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This book challenges the notion of Roma as mere victims of human rights violations in 20th century Europe and as another collective victim of Nazism and Stalinism. Focusing on post-war Czechoslovakia in the first 20 years of its existence as a communist state, the book explores various spheres of public life in which it is possible to trace the agency of Romani individuals and collective initiatives. As citizens and Holocaust survivors they fought for equal rights, social and political participation under conditions which appeared to be a dramatic reformulation of the state's approach to Roma under communist rule. The book offers a collection of texts, a unique selection of historical sources of predominantly Romani provenance, and commentaries that contextualise these sources within the history of post-war