, but these narratives have been also influenced by contemporary secondary sources and media discourse. Thus, we were able to find more information about the Belgrade Gypsies organisations’ activities and initiatives in the national media of the time, particularly daily press, than in the official archives of Yugoslavia which were comprehensively reviewed (AJ-37; AJ-63; AJ-66; AJ-69; AJ-74; AJ-334). Although the tone of the articles reporting on these activities is often written in a mocking and ironic manner, they so far appeared to be the main source documenting the Roma civil organisation’s activities.

Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova

3.2.1 The Gypsies Want Their Representative in the Parliament

Буран цигански збор код “Три Кључа”

Цигани хоће свог представника у Скупштини

Бесумње најинтересантнији и најбучнији политички збор у Београду одржан је прекјуче пре подне у кафани код Три кључа. На њему је било присутно неколико стотина цигана из околине Београда и збор је имао специјално цигански карактер. Није била у питању партијска боја циганских насеобина, јер су сви цигани београдског округа по традицји радикали, али, због подвојености радикалних листа у београдском округу, морало је доћи до подвојености међу циганима.

Г. Пера Јовановић-Комита, који истиче независну листу против званичног кандидата г. Алексе Жујовића, пронашао је врло духовит начин, да би придобио за себе гласачку војску цигана. Он је узео као кандидата на својој листи циганина свирача Драгољуба Лукића. Овај факат силно је дејстовао на цигане и њима је пукло пред очима, да је до сада међу посланицима Народне Скупштине СХС било и Цинцара, и Турака, и Мађара, и Немаца, само још није било цигана и ако цигани представљају не само доста многобројан елеменат у нашој земљи, него и културан фактор, без кога би пропала култура наше националне музике. У редовима наших цигана настало је комешање: одбацише препукла ћемана и промукле трубе и бацише се у политичку борбу. Будући народни посланик свирач Драгољуб развио је међу својом браћом најживљу агитацију, обећавајући да ће одмах, тек што дође у Скупштину, издати обзнану о протеривању из земље свих страних свирачких капела и оркестара, који су преплавили земљу, потискујући циганску народну музику. Цигани се умало нису поколебали и пришли свом будућем представнику. Али онда, би им жао Алексе, јер је према њима увек био добар. Да се међу циганима не би изгубила једнодушност, сазвао је јуче Коста Маринковић цигански збор код Три кључа.

– Драгољуб Лукић нас је издао – говорио је Маринковић, отварајући збор. – он је пришао дисиденту Пери Комити због тога што је добио 7 000 динара.

– Ово је деловало на цигане као гром из ведра неба.

А нама није дао ни марјаша! Нека дели паре, нека дели! Драла се цела сала.

– Нема ту и примити паре и бити Народни посланик! Или нека нам да паре, па нека буде посланик или да задржи паре а ми да будемо посланици!

Кад се ларма донекле стишала, Маринковић је продужио:

– Наш Алекса Жујовић био нам је увек као прави отац и брат и ми смо увек за њега гласали. Не ваља му само то, што се није сетио да и нас кандидује на својој листи. Ипак, не смемо да га издамо као Јуда за 7000 динара. Него, још овог пута сви ћемо да гласамо за њега, а на идућим изборима, тражимо нашег кандидата. Ако Алекса на то не пристане, а ми ћемо изнети нашу засебну листу, јер да се не заборави нас у београдском округу има 6,000.

Несрећа је натерала Драгољуба Лукића да баш у том моменту упадне у кафану, у намери да се брани. Револтирани цигани направише паклену дреку, шчепаше га ко за руке ко за ноге и избацише га напоље као лопту. Тиме је завршен цигански политички збор. Драгољуб Лукић, устајући са калдрме, пребројавао је да ли су му сва ребра на месту. Алекса Жујовић обезбедио је себи циганске гласове, а наш парламент на другим наредним изборима имаће част да прими првог циганског посланика у своју средину.

∵

A Tempestuous Gypsy Assembly at the Three Keys

The Gypsies want their representative in the Parliament

Without any doubt the most interesting and the noisiest political assembly recently held in Belgrade took place the day before yesterday, in the morning, in the kafana The Three Keys. A few hundred Gypsies from Belgrade’s suburbs attended this assembly which had a unique Gypsy character. The issue at stake was not the party colour of the Gypsy settlements, because all Gypsies from the Belgrade County traditionally vote for the Radicals, however, due to the existing differences between the various electoral lists within the Radical party in the Belgrade County, the split within the Belgrade Gypsies came to be an inevitable result.

Mr. Pera Jovanović-Komita [1], who stands for the independent candidates’ lists against the official candidate Mr. Aleksa Žujović [2] has found a very humoresque manner of how to win over the voting army of the Gypsies. Namely, he placed the name of the Gypsy musician, Dragoljub Lukić, on his list. This made an immense impression on the Gypsies and they suddenly clearly realised [3], that until now among the Deputies of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, there were Tsintsari [4] and Turks [5] and Hungarians and Germans, but there were no Gypsies, even though the Gypsies represent not only a very numerous element in our country, but also a cultural one as well, without whom the culture of our national music would collapse. This provoked commotion in the ranks of our Gypsies: they have discarded their worn violins and hoarse trumpets and they lanced themselves into a political struggle. The future MP, the musician Dragoljub developed the most agile propaganda among his brothers by promising that his first move, upon being elected, would be to issue a decree, expelling from the country all foreign orchestras, which have overwhelmed our country and have thrusted out the Gypsy folk music. The Gypsies, without a sign hesitation, almost embraced their future deputy. But then, they felt sorry for Aleksa, as he was always nice to them. In order to save the unity of the Gypsies Kosta Marinković organised a Gypsy rally yesterday in the kafana The Three Keys.

– Dragoljub Lukić betrayed us – said Marinković. He works now with Pera Komita because he got 7000 dinars from him.

This news struck the Gypsy audience as a lighting coming from a clear blue sky.

– And he didn’t give us a dime. He should have shared the money! He should share! – The whole kafana shouted.

– You can’t have the money and be a National MP! Either he gives us the money and then becomes MP or he keeps his money but lets us become MPs!

When the noise settled down a bit, Marinković continued:

– Our Aleksa Žujović has always been as a true father and a brother to us and we all voted for him. His only mistake was that he did not remember to place any of us on his electoral list. Despite this, we should not betray him like Judas, for some 7000 dinars. On the contrary, this is the last time we will vote for him, but on the next elections we will ask to have our own candidate. If Aleksa rejects this proposal of ours, we will create our own independent list, because no one should forget that there are 6000 of us in the Belgrade County.

A misfortune set of circumstances brought Dragoljub Lukić at this exact moment into the kafana, as he came with the intention to defend himself. The agitated Gypsies made a hellish noise, they grabbed him, some by his hands, others grabbed his legs and they threw him out like a ball. This is how the Gypsies’ political assembly ended. Dragoljub Lukić, while trying to stand up from the pavement simultaneously checked if all of his ribs were in their place. Aleksa Žujović secured the Gypsy votes for himself, and on the next elections our parliament will have the honour to welcome the first Gypsy MP into its ranks.

Notes

1. Pera Jovanović with the nickname Komita (the Komitadji meaning irregular fighter) was a prominent member of the People’s Radical Party. He was present in the Serbian political life before 1914. His electoral base included residents of the Belgrade suburbs such as the Kosmaj area. His nickname was probably related to his political activism across the Ottoman border before the Balkan War as he appeared with this nickname already in 1914.

2. Aleksa Žujović (1866-1951) was one of the most important figures of the People’s Radical Party in the interwar years. He was a long-term president of all the Belgrade branches of this political organisation. His electoral base also included suburbs such as Kosmaj. He was the only national MP who volunteered to participate in the First Balkan War thus rejecting his discretion right not to participate in the immediate war efforts.

3. Dragoljub Lukić was remembered as one of the self-appointed leaders of the Belgrade Roma throughout the interwar years. After the failed attempt to become the Roma candidate at the Belgrade local elections in 1925 he managed to participate in the local election in 1927, this time in Kolubara County. Namely, this time he got 6800 votes and lacked only 32 votes to be elected. He also played an important role in the protests organised in relation to the city council’s decision to demolish one of the Belgrade’s famous Roma slums, the Jatagan mala, in 1933. His main profession was a restaurant leaser and he was well known in Belgrade for this activity. On several occasions the press referred to him as a Gypsy deputy as he continued, unsuccessfully, to be the first Roma elected to the Yugoslav parliament. Despite his lack of education and political experience he managed to formulate, quite clearly, the link between the lack of Roma’s representatives in the National assembly and the daily mistreatment of this minority. In 1934 he was arrested as he participated in a bar fight in his own restaurant.

4. Tsintsari: known also as Aromanians, an ethnic group living in the Balkans, mostly in Northern and Central Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.

5. ‘Turci’ (Turks) is used here as the equivalent of Muslims. The article refers to Yugoslav citizens who are Slavic speakers and who inhabited the Kingdom territories that historically were under Ottoman rule. In the context of South-Eastern Europe where religious and ethno-national belonging have been often equalised, Turkish was used to signify Islam religion, while Serbian was used to signify Orthodox Christian.

Source: [No author]. (1925). Буран цигански збор код “Три Кључа”. Цигани хоће свог представника у Скупштини. Време, An. 5, No. 1106, 1925, January 17, p. 5.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac.

3.2.2 The Protest Rally of the Belgrade Gypsies

Протесни збор београдских цигана код “Чубуре” против новог циганског кмета у Општини

Цигани су саставили резолуцију и прете да приреде циганске демонстрације пред Општином

Цигански кмет у београдској Општини је личност са нарочитим положајем. Цигански кмет нема веза са партијама. Он је као нека врста представника на страном двору, само с том изменом што прима плату на општинској благајни. Са политичким партијама и листама нема везе. Њега, на предлог циганске нахије са Чубуре, поставља Општински Суд, да заступа интересе и представља жеље свих чубурских Цигана. За тај свој труд води се на платном списку као државни службеник.

Већ 6 и по година ту дужност, на опште задовољство свих Чубураца, вршио је г. Маринко Савић. Прошла и претпрошла општинска управа нису га дирале, све док није дошла нова општинска управа која je г. Маринка просто отпустила и на његово место поставила г. Михајла Стефановића Пилићара, продавца пилића на Великој пијаци.

Ова промена циганског кмета изазвала је револт код чубурских Цигана. Бивши цигански кмет са својим присталицама основао је нови Клуб српских Цигана и јуче поподне заказали су протестни збор у кафани Чубура.

На збор је дошло преко сто Цигана, представника Чубураца, Јатаганмалаца и свих музиканата престонице. Поред радикала било је и 5 до 6 представника демократских Цигана, који су спремали велико политичко изненађење.

Први је узео реч г. Маринко Савић, председник новог клуба и бивши цигански кмет. Истакавши своје заслуге на том пољу за 6 и по година г. Маринко пита збор:

– А да ли тај Михаило Пилићар има кога од вас, браћо, уза се?

– Никога, никога! Проламају се бројни узвици из примашких грла, прећени штимовањем једне виолине, која већ одриче послушност.

– Ако је г. Куманудију Михајло потребан, нека га узме за шефа кабинета, па нека води пилићарску, а не циганску политику – завршава г. Маринко праћен бурним одобравањем.

Затим узима реч досадашњи вођа Цигана демократа, Јаначко Стојановић Чукур, примаш код Боровог Парка. Он тражи да сви Цигани заједно устану не против Михаила, него против председника, који таквог човека представља за циганског кмета.

Завршава говор речима:

– До данас сам био јак и агилан демократа. Ножевима сам се борио против своје браће Цигана радикала. Али, данас ја дајем изјаву, да прелазим у радикалну странку и као такав радићу исто као и за демократску.

Бура одушевљених поздравила је Јаначка.

– Браво Чукуру, браво, живео! – викали су раздражени Чубурци.

– Нисам само ја дао изјаву да прелазим у радикале, већ ево потпис још 23 друга и члана моје партије, завршава Јаначко, што изазива нова одобравања.

Г. Ђока Станковић, извесник, истиче деликатан положај циганског кмета, који долази у везу са министрима и председницима, те вели:

– Ми имамо међу нама људи школованих, са музичким школама и факултетима, и они могу да нас достојно представљају, а не један пилићар.

На крају даје такође и изјаву да он са свим својим присталицама прелази из демократске странкe у радикалску.

То исто изављује и Милан Томић, примаш код Славије, који вели:

– Ја као довољно начитан и друштвено васпитан, нећу да ме представља један пилићар у овој вароши, где сам познат као добро писмен и добар музичар. Због тога постајем присталица радикалне странке. Између нас има можда 5-6 неписмених, и онда не треба да нас неписмени човек представља. Треба да се просветимо сви, јер је ово двадесети век.

Без инцидента, осим протеста једног јатаганског Циганина, који није могао да добије реч и који је због тога претио расцепом Јатаганмалаца, Цигани су се разишли. Нарочити одбор саставио је своју резолуцију.

Резолуциjа

1. Београдски Цигани улажу протест противу рада данашње општинске управе и самовласног избора за кмета циганског г. Михаила Стефановића, пилићара.

2. Пошто на избор циганског кмета имају искључиво право само београдски Цигани, и пошто исти треба и мора да буде изабран вољом и већином беогрдаских Цигана.

3. То одбор једногласно усваја, да се уложи најенергичнији протест противу таквог поступка и да се поништи избор за кмета Михаила Стефановића, и да избор изврше београдски Цигани, који ће у својој средини наћи достојног човека, који ће их репрезентовати.

Нарочит одбор предаће ову резолуцију председнику Општине, а ако то не буде имало дејства, Клуб Српских Цигана спрема се да организује циганску поворку од 200 до 300 људи која ће пред Општином приредити демонстрације.

∵

The Protest rally of the Belgrade Gypsies at Čubura against the newly appointed Gypsy kmet in the Municipality

The Gypsies have put together a Resolution and threaten to organise Gypsy demonstration in front of the Municipality

The Gypsy kmet [1] in the Belgrade Municipality is a person who holds a very special position. The Gypsy officer has no links with political parties. He is somewhat of a representative on a foreign court, with the exception that he receives his pay salary from the Municipality. He has no connections with the political parties nor electoral lists. He is appointed, following the recommendation of the Gypsy community from Čubura, by the Municipal Court, so that the kmet represents the interests and desires of all among the Gypsies of Čubura. He receives a salary from the Municipality for his efforts as a state servant.

Already for some six and a half years this duty has been carried out by Mr. Marinko Savić, to the general delight of all Čubura residents. The last municipal management as well as the one before this one did not replace him, however, the new municipal management fired him and employed Mr. Mihailo Stefanović the Chicken Man, the man who sells chickens at the Big Market.

This change of the Gypsy kmet provoked a revolt among the Čubura Gypsies. The former Gypsy officers with his followers formed the new club of the Serbian Gypsies and they have organised yesterday in the afternoon a rally in the “Čubura” kafana. More than one hundred Gypsies came to this rally, representatives of Čubura, Jatagan-mala and all of the musicians of the capital. Apart from the members of the radicals [2], there were 5 to 6 representatives of the democrats, who were preparing a major political surprise [3].

The first one to speak was Mr. Marinko Savić the President of the new club and the former Gypsy kmet. Stressing his merits in the field of his duties during the last six and a half years, Mr. Marinko asks the assembly:

And, is anyone among you supporting this Mihailo the Chicken Man?

– No one, no one! Numerous cries could be heard from musician band leaders’ throats followed by the tuning of one violin which was already showing signs of disobedience.

If Mr. Kumanudi [4] needs him, let him have him as his cabinet chef, so let him lead a chicken and not the Gypsy policy – ended Mr. Marinko followed by energetic applauding.

Then the word was given to the current leader of the Gypsy democrats, Janačko Stojanović Čukur, a musician band leader, near Borovo Park. He asked that all the Gypsies raise their voices together not against Mihailo, but against the president, who placed such a man as a Gypsy kmet.

He ended his speech with the words:

– Until today I was a strong and agile democrat. I fought with knives against my Gypsy brothers who were radicals. But today, I announce, I am transferring to the Radical Party and as such I will work as I did for the Democratic Party.

Janačko was greeted with a tempest of joy.

– Well done Čukur, well done, long live! – shouted the exasperated people of Čubura.

– I am not the only one who publically announces that I am transferring to the radicals, here is the signature of 23 of my fellows and members of my party, ended Janačko, provoking new acclamation.

Mr. Djoka Stanković, a delegate, stressed the sensitive position of the Gypsy kmet, as this man communicates with ministers and presidents, then he said:

– We have among us educated people, who finished music schools and faculties, and they can honourably represent us, and not someone who is a chicken man.

At the end, he also gave the statement that he, with all of his supporters, will transfer from the Radical Party to the Democratic Party.

The same was said by Milan Tomić, the [music] band leader at the Slavija Square, who said:

– As a well-read and socially educated man, I do not wish to be represented by a chicken man in this town, where I am also well known as a literate person and as a good musician. This is why I am becoming a member of the Radical Party. Here among us, there are perhaps 5-6 illiterate people, and now we are supposed to be represented by an illiterate man. We should all become enlightened, as this is the twentieth century.

Without any incidents, except the protest made by a Gypsy man from the Jatagan-mala, who was not allowed to speak and because of this he threatened to initiate a split and take away the men of Jatagan-mala from this rally, the Gypsies dispersed. The special committee made its own resolution.

A Resolution

1. The Belgrade Gypsies protest against the work of the current municipal authorities and against the self-appointed Gypsy kmet Mr. Mihailo Stefanović, the Chicken seller.

2. As only the Belgrade Gypsies have the exclusive right to elect the Gypsy kmet and as this officer must be elected respecting the will of the majority of the Belgrade Gypsies.

3. The board unanimously agreed, to send the most energetic protest against such an action and to abolish the election for kmet of Mihailo Stefanović, and asks the election to be performed by the Belgrade Gypsies, who will manage to find a decent man among them, who will represent them.

A special board will give this resolution to the Municipality’s president and if this does not provoke actions, The Club of the Serbian Gypsies will start up a Gypsy rally with 200 to 300 men who will organise a demonstration in front of the Municipality.

Notes

1. Kmet (pl. kmetovi) is an administrative term for an alderman responsible for communities or administrative territories that originated from the Ottoman times. This institution was preserved in the Yugoslav territories and in this case Gypsy kmet was a salaried man appointed by the municipality who would have administrative functions for the Gypsy community (see also Chapter 2).

2. The members of the People’s Radical Party.

3. The members of the Yugoslav Democratic Party.

4. Kosta Kumanudi (1874-1962) is a Serbian and Yugoslav politician, member of the Democratic Party and from 1933 a member of the Yugoslav National Party. During his political life he performed several very important duties in Belgrade, but also in Yugoslavia. From 1926 until 1929 he was the mayor of Belgrade, remembered for his significant contribution to the city’s modernisation. Later on he was a finance minister of the Kingdom.

Source: [No author]. (1926). Протесни збор београдских цигана код “Чубуре” против новог циганског кмета у Општини. Цигани су саставили резолуцију и прете да приреде циганске демонстрације пред Општином. Време, An. 6, No. 1692, 1926, September 5, p. 9.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova.

3.2.3 Political Party Participation

Notes

1. Golać literally means ‘the son of a naked man’ used as a term for a very poor or homeless people.

2. From the source published above that was undersigned by the founder of the party, it is clear that his name was Čedomir Mihailović, not Svetomir Mihajlović. Probably this mistake was due to a misunderstanding by the local correspondent of the newspaper.

3. Zeka Buljubaša is the nickname of Jovan Gligorijević (ca. 1785-1813), one of the Serbian military leaders during the First Serbian Uprising (1804-1813). Among other things, he was famous for forming a military group (četa) of men called Goli Sinovi (Naked Sons) or Golaći who, contrary to their name, were known as richly dressed and armed. The reference to one of the revolutionary heroes comes to underline the identification of the new party with the Serbian national idea, and to equalisation of the war invalids of the Balkan and First World War with the heroes of the First Serbian Uprising.

4. The word invalid in the interwar period usually referred to those army soldiers who survived the Balkan and First World War.

Source: [No author]. (1927a). Оснива се циганска партиjа, коjа ће покренути своj орган “Голаћ”. Кандидати су пристали да им се одсече jезик, ако као посланици не буду испунили обећања. Време, An. 7, No. 2031, 1927, August 17, p. 3.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Notes

1. Čedomir Mihailović wrote his statement as a reaction to the article published in Vreme newspaper on 17 Agust 1927 that has been published above in 3.2.3.1.

2. Divlje Brdo was and still is the Roma neighbourhood of Valjevo.

3. The author refers to the information that the deputy candidates in the party’s electoral list were all Gypsy war invalids as it is clear from the source provided in 3.2.3.1.

4. The battle of Kumanovo (23-24 October 1912), that finished with a victory of the Serbian troops over the Ottoman army, was one of the major battles of the First Balkan War with a key importance for the realisation of the Serbian national idea and for the inclusion in the Kingdom of Serbian territories of the Kosovo Vilayet.

5. Both battles are related to Serbian army victories over the Bulgarian army, in the Second Balkan War (Bregalnica, 30 June – 9 July 1913) and in the First World War (Dobro polje, 15-18 September 1918) respectively. Similarly to the reference to Kumanovo, these are made to underline the importance of the army soldiers and veterans for the realisation of the Serbian national idea for the unification of Serbian territories.

Source: Михаиловић, Ч. (1927b). Циганска листа у ваљевском округу. Изjава г. Чеде Михаиловића. Време, An. 7, No. 2035, 1927, August 21, p. 8.

Prepared for publication by Dragoljub Acković and Sofiya Zahova.

3.2.4 The Višegrad Gypsies Have Built a House of Education

Вишеградски Цигани подигли су просветни дом

Јапан-мала на Дрини

Вишеград, 4. Октобар.

Град на Дрини који је живо претстављен у нашој књижевности кроз приповетке Ива Андрића, има свакако најинтересантнију од свих циганских мала. Цигански кварт у Вишеграду доживео је у последње време изванредне реформе. Цигани су предузели на широкој основи акцију за просвећивање свих циганчића, а у овај план ушле су и старе циганке, врачарке, котларке и просјакиње. “Нећемо да будемо оно што смо некад били”, то је парола Јапан Мале, како се зове цигански кварт у Вишеграду.

До пре кратког времена, Цигани су у овом лепом граду живели у старом и бедном насељу Мезалин. Међутим, приликом једне кампање око градске општине Мезалин се представио као фактор првог реда. “Помагаћемо ону општину која почне да изграђује хигијенске станове за Цигане”. Ово је био захтев вишеградских Цигана и како они претстављају јак кадар гласача за општинску самоуправу, о њиховим захтевима почело се водити рачуна. На периферији вишеграда почело је да ниче ново насеље. Изграђиване су куће за Цигане. Када је требало решити питање имена нове мале, Цигани су усвојили предлог свога церибаше – Јапан Мала да је зовемо!

– Јер наши су стари стигли у Вишеград право из Јапана …

Одиста вишеградски Цигани верују да њихова лоза има корен негде у Јапану. И тако је цигански кварт добио своје егзотично име. Старо име је једино сачувано у просветном друштву вишеградских Цигана. Оно се зове Мезалин. Ово друштво приређује предавања са циљем да Јапан Мала стече што више корисних знања. Предавачи су, врло често, сами Цигани, а као гости у “Мезалин” долазе многи интелектуалци из Вишеграда. Вишеградски цигански кварт сигурно је једини код нас који сву децу шаље у школу.

“Још мало па ћемо ми имати своје адвокате, учитеље и лекаре …”. То је највећи идеал Јапан Мале. Због ових њених настојања вишеградски Цигани уживају велике симпатије целокупног грађанства. И највећи балови, на којима се сакупља цео град, то су забаве Јапан Мале на Дрини.

∵

The Višegrad Gypsies have built a House of Education

Japan-mala on Drina

Višegrad, October 4.

The town on the Drina river which has been so vividly portrayed in our literature through the short stories of Ivo Andrić [1], is for sure one of the most interesting out of all Gypsy neighbourhood. The Gypsy quarter in Višegrad lately went through an extraordinary transformation. The Gypsies have undertaken a wide action in order to enlighten all Gypsy children, and this plan includes also old Gypsy women, the fortune-tellers, coppersmiths and beggars. “We don’t want to be what we once were”, this is the slogan of the Japan-mala, which is the name used for the Gypsy neighbourhood in Višegrad.

Until very recently, the Gypsies lived in this beautiful town in the old and miserable dump quarter Mezalin. However, during one campaign for the town’s elections Mezalin became an issue of the outmost importance. “We will support those authorities which start to build proper flats for the Gypsies.” This was the demand repeated by the town’s numerous Gypsies and, as they present a strong voting machine for the local government, their desires had to be taken into account. As a result, the new loggings were built at the outskirts. Houses were built for the Gypsies. When the name of the new neighbourhood had to be settled the Gypsies accepted the proposition of their leader – let’s call it the Japan-mala!

– Because our ancestors came straight from Japan …

Indeed, the Višegrad Gypsies believe that their people originate somewhere from Japan. And this is how the Gypsy dwellings got their exotic name. The old name has only been preserved as part of the educational society of the Višegrad Gypsies. The name is “Mezalin”. This society organises lectures with the aim that Japan-mala residents acquire as much useful knowledge as possible. The lecturers are very often, Gypsies themselves, and as guests many intellectuals from Višegrad also visit “Mezalin”. The Višegrad Gypsy quarter is for sure the only one among us where all children are sent to school.

“In a short time, we will have our lawyers, teachers and doctors …”. This is the greatest ideal of Japan-mala. Because of such tendencies the Gypsies of Višegrad enjoy great sympathies from the entire town’s population. And the greatest parties, where the entire town appears, are the ones organised in the Japan-mala on the Drina River.

Notes

1. Ivo Andrić (1892-1975), the famous Serbian and Yugoslav writer, who made Višegrad and its inhabitants a main topic in several of his short stories and novels. In 1961 he won the Nobel Prize for literature for his novel about Višegrad and its residents throughout history (The Bridge on the Drina).

Source: [No author]. (1939). Вишеградски Цигани подигли су просветни дом. Јапан-мала на Дрини. Време, An. 19, No. 6360, 1939, October 7, p. 14.

Prepared for publication by Danilo Šarenac.

Comments

The five documents present important sources of information for understanding the Roma endeavours for political participation and influencing the decision-making processes on the national (Serbian, Yugoslav) level as well as on the municipal level in the capital (Belgrade) and in the country (the town of Višegrad and Valjevo district).

The first article offers a very insightful look into the life of the Belgrade Roma population. It has become part of and has been influenced by the vibrant political events and a vivid political scene of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Observing how political parties of Serbs and Croats bitterly fought within the Assembly as well as on the streets and witnessing how numerous national minorities of the South Slavs’ Kingdom took care of their own identity and political interests, the Yugoslav Roma slowly developed their own consciousness concerning the importance of self-organisation. The Yugoslav multi-ethnic and multi-confessional context proves to be a stimulating environment for the development of the Roma social and political organisations. This was connected to the wish to position Gypsies as equal to other ethnic communities in the Yugoslav Kingdom who had their political representatives in the Yugoslav Parliament. The journalist, indirectly, posed the question of the links between the Serbian and the Roma culture, stressing the place of music as an inextricable link between the two cultures.

The political life within the Serbian space of the Kingdom was mostly dominated by the People’s Radical Party, but at times the Yugoslav Democratic Party, widely known only as Democratic Party, managed to severely challenge the Radicals’ electoral dominance (Gligorijević, 1979). There are indications that the Belgrade Gypsies aimed to take part in the political life of both major parties dominating the political landscape at the local and national level. There is a document kept at the Personal Archive of Dragoljub Acković demonstrating that the Democratic Party had a Gypsy section in Belgrade, that was probably formally set up within the Party structure, and on March 8, 1923, it directed a request to the Central Committee of the Democratic Party for funding of planned activities (LADA). On the other hand, as demonstrated by the newspaper article above (see 3.2.1.), Belgrade Gypsies were negotiating their support also for the People’s Radical Party. It is interesting to note that there are indications that the same party was also providing some funding for activities of the Belgrade Gypsy organisations in the 1930s (Acković, 2001). These documents show that Belgrade Gypsies were actively striving for political participation in the mainstream national parties, but from the stance of their ethnic community. At the same time, they also demonstrated their own agency and were neither blind followers nor passive political voters.

One of the examples of the Yugoslav Democratic Party winning was the local elections in Belgrade in 1926 when the People’s Radical Party was defeated, and consequently, the local government was changed. The article reporting about the Gypsy protest assembly against the new local government after it appointed a new Gypsy kmet is an important source for understanding the participation of the Belgrade Gypsies in the local politics as citizens and as Gypsy community’s representative. The role of the Gypsy kmet dated back to Ottoman times and was preserved during the years of 1830s when the Serbs managed to reach internal autonomy. Consequently, the history of this institution illustrates very nicely the intertwining of the struggle led by the Serbs and the Gypsy population alike for political representation and participation. Marinko Savić was a tradesman and Gypsy leader in the 1920s who had led the Belgrade Gypsy Club (see the relevant materials in Part 3.1. Organisations) and was apparently one of the most active citizens organising and representing Belgrade Gypsies in the public life of the society. As such he was also appointed as Gypsy kmet for the whole area of Belgrade.

In the organised assembly, we see a classical example of mobilised citizens in actions against local government decision with the typical patterns of civil protest: Protest assembly in a public space where they show their disagreement; Speeches expressing the main points of their disagreement, disapproval, or opposition and Resolution to the authorities that summarises their complains and demands.

Roma’s strong numerical presence in Belgrade neighbourhood Čubura offered them the opportunity to influence the elections’ outcomes. The raised demands show that Roma were aware of their rights for political participation and wanted to elect directly their representative before his appointment. The discussion also shows that Roma, as political subjects, were discussing a political affiliation depending on the interest of the Roma community, and providing support for a party that would serve Roma’s interests. Roma proved to be active citizens as political party members and were expressing publicly their views on political decisions. The impressive number of rally attendees also shows the potential for the Roma citizens’ mobilisation. It is important to underline that this type of public activities and demonstrations were halted in 1929 because of the introduction of King Alexander dictatorship (Dobrivojević, 2006).

As in other similar cases, the article shows that Roma’s elite, led by those who were educated or those who already managed to gain significant political experience, was trying to take steps forward. This means that issues of literacy, education, and personal reputation were constantly stressed as something which should be of the utmost importance for the Serbian and the Yugoslav Roma.

While the previous sources demonstrate the declared intentions of the Belgrade Roma community elite for political participation, the two articles about a Gypsy party and a Gypsy electoral list in Valjevo and the region of Western Serbia (see 3.2.3.1. and 3.2.3.2.) are unique because they point to the fact that Gypsies were among the founders and MPs candidates of at least one political party and formed at least one electoral list that was led by a Gypsy man and was probably entirely comprised by Gypsies. Although the news was only shortly reported in Yugoslav media, its extraordinariness provoked the interest of foreign media and was reported abroad (e.g. Дiло, 1927, p. 3; Jeversches Wochenblatt, 1927, p. 3).

The so-called Poor People’s Party was founded by a Serbian teacher in August 1927, before the forthcoming Parliamentary elections on 11 September the same year, and apparently aimed to represent wide social groups of citizens. It however addressed specifically the injustices towards the Gypsies concerning political and national identity issues, particularly the recognition of the large Gypsy participation in the Serbian armies during the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Furthermore, the party included Gypsies, mostly war invalids at deputy positions and one at a leading position in its electoral list. The party presentation as a Gypsy one is not coincidental – it voiced the widely-spread opinion of the Serbian Gypsy citizens for identification with the national ideal and civil society causes of the Serbian nation. Gypsies, as citizens of the Kingdom of Serbia at that time, took part in various divisions of the Serbian army in wars of the early 20 century. Some of them like Ahmed Ademović, a trumpeter of the First Serbian Army, who played a key role in the Battle of Kumanovo on 24 October 1912, and later took part in the Second Balkan War and in the First World War, and the First World War participants Rustem Sejdić and Marko Vasiljević (Симић, 1935d, p. 2; P. L., 2018), were awarded the highest orders for their heroic participation (Order of Karadjordje). These Serbian Roma war heroes became a source of pride in the local memory of the respective Roma communities and among Roma activists who were seeking recognition of the Gypsy citizens’ participation for realisation of the Serbian national ideas (Acković, 2017b). The war veterans and invalids of the Balkan Wars and the First World War had a very respected position and were considered heroes in the public discourse of the Serbian society in the 1920s. With this step for political participation in the Parliamentary elections of 1927, the Roma community representatives aimed at direct political participation demonstrating not only their belonging to the commemoration and national-identity practices of the state (see more about this in the comments to 3.1.2. Club of the Belgrade Serbian Gypsies), but also their ambitions for direct political participation. A very interesting is the information that the Gypsies from the Roma neighbourhood of Valjevo, Divlje Brdo, had also registered an electoral list for the Parliamentary elections, but no other information has been found in relation to this political endeavour.

We can assume that such local initiatives were taking place also in other regions of the Serbian territories of the Kingdom for the local or Parliamentary elections during the 1920s, at least until the political environment changed with the Royal Dictatorship of 1929 and with the reforms after the renaming of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The article about the Višegrad Roma community development and their requests as Yugoslav citizens is another example of reporting regional Roma related activities in the national press, bringing news about a Gypsy community organisation and self-mobilisation in an area other than Belgrade. The local Gypsies were declaring their political support for those who would ensure solving their housing problems and apparently have succeeded in this demand. Another priority of the Roma community, as reported in the article, was the education of the Roma and their future generation which they saw as a way for having their own elite in the most respected professions.

As a matter of fact, Gypsy citizens of Yugoslavia have never been deprived of their right for political participation. Only in earlier periods, namely from 1870 to 1903, in the Kingdom of Serbia nomadic Gypsies were not eligible to vote. According to article 17 of the Act on Election of Members of Parliament of 10 October, 1870 only Serbian citizens with taxable property and income could vote. Article 18 of the act clarifies that wandering Gypsies (skitajući se cigani) is one of the categories of citizens who are deprived of the right to vote. With the adoption of the 1903 Constitution, all Gypsies with Serbian citizenship were eligible to vote (Стојанчевић, 1992, pp. 26-27). In some cases, Gypsy citizens appeared to have more political rights that other ethnic communities. Such was the case with the Constitutional Assembly elections that were held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes on 28 November 1920. According to the 1920 Law on the Election of MPs to the Constituent Assembly right to vote was stipulated for people of Slavic origin residing in the country regardless of their citizenship (Kosnica & Protega, 2019, p. 142). It deprived of voting rights citizens of minority background such as Jews, Hungarians, and Germans, who, despite being citizens of the state, were excluded from the electoral lists because of their non-Slavic origin (Banac, 1988, p. 361; Janjetović, 2012, p. 69). Some other communities, however, were not specifically excluded from the electoral lists as Albanians and Muslims (Kosnica & Protega, 2019: pp. 142-143). Apparently, Gypsies too had not lost their political voting rights, as a local German-language newspaper published in Osijek reported that “Gypsies have more political rights than Germans and Jews” (Die Drau, 1920 p. 1).

Reporting the successful transformation of the Roma living conditions is also very important as the news is related to Bosnia which was one of the least developed areas of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This reformation of the Roma way of life shows how the lively political environment in the Kingdom contributed positively to Roma’s emancipation. It is important to stress that this press article presents a typical approach to the topic of Roma’s modernisation. Contrary to the negative inscriptions related to the alleged or real criminality of the Roma, the press wrote very affirmatively about any improvement in the Roma way of living, especially if this was initiated by the Roma themselves. The article brings also a contribution to the topic concerning the origin of the Roma, offering in this case a very exotic possibility narrated to the journalist by the Višegrad Roma.

The materials are essential highlights into the trajectory of the Roma movement for equal rights and political participation of the Roma in Belgrade and locally, in Yugoslavia. The material about Višegrad Gypsies is one of the rare cases of reporting local community activities for emancipation and claiming equal rights. It can be presumed that similar processes were going on among other local Roma communities during the same period, but remained unnoticed by the media. Such activities were probably taking place among Muslim Gypsies managing Muslim organisations in Southern and Eastern Serbia, but further research on the local level is needed to shed light on these developments.

It is important to stress the fact that the numbers of the Belgrade Roma were considerable and had to be taken into account during the electoral campaigning. The discussions also shed light on the fact that Roma were raising the issue for their direct political participation in the political life as Members of Parliament or as citizens who influence the appointment of local officials. All this demonstrates that Roma were aware of their political rights as voting subjects and as citizens. As such, they were demanding the advancement of the Roma community and negotiating their support for those candidates who would move forward their requests. These demands were made publicly on behalf of a Roma collective in the local or the Yugoslav context and showed that through these demands Roma themselves were working for the mobilisation and advancement of their community within the respective area.

Danilo Šarenac and Sofiya Zahova

3.3.1 Our First Word

Наша прва реч

Мало je наше браће коjи би били потпуно задовољни своjом судбином. Неки от нас, коjи су сиромашни кукаjу што ништа намаjу; други пак от наше браће, коjи су нешта стекле и коjи боље живе боje се да кажу чиjе су крви. Стиде се свога циганског имена. Зашто je то гуглален пр(х)алален (слатка браћо), тако?

Почнимо са првима. Зашто je већина наше браће сиромашна? Зато што се нису умели довољно да се снађу у борби за опстанак. Живот je очаjна битка, побеђуje онаj, коjи jе jачи и вештиjи. Да би данас човек могао да заради кору хлеба себи и своjоj деци, мора да испуни у наjмању руку барем два услова: да je писмен и да има у рукама неко стално занимање. Како та два питања стоje код нас, гуглален пр(х)алален, jeсмо ли ми сви писмени? Нисмо. Има ли сваки от нас по jeдан занат у рукама? Нема. Нећемо от нас самих да криjeмо, наши смо па се знамо, чак и они коjи раде неки занат често га и знаjу рђаво и раде рђаво. Узимамо, на пример, наше музиканте. Цео нам свет признаje да смо музикални народ; да за музику имамо и дара и способности. Па ипак знаjу ли сви наши музиканти ноте? Незнаjу. Оно истина и по слуху се може доста лепо свирати, али je са нотама сигурниje. Музиканти без нота истo je што и човек коjи ниjе писмен. Колико ли je великих дарова, великих наших талената зачамело, пропало само зато, што нису имали музичку школу. Зар наши ковачи раде све оне послове, коjе би оне могли радити? И кољико je њих међу нама коjи су некад нешто учили, па нису завршили? Много се от нас само зато пати, што ниje писмен и што нема бар неки занат у рукама.

Па добро, што сиротиња ниje задовољна с своjом животом, jош се и може разумети. Ко нема не може бити ни задовољан. А зашто онда, гуглален пр(х)лален, да се стиде своje браће, свога имена, своje крви наша богатиjа браћа? И зато смо, драга браћо, понешто сами криви, а понешто и нисмо.

Сви Цигани нису и не могу бити криви ако се неко от њих огреши пред законом, а новине место да кажу: таj и таj, по имену и презимену, учинио je то и то, крупним масним словима доносе: Цигани су украли … Цигани су преварили … Цагини су убили … Цигани су осакатили … ослепили … Цигани … Цигани … Цигани … Као да на свету нема ниjeдног преступног дела у коме ниje и по неки Циганин умешан. У историjи људскоj jош ниje било таквог примера да се на цео народ товари оно што je можда учинио поjeдинац, из тога народа. И никад не могу сви Цигани да одговараjу за дела и недела поjeдиних Цигана.

Свакога дана читамо из новина о америчким гангстерима. То су људи коjи краду малу децу и уцењиваjу родитеље; отимаjу, вараjу, пљачкаjу, и убиjаjу миран свет. Писци криминалних романа и историja тако лепо и тољико детаjлно описуjу гангстере и њихов живот, да би човек коjи не уме зрело да мисли, посумњао, дали се сваки други човек у Америци не бави тим отимачким, гангстерским пословима. Али jош ни jeдне новине не написаше место: гангстери су одвели децу и уценили родитеље; гангстери убише, отеше. – Американци су одвеле децу, Американци уценише, убише, отеше. Зашто новине то не чине? Зато што знаjу: да Американаца има око 130 милиона, а гангстера само шака jада. И зато што су Американци по своме образовању и начину живота, по своjоj култури међу првима у свету, а гангстери само jeдна мала група друштвене олоши. Ако Американци таj велики просвећени и богати народ не одговора за своje отпатке, зашто се нама малим, непросвећеним и сви сиромашним Циганима натура одговорност за неке своje?

Али ако ми нисмо ништа криви за оно што новине пишу, ми се морамо добро размислити о jeдноj другоj беди, коja нам се товари на врат. Многи гаџе (не-цигани) мисле да je Циганин и просjaк jeдно те исто. Међутим то ниje.

Има две врсте прошње. Прва je: кад човек остане без посла, гладан je, гладна су му деца. Ако му држава или обштина, као грађанину ове земље не изађе у сусрет, онда такоме човеку остаje само два излаза, ако не жели умрети от глади: или да замоли за парче хлеба или да га краде. Замолити за парче хлеба ни вера нити пак закон не забрањуjу. Кажњева се само онаj коj туђе украде. Друга je врста просjaчења, кад човек место да запне па да ради иде и на разне начине измамљуjе од поштених и побожних људи новац за хлеб. Против такве врсте прошње смо ми сви Цигани, колико нас има. Ми се против тога боримо и борићемо се. И сматрамо да je jeдини лек томе злу и срамоти, ако свако наше дете буде посећивало школу а по свршетку школе одмах почело да учи неки занат или неку вештину. Човек коjи почне из детињства да ради, привиква к њему и после никад не може седети без посла.

Зато смо и покренули наш лист. Њиме желимо да отворимо очи нашоj браћи и да им покажемо, да je наш први и наjглавниjи задатак да сву нашу децу дамо у школи, да постану писмена, и да их одмах после свршене школе дамо да науче неки занат или вештину. Ко може и жели више нека децу даде трговину или на школе. И нека се наша деца тамо код добрих маjстора и учитеља науче како треба поштено зарађивати парче хлеба. Сетимо се само оних наших пословица о ленштинама и готованима.

Али се знање не добиjа само у школи. Тек после, кад ђак сврши школу, тек онда почиње да се умно развиjа и да се учи како треба познавати и свет и људе у њему. Наш ће лист све учинити да нашем брату помогне у његовом културноме, а то ће рећи, умноме и материjалноме побољшању. – С jедне стране ми ћемо давати готова знања и савете а с друге указиваћемо на путеве коjима се до њих долази.

За сад ће наш лист излазити само по jеданпут месечно у овако маломе формату. От наше браће, Цигана, као и от њихових приjатеља Срба зависиће даља судбина нашега листа као и то, да ли ће се његов обим увећати или не.

∵

Our First Word

There are few of our brothers who would be completely satisfied with their destiny. Some of us, who are poor, are complaining that they have nothing; others, also from our brothers, who have acquired something and who live better, are afraid to say which blood they have. They are ashamed of the Gypsy name. Why is it so, guglalen pr(h)alalen (sweet brothers)? [1]

Let’s start with the first ones. Why are the majority of our brothers poor? Because they did not manage well enough to cope with the struggle for survival. Life is a desperate battle, the winner is the one who is stronger and better skilled. In order for a person to be able to earn a slice of bread for himself and his children, he should fulfil at least two conditions: to be literate and to have a permanent occupation in his hands. How do we stand with these two questions, guglalen pr(h)alalen, are we all literate? We are not. Does each of us have a craft in his hands? He does not. We are not going to hide it from ourselves, as we are our people and we know ourselves, even those who practice a craft often know it badly and they perform it badly. Take, for example, our musicians. The whole world recognises that we are a people of music; that we have both a gift and a skill for music. Still, do all our musicians read the notes? They do not. Indeed, you can play pretty well by hearing, but it is safer with the notes. Musicians without notes are the same as a man who is illiterate. How many great gifts, great talents of ours, have appeared and failed only because they have not graduated a musical school. Are our blacksmiths doing all those jobs that they potentially could do? And how many are those among us who once have studied something, but have not finished? Many of us suffer just because they are not literate and they do not have at least some craft in the hands.

Well, the fact that the poor people are not happy with their life, is still understandable. The one who does not have, could not be satisfied either. But then why, guglalen pr(h)lalen our richer brothers are ashamed of their own brothers, of their own name, their own blood? And for this, dear brothers, we are guilty ourselves, and at the same time we are not.

All Gypsies are not and cannot be guilty if some of them breaks the law, and the newspapers instead of saying: this and that, by name and surname, did this and that, they report in large bulky letters: Gypsies have stolen … Gypsies have cheated … Gypsies have killed … Gypsies have mutilated … have blinded … Gypsies … Gypsies … Gypsies … As if there is not a single criminal act in the world in which a Gypsy guy has not been involved. In human history, there has not yet been such a case in which something done by an individual belonging to a given people is attributed to all the people. And all Gypsies could never answer for the deeds and idleness of individual Gypsies.

Every day we read in the newspapers about the American gangsters. These are people who steal young children and blackmail their parents; They hijack, cheat, steal, and kill the peaceful world. Writers of criminal novels and stories so beautifully and thoroughly describe the gangsters and their lives, so that a person who does not know how to think maturely, would doubt whether every other person in America does not deal with this kind of kidnapping gangster affairs. But yet, not a single newspaper has written instead: gangsters have taken children and blackmailed their parents; the gangsters killed, stole. – Americans have taken the children away, Americans have blackmailed, have murdered, have stolen. Why are the newspapers not doing this? Because they know that: Americans number around 130 million, but the gangsters are just a handful of people. And because the Americans are among the first in the world in terms of their education and lifestyle, as well as their culture, while the gangsters are only one small group of social scum. If the Americans, this great, enlightened and wealthy people, are not responsible for their scum, why upon us, the small, unenlightened and poor Gypsies, is imposed responsibility for some of our kind?

But if we are not blamed for what the newspapers write, we must think carefully about another misfortune that bursts upon our neck. Many gadže (non-Gypsy) think that a Gypsy and a beggar are the same thing. However, this is not the case.

There are two types of begging. The first is: when a man loses his job, he is hungry, his children are hungry. If the state or the municipality does not help him as a citizen of this country, then only two exits are left to such a man if he does not want to die of starvation: either ask for a piece of bread or steal it. Asking for a piece of bread is forbidden neither by religion, nor by law. Only the one who steals from the others is punished. The second one is the kind of begging, when a person, instead of working, goes around and in various ways, lures money from honest and pious people for bread. We, all the Gypsies, whatever number we are, are against such kind of begging. We are fighting and will be fighting against it. And we think that the only remedy for this evil and shame is that every one of our children is attending a school, and after the end of the school [the child] starts immediately to learn some craft or some skill. A man who starts working since childhood, gets used to it, and can never sit without work afterwards.

That’s why we have launched our newspaper. With it we want to open our brothers’ eyes and show them that it is our first and foremost task to send our children to school, in order to become literate, and to let them learn some craft or skill right after graduation. Whoever could afford and wishes more, let them give the children to learn trade or to attend schools. And let our children with good masters and teachers learn there how to fairly earn a piece of bread. Remember those proverbs of ours about the lazy guys and suckers.

But knowledge is not obtained only at school. Only afterwards, when the student graduates school, only then the student begins to develop mentally and to learn how to recognise the world and the people in it. Our newspaper will do all in order to give our brother a helping hand in his cultural, and this means, a mental and material improvement. – On the one hand, we will give ready-made knowledge and statements, and on the other hand, we will show the paths that lead to them.

For the time being, our newspaper will only appear once per month in this small format. From our brothers, Gypsies, as well as from their friends, the Serbs, depends the future fate of our newspaper, as well as whether it will increase its volume or not.

Notes

1. This is a Romani language phrase which literary translation (sweet brothers) means dear, beloved brothers. The phrase, that is otherwise used among Roma communities in everyday speech, aims to bring authenticity and to show affection towards the Romani reading audience addressed in the article.

Source: [Симић, С.] (1935a). Наша прва реч. Romano lil. Циганске новине, An. 1, No. 1, Март 1935, p. 1.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

3.3.2 Romano Lil

“Romano Lil”

Изгледа, да je за наш лист чуо цео свет. Ми смо до сада добили писма из: Шведске, Норвешке, Немачке, Мађарске, и Пољске. Енглеска Раjтерова агенциja саопштила jе о његовом изласку своj енглескоj читалачкоj публици. Не знамо чему се има благодарити за тако велику популарност првог циганског листа у Jугославиjи. Да ли због тога што нас цео свет сматра за толико jадне и мизерне, да чак и поjава jедног овако малог листића, као што je оваj наш, за њих већ сензациjа! Ако погледамо на броj оних, коjи купуjу наш лист и ту ћемо видети, да jе наj већи броj наших читалаца и претплатника из редова гађе, (нецигана) и то интелектуалаца. Људи са наjвишом културом интересуjу се за лист народа на врло ниском културном ступњу! То jе већ успех за наша прва два броjа. Само што за нас то jош ниjе доста. За нас jе много важниjе друго jедно питање! За кога смо ми покренули наш лист и за кога ми пишемо?

Овакав лист као што jе наш могао би се уређивати на два начина: у њему би се могло писати о Циганима и у њему би се могло писати за Цигане. Кад би ми писали само о Циганима морали би мало више рачуна повести о разним укусима наше гађованске (нециганске) читалачке публике. Без разних “звезда” разуме се црних и циганских и нихових слика наш лист, тешко да би опстао. Али макар колика да су наше црне лепотице и љупке и лепе и привлачне, ипак ми о њима не мислимо писати. Наш jе лист покренут с тиме да би писао о Циганима али разуме се, за Цигане. А сад да видимо, какав je успех лист постигао код наше браће Цигана.

Прави и наjвећи успех имао jе наш власник и отговорни уредник г. Симић. Чим jе изашао први броj нашег листа, одмах се по Jатаган мали и Чубури пронела вест међу Циганима, да се г. Симић страшно обогатио. Кад год би се међу Циганима поjавио жене и деца би говорили: кава си каj бићинел новине (то jе онаj што продаjе новине). Код нашега простога света продавати новине и писати у новинама jедно jе. Пошто jе г. Симић jош врло млад, тек му jе двадесет друга година, а jош ниjе жењен, очеви и маjке коjи су имали кћери за удаjу почели су слати г. Симићу наводаџиje.

С друге стране, садаржина нашега листа наилазила jе код наше браће и наших сестара само на одобравање. Ми не само да смо се интересовали шта поjeдинци од наше браће мисле о нашем листу пошто je он већ изишао из штампе, него смо све веће чланке, особито “Нашу прву реч” читали и обjашњавали поjeдинцима или чак и читавим групама и у рукопису. Е, али то jош не значи да су наша браћа куповала у довољноме броjу наш лист!

Огромна jе већина наше браће, о женама нашим сестрама, и да не говоримо – неписмена. Разуме се, да на њихову потпору наш лист не може рачунати. Остала, писмена мањина, с малим изузетком уопште ништа не чита. А кад чита интересуjе се разним сензациjама, ка што су то: убиство, крађе, свађе, суђења итд. Ниjе ретко да по неко од наше браће не рекне г. Симићу: “Читао бих твоj лист кад би некога нападао и грдио, овако немам шта у њему да читам”. Младеж има своjе интересе. Jедна млада циганчица говори г. Симићу: “Сликаj ме, нек се и моjа слика шета по целоj Jeвропи. Ако не можеш, кажи бар моje име, нек’ се зна”. Њоj jе 17 година. Друга моли: “Вереник ме je оставио, вратио ми jе прстен. Пиши да би ме неко потражио, даћу ти и слику моjу”. Многи уопште и не желе да се о Циганима ма шта пише. Они говоре: “Те Циганске новине само нас брукаjу.”

Међутим, нас све то ни мало не изненађуjе. Ми смо наш народ и пре знали. И свесни смо били за кога покрећемо оваj лист. Нешто се мора отпочети, нешто се мора учинити да би се наш народ пробудио из вековног дремања, али шта?

Интересантан je покушаj у томе правцу учинио jедан други члан наше редакциjе г. Милић. Он je скупљао у своме дворишту групе од 15 до 20 људи и жена разнога узраста и читао им jе наш лист од почетка па до краjа. После сваког прочитаног чланка он им je jош и своjим речима на романе (на циганском jeзику) обjашњавао оно што им je прочитао. Затим су отпочињала питања коjа су се зазвиjала у читаве дискусиje. Кад би се могло наћи више таквих људи као што je г. Милић ми би jош jаче могли да заинтересуjeмо за наш лист наше људе. Не треба заборавити да наш лист има да изврши jeдну културну мисиjу првог реда. Од интересовања к поjeдиним песмицама и причама штампаним на њима познатом jeзику, наши људи прелазе на озбиљниje ствари, прелазе на наш живот уопште. Питање побољшања нашега начина живота jе већим делом у нашим сопственим рукама. Мало више економиje у кући, више реда и чистоће: мало мање посећивање кафана, мање картања, мање пиjанчења; и што je наjглавниje више писмености, више обраћати пажњу на нашу децу и њихово спремање за будући живот па ћемо већ много и много боље живети. Дали ћемо ми моћи на таj начин да убедимо нашу браћу и сестре у томе, колико je важно да свако наше дете сврши основну школу и научи неки занат показаће будућност. Г. Милић, коjи je jeдан от оснивача нашег листа и његов ћирво – кум, (он га je крстио, наденуо му jе име), по занимању je занатлиjа.

Па ипак и поред славе нaшег властника, да je већ постао милионер, финансиjска страна нашег листа je jако малена. Она никад ниje ни била сjajна. Наш je основни капитал био свега 75 динара. Толико je стаjала хартиjа за први броj. О штампању се постарао jeдан наш велики приjатељ, иначе Србин и веома популарна и уважена личност у Београду. Ми живимо од броja до броja све у нади да нам труд неће бити у залудан и да ће напослетку и наша браћа увидети да jeдан динар месечно за њих ниje ништа, особито кад се таj издатак сравни са месечним издацима коje они чини за – ракиjу.

∵

“Romano Lil”

It seems that the whole world has heard about our newspaper. So far, we have received letters from: Sweden, Norway, Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The English Reuters agency has announced about its release to its English reading audience [1]. We do not know to what we owe such a great popularity of the first Gypsy newspaper in Yugoslavia. Is it because the whole world considers us so wretched and miserable that even the emergence of such a small newspaper, like ours, is already a sensation for them! If we look at the number of those who are buying our newspaper, here as well we will see that the greatest number of our readers and subscribers are from the ranks of gadže (non-Gypsies) [2], and furthermore intellectuals. People of the highest culture are interested in a newspaper of people at a very low cultural level! This is already a success for our first two issues. But the problem is that this is not enough for us. Another question is more important for us! For whom have we launched our newspaper and for whom do we write?

A newspaper such as ours could be edited in two ways: it could be written about Gypsies and in it could be written for Gypsies. If we were to write only about Gypsies, we would have to take a bit into account the various tastes of our gadžo (non-Gypsy) readership. Without a variety of “stars”, e.g. black and Gypsy, and their respective pictures, our newspaper would hardly survive. No matter how good-looking, attractive and adorable our black beauties are, we still do not mean to write about them. Our newspaper was launched in order to write about Gypsies, but of course, for Gypsies. And now let’s see what success has achieved our newspaper among our brothers, the Gypsies.

Our owner and editor in chief has had the first and biggest success. Straight after printing the first issue of our newspaper, news has spread among the Gypsies across Jatagan Male and Čubura, that Mr. Simić has enormously enriched himself. Whenever he showed up among Gypsies, women and children would say: kava si kaj bićinel novine [that’s the one who sells newspapers]. In the simple world of ours, to sell newspapers and to write in the newspaper is the same thing. Since Mr. Simić is still very young, only twenty-two years old, but he is not yet married, the fathers and mothers who had daughters for marriage started sending to Mr. Simić matchmakers.

On the other hand, the contents of our newspaper has been received only with approval among our brothers and our sisters. We have been interested not only in what individuals from our brothers think about our newspaper since it has been already published, but we have read and explained to individuals and even to entire groups all bigger articles, even in manuscript version. Well, this however does not mean that our brothers have bought enough copies of our newspaper!

The vast majority of our brothers, and not to mention women, our sisters, – are illiterate. Understandably, our newspaper cannot count on their support. The other, literate minority, with little exception, does not read anything at all. And when reading, they are interested in various sensations, such as murder, theft, quarrels, trials, etc. It’s not rare to hear someone telling to Mr. Simić: “I’d read your newspaper if you are attacking and disgracing someone, as it is not the case I don’t have what to read in it”. The youth has its own interests. A young Gypsy maiden tells Mr. Simić: “Take a photo of me, let a picture of mine go across all over Europe. If this is not possible, at least write my name, let it be known.” She is 17-year old. Another one talks: “My fiance has left me, he gave me back the ring. Write so that someone would ask for my hand in marriage, I’ll give you a picture of mine as well.” Many do not even want anything about Gypsies to be written at all. They say: “That Gypsy newspaper is just disgracing us.” However, this does not surprise us at all. We knew our people from before. And we were aware of whom we are running this newspaper for. Something must be started, something has to be done to make our people wake up from an eternal slumber, but what?

An interesting attempt was made in that direction by another member of our editorial team, Mr. Milić [3]. He collected in his backyard a group of 15 to 20 men and women of different ages and read to them the newspaper from the beginning to the end. After every article he read, he explained to them in his own words in Romane (in Gypsy language) what he had read to them. Then started the questions that grew up into entire discussions. If we could find more people like Mr. Milić, we could even get a greater interest in our newspaper among our people. We should not forget that our newspaper has to fulfil a cultural first-order mission. From the interest in certain poems and stories printed on a language spoken by them, our people are turning to more serious things, to our life in general. The question of improving our way of life is largely in our own hands. A little more economy in the house, higher order and cleanliness: a little less visit to the kafana, less card-playing, less drunkenness; and most of all, more literacy, paying more attention to our children and their preparation for the future life, we will live better and better. The future will show, if we would be able to convince our brothers and sisters how important it is for each of our children to complete elementary school and learn some crafts. Mr. Milić, who is one of the founders of our newspaper and its ćirvo [4] – a godfather (he baptised it, gave its name), is a craftsman by profession.

Nevertheless, despite the fame of our newspaper’s owner, that he has already become a millionaire, the financial side of our newspaper is very low. It has never been great. Our basic capital was only 75 dinars. That was the cost for the paper for the first issue. One of our great friends, otherwise a Serb and a very popular and respected person in Belgrade, took care of the printing [5]. We survive from issue to issue always in a hope that our work will not be in vain and that finally our brothers will see that one dinar per month is nothing for them, especially when this expenditure is compared to the monthly expenses they make for rakija.

Notes

1. Reuters correspondent has been quoted in English media reporting about Gypsies in Belgrade and Yugoslavia in the 1930s and it might well be that he also reported the curious fact about Romano lil newspaper. English media indeed published short information about the Belgrade Gypsy Newspaper and its Roma editor, for example the article “The First Gypsy Newspaper. Printed in 2 Languages” in The Telegraph of May 18, 1936. Neues Pressburger Tagblatt (1935, p. 5), published in Czechoslovakia, also reported about Romano lil in the article “A New Gypsy Newspaper”.

2. The most frequently used term the non-Roma in the Serbian language articles of Romano lil is the Roma word proper, namely gadže, provided in its Romani original followed by a Serbian language translation. In this way, the newspaper legitimises its positioning as Roma/Gypsy newspaper that represent the Roma point of view and conceptualisation and also introduces the Roma concept to the non-Roma audiences. Rarely in use is the word non-Gypsies (не-цигани) on its own.

3. Mr. Milić authored two articles in Romano lil: Наше гостопримство (Our hospitality) in issue 2 (pp. 3-4), and Наша “интелигенциja” и “аристократиja” (Our “intelligentsia” and “aristocracy”) in issue 3 (p. 2). He was a craftsman, according to information from the same article and probably from Jatagan-male where Svetozar Simić was also living.

4. The Romani word ćirvo means godfather. It’s interesting to note that Simić choose to use the Romani term here, probably to stress the importance of the role and function of the godfather and godfathering institution in the socio-normative culture of the Roma and non-Roma communities in the region. The godfather status is related to roles and gestures of respect that go beyond the name-giving or baptising, and are maintained throughout the years.

5. The name of this person is not explicitly mentioned here, but most probably Simić was referring to Aleksandar Petrović, one of the main newspaper contributors and probably a member of the editorial team of the newspaper. Petrović was a physician interested in Roma communities as an employee in the Institute of Hygiene in Belgrade who has done research work among Roma, published articles in Yugoslav journals and in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society in the second half of the 1930s (see Third Series, Vol. 14 through Vol. 19) and was in correspondence with the leadership of the Gypsy Lore Society sending the two first copies of Romano lil to them.

Source: [Симић, С.] (1935c). “Romano Lil”. Romano lil. Циганске новине, An. 1, No. 3, 1935, May 31, p. 1.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

3.3.3 Midday Pictures of Our First Gypsy Journalist

Подневне слике првог циганског новинара код нас у Карађорђевом парку

Бивши уредник “Циганских новина” написао je роман из живота своjих саплеменика

У jатаганмалскоj чарљи, у коjе jе било уредништво “Циганских новина”, само уредников отац. Посред, необриjан, са типичним црним изруженим прстима. По занимању истовремено свирач, ковач и земљорадник. Ово треће због нeколико хектара земље коjа jе у Аранђеловцу.

Покушаj jедне ретке публикациjе за нашу средину пропао jе заjедно са пуштањем трећег броjа “Циганске новине” у продаjу.

Студент права, Светозар Симић, направио jе од очевок стана радионице уредништво. У ова поднева, коjа без снега не личе на предбожићна, уредник се не налази код куће. То jе његов отац обjаснио jедном покретом и jедним одговором. Црна саката и прљава деца, посматрала су га босонога и кроз криве прозоре овог jатаганмалског многољудног дворишта. Она су уосталом сва таква. Пуна деце (обично болесне) и блата.

Отац даjе обавештења о сину уреднику са усхићењем:

– Чита у Карађорђевом парку. Познаjе се по униформе, служи воjску.

Jедини посетилац парка, лежеран, у униформи. Између голих стабала на jедноj клупи редов-ђак, са мачевима испод врата, будући цигански вођа, већ интелектуалац и бивши уредник необичних београдских новина.

Отсуство проводи у парку са та бацима предмета коjи се уче на правном факултету и чита их уколико му мисао не однесе нови рад коjи обећава.

Онда “Циганске новине” ниjе снашла смрт и оне нису само покушаj наjзанимљивjи у нашоj журналистици. Светозар Симић, син црних родитеља, осећао jе колико му се сурово наметала разликa сбог боjе његовог лика, кроз четири разреда основне школе и кроз целу гимназиjу. Па сe тако продубљивао jедан револт, коjи jе у првом реду руководио на кампању за одбрану личности и част његових саплеменика.

Из средње школе донео jе на универзитет то више него као одлучност. И у том психолошком кругу родила се код њега мисао о издавању новина. Симић jе већ писао (са успехом) нешто као прве своjе утиске из циганског живота и то je као повољан услов било одлучуjуће да се поjаве његове новине.

На његовом матерњем jезику “Романо лил”. У целом овом циганском листу само те две циганске речи. Остале све српски и ћирилицом.

Ова занимљива поjава примљена jе као оригиналност у jавности. Иза jединственог наслова, коjи карактерише цео програм листа нису се назирали прави мотиви.

– Ово ниjе било само jедан ексцентричан покушаj, ради пикантности у библиографским балансима …

Намера jедног од редких циганских интелектуалаца била jе да разголити неправичност осуде његових саплеменика коjи су често идентификовани у маси са страшним криминалним поступцима. Стога ће да настави ону намеру студент права Светозар Симић по изласку из воjске, са поjачаном активношћу и проширеним делокругом. У његовом плану jе да окупи око себе школоване Цигане. Или да он приђе њима. Тако удруженима било би омогућено да раде на побољшавању услова за васпитање своjих саплеменика.

Издаваjући прошлога лета лист Симић jе добио сериjу писама чиjа jе садаржина и чиjи су захтеви већ третирали ову редакциjу у радионици и спаваћоj соби уредниковог оца, као пресбиро за све информациjе о Циганима.

Ако нови покушаj издавања “Циганских новина” не буде имао успеха, син ће се искључиво посветити литератури, кроз коjу jе већ загрозио управи Пен-клуба, наговештаваjући могућност да ће његов jедан члан у Београду бити црн. Зато он ће црпсти материjал из своjе непосредне близине, из циганског чартља и циганске свакидашњице, у коjу нико непосредниjе ниjе гледао от њега.

Поред те такозване чисте литературе, кроз коjу би он, као син тамне расе, говорио о њеном темпераменту, скитнишству и невероватноj снази да се живи под наjнеизвестниjим условима, Симић ће радити и на прикупљању грађе преко коje би могао до се упозна сав таj наш црни свет и његов jезик.

Он je већ израдио српско-циганску граматику. Обећава, уколико то буде могућио, и jедан српско-цигански речник. Све то више као докуменат jeдног, за наше прилике, егзотичног света и jeзика, него као потребу за сав онаj црни свет из Мељака и Даросаве.

Светозар Симић у униформи редова-ђака ниje jeдини од своjих саплеменика коjи служи воjску. Али он je jeдан от оних ретких, можда усамљен, коjи на jаки свога шињела носи украштене мачеве као знак школованих људи у редовскоj униформи. Због тога му се истина ниjе десио jош ниjедан малер, али то ниjе искључено да се догоди. Официри у пролазу врло су изненађени његовим црним лицем и овим мачевима, предпостављаjући, свакако, под своjим првим утиском да jе то парадокс.

Будући вођа своjих саплеменика (бар jатаганмалских) оспособљава се за jедан позив радом коjи jе примеран.

Млади Симић има већ написан роман пун рељефних слика циганског живота, назван сбог своjих jунака “Циганин”. Обећава, кад изиђе из воjске, да ће се роман под овим називом поjавити у књижарским излозима. Нема сумње, наjзанимљивиjа оригиналност литературне пиjаце.

Доjчило Митровић

∵

Midday pictures of our first Gypsy journalist in Karadjorjde’s park

The former editor of the Gypsy Newspaper wrote a novel based on the life of his people [1]

In the neighbourhood of Jatagan male, where the editorial office of the Gypsy Newspaper was located, was only the editor’s father. Simple, unshaven, with typical black stale fingers. He is a musician, a blacksmith and a farmer at the same time. The third one due to a couple of hectare land in Arandjelovac [2].

The attempt of a rare publication for our environment had collapsed with the release of the third issue of the Gypsy Newspaper on the market.

Svetozar Simić, a law student, had transformed his father’s apartment workshop into an editorial office [3]. The editor is not at home during that noon, which does not look like a pre-Christmas without snow [4]. This was explained by his father in one motion and with one answer. Black, lame and dirty children were watching him barefoot and through the awry windows of this crowded yard in Jatagan-male. They are after all the same. Full of children (usually sick) and mud.

The father gives information about his son, the editor, with excitement:

– He reads in the Karadjordje park. He is recognisable by his uniform, serves in the army.

He is the only visitor in the park, casual, in uniform. Between the bare trees on one bench, a ranker, with swords under the neck, a future Gypsy leader, already an intellectual and former editor in chief of an unusual Belgrade newspaper.

The lack of fun in the park is carried out with those subjects that are being taught at the law school faculty, and he reads them if his thought is not taken away by a new promising endeavour.

Furthermore, the Gypsy newspaper was not hit by death, and it’s not just the most interesting attempt in our journalism. Svetozar Simić, the son of black parents, felt how severely the difference was imposed to him because of the colour of his face, throughout the four grades of elementary school, and throughout the entire high school period. In this way a revolt has been awakened in him, that in the first place has guided a campaign in defense of the personality and the honour of his people.

He took this from high school to university, more as a determination. And in this psychological circle an idea for the publishing of a newspaper was born in him. Simić had already written (with success) something like his first impressions about the Gypsy life, and this, as a favourable condition, was decisive for his newspaper to appear.

In his native language, “Romano Lil”. These are the only Gypsy words in the whole the Gypsy newspaper. All others in Serbian and in Cyrillic [5].

This interesting phenomenon has been received as something genuine in the public space. Beyond the title itself, which features the entire program of the newspaper, the real motives were not obvious.

– This was not just an eccentric attempt, for the sake of piquancy in the bibliographic balances …

The intention of one of the few Gypsy intellectuals was to divulge the reality of condemnation of his people, who were often equated in mass with terrible criminal acts. The law student Svetozar Simić will continue this endeavour after leaving the army, with stronger action and an expanded scope. His plan is to gather around him educated Gypsies. Or that he approaches them. Being associated in this way, would enable them to work towards improving the conditions for educating their people.

While publishing the newspaper last summer, Simić received a series of letters whose contents and requests had already been treating that editorial office in the workshop and bedroom of the editor’s father as a press-office for all kinds of information about the Gypsies.

If the new attempt to publish the Gypsy Newspaper would not achieve success, the son will devote himself exclusively to literature, by which he already threatened the Pen Club’s Board, pointing out the possibility that one of their members in Belgrade would be black. That is why he will collect material from his immediate vicinity, from the Gypsy community and Gypsy everyday life, at which nobody looked more closely than him.

Along with this so-called pure literature, through which he, as the son of a dark race, would speak about its temperament, wandering and incredible power to live under the most uncertain conditions, Simić will also work on collecting material through which all that black world of ours and its languages could be known.

He has already completed a Serbian-Gypsy grammar. He promises, if this would be possible, to create a Serbian-Gypsy dictionary [6]. All these would rather be documents of an exotic world and language for our conditions, than a need of all that black world from Meljak and Darosava [7].

Svetozar Simić is not the only one among his people who serves in an army uniform. But he is one of the few, perhaps the isolated case, who wears on his coat steeped swords as a sign of educated people in a ranker uniform. For this reason, indeed, troubles did not appear thus far, but it’s not impossible that it happens. The officers passing by are very surprised by his black face and these swords, assuming, certainly, under their first impression, that this is a paradox.

The future leader of his people (at least those from Jatagan-male) is capable of making an appeal through a work that is an example.

The young Simić has already written a novel full of vivid pictures of the Gypsy life, named “Gypsy” because of the fate of its characters [8]. He promises that a novel under this title will appear in bookshops when he leaves the army. There is no doubt, that it will be the most interesting original creation of the literary market.

Dojćilo Mitrović

Notes

1. The original phrase translated here and further in the text as ‘his people’, is njegovih saplemenika literary ‘his co-tribesmen’, suggesting the underdevelopment and the specific of the Gypsies as a tribe. The English connotations of the word tribe, however, might be misleading and that is why ‘his people’ was chosen.

2. Simić’s family was originally from a village near Arandjelovac and in the early 1930s moved to Belgrade.

3. During its short existence, the Editorial office was indeed located in the private home of the Simić family, Jatagan mala III, raw 24.

4. The article was released on the January 5, just before Orthodox Christmas Celebrations (according to the Old Style or Julian calendar).

5. This information is actually not correct. Despite the fact that the majority of materials were in Serbian, Romani language was present in the newspaper in different forms, for instance Romani phrases and words embodied in the Serbian text, or folklore materials as texts of songs and tales entirely in Romani with Cyrillic script. In both cases Romani was followed by Serbian translation. A material without Romani language presence was actually quite rare.

6. Simić indeed had compiled a dictionary, grammatical notes, novel(s) and memoir essays, but none of them have thus far been published.

7. Both Meljak and Darosava are villages in Central Serbia with significant number of Gypsies living there. The point of the author is that the Gypsy-layman would hardly benefit from the publications.

8. Simić had sent the manuscript to the Belgrade publishing house Privreda and got the manuscript back along with a standard rejection letter from the publisher dated 5 February 1935. Only the cover of the novel’s manuscript has remained of this unpublished novel and is preserved in the Personal Archive of Dragoljub Acković (LADA).

Source: Митровић, Д. (1936). Подневне слике првог циганског новинара код нас у Карађорђевом парку. Бивши уредник “Циганских новина” написао je роман из живота своjих саплеменика. Време, An. 16, No. 5024, 1936, January 5, p. 5.

Prepared for publication by Sofiya Zahova.

Comments

Romano lil (Roma paper) / Ciganske novine (Gypsy newspaper) was the first and only Roma-led journalistic endeavour in interwar Yugoslavia (Acković, 1994). The first two documents are newspaper editorials (see 3.3.1. and 3.3.2.) and could be read as programme statement and visions for the Roma as a community of citizens of the activist and newspaper editor Sverozar Simić, addressed to both Roma and non-Roma audience in the public space. Simić was born in 1913 to a Roma family in Kopljare, a village near Arandjelovac in Central Serbia. After graduating from high school in Arandjelovac, he moved to Jatagan ma(ha)le. He continued his studies in Belgrade, becoming a law student in 1935. In the 1930s Simić co-authored with Aleksandar Petrović, an employee at the Institute for Hygiene who was researching Gypsies in Serbia, three studies published as separate brochures in Serbian: About the marriage among our Gypsies (Петровић & Симић, 1934a), About the religion of our Gypsies (Петровић & Симић, 1934b), The theft among Gypsies (Петровић & Симић, 1934c). Throughout his lifetime he also worked on Romani grammar, vocabulary, writing down customs, and legends. He was one of the main young figures and activists in the civil activities among the Belgrade Gypsies during the interwar period. He was the founder and president of the Educational Club of Yugoslav Gypsy Youth that existed shortly before the start of the Second World War (see above). Simić was the main brain power in creating Romano lil and he was the editor, manager, and main author in the newspaper. The monthly four-page edition had only three issues released between March and May 1935. Reportedly, the print run of the first two issues was 1000 copies, while the third and last one was printed in 5 000 copies (Jopson, 1936, p. 87).

Reading these pieces as visionary programmes, shedding light on both problems and their solving for a desired future of the Roma, we can see essentially three main points, or priority areas, in which Roma had to concentrate. They are all related to the Roma children or the future generations among the Roma community. They are also interconnected and are in a sort of consequent relation. Firstly, it was said that Roma had to take care of the schooling their children. Secondly, this had to be followed by professional training, securing an occupation, and regular works. In addition to this, Roma had to ‘elevate culturally’ by gaining experience and knowledge about the world and the people and this was to be achieved by the engagement of the experienced, educated, and active Roma from the older generations. What is interesting to point out is the fact that these visions for the desired development of the Roma community are not related to demands from the state, political or government measures, but to demands towards the Roma themselves (The question of improving our way of life is largely in our own hands). This could be seen as meaning that the state had already secured the Roma as citizens with access to education and professional realisation, as well as with means for cultural elevation, and it is thus a question of Roma’s own agency, initiative, and self-organisation to achieve their better future through using the already exiting mechanism in their environment. This is an important point in regards to the visions for Roma social inclusion of the time as well as in comparison with the more recent discourses on these issues (Zahova, 2020).

Drawing a vision for Roma and their opportunities for a better future, and in relation to the need for Roma agency in achieving a better life for the Roma as a collective, some parts of Simić’s articles also engage with a critique from within the community and disapproving some actions, views, and habits among the Roma that were seen as preventing them from reaching prosperity and – to use the words of the newspaper, which was the discourse of the time in Yugoslavia – ‘elevate to another cultural level’. There are two common themes in this respect that appear in more than one issue of the newspaper. The main critique, observed in the editorial articles by Simić, is to the Roma community itself for not paying enough attention to the schooling and professional skills of their children and the lack of interest in Roma civic activism. Simić is particularly critical of those Roma who are literate and educated, as they are the ones who are supposed to take an active engagement concerning their own community.

Simić also engages with a critique of the macro-society and mainly its misconceptions about the Roma which were prevalent in the public discourse. He addresses in his programme articles two of the most common and widespread misconceptions about the Gypsies (present in all historical periods and geographical areas), namely those concerning Gypsy criminality and Gypsy begging. Simić challenges the wrong perceptions of begging as a Gypsy cultural practice by providing an explanation related to the social circumstances in which every person can find himself. Indirectly, he hints towards the fact that if the social infrastructure of a state cannot provide for its citizens finding themselves in a difficult situation, then begging is just a survival strategy. Furthermore, Simić criticises begging as a practice misused as an occupation replacing proper forms of work. He ends with a clear message that begging as an occupation is unacceptable for ‘all Gypsies’, who are against it and will fight it.

Another interesting feature of representing and addressing Roma in the programme articles is the special emphasis on both genders – Simić often writes our brothers and sisters. This points towards the equality of female and male personalities in the Roma collective as presented by Simić. He even speaks about the specific problems of ‘our sisters’, meaning Roma women, when talking about the lack of literacy. Thus, in Simić’s writings of the 1930s, Roma women were viewed as equal to men and not as subordinated or right-less individuals, a concept that apparently was wide-spread among the Roma civil society of the time, as all organisations of the Belgrade Gypsies were also inclusive towards women (see Part 3.1. Organisations).

The third document (3.3.3.) is a typical example of a portrait or interview-style article in terms of form and style of narration, featuring the journalistic and publishing activities of Svetozar Simić which in a way complements the two programme articles from Romano lil and provides additions to his visions as a Roma leader and activist presenting Roma in the public space. The most important statements made there by Simić are related to his wider strategic aims and visions, in which his publishing activities are tools for their implementation. Firstly, the newspaper aims at mobilising the educated Roma and creating a Roma elite to work for the further advancement of the community. In this way, Simić had hoped to gather other activists of Gypsy background and create an association. In fact, this was something which later, actually happened, in 1939, when the Educational Club of the Yugoslav Gypsy Youth was presided by Simić himself (see above).

The other side of Simić publishing activities was related to compiling a Serbian-Gypsy grammar and Serbian-Gypsy dictionary. In this respect, we may say that the Roma leader was following a well-known pattern for the ethno-national states in Eastern and Central Europe region, developed in 19th and beginning of the 20th century, after the Herderian model for national emancipation: namely, through the collection and publishing of materials representing the folkloristic and linguistic heritage of the respective peoples. The plans for creating and publishing the dictionary and grammar should be seen as a way to represent the Roma people’s linguistic heritage in the public space, and thus legitimise the Romani language and culture as equal to the other languages and cultures in the Yugoslav Kingdom. The novel written by Simić and announced to be published was a big news and even reported in the Luxembourg’s German language newspaper (Escher Tageblatt, 1936, p. 10) a month after the article in Vreme newspaper presented above. Svetozar Simić is the author of at least two novels in manuscript form, which makes him one of the first Roma novelists not only in Yugoslavia, but also globally. Only few pages are preserved from the novels, but their content demonstrates that these works should also be seen as a public narrative about the Gypsy life, one that would supposedly represent an authentic picture and narrative by an insider. Thus, the literary activities of Svetozar Simić should be seen as an inseparable part of his activism for Roma civic emancipation.

Sofiya Zahova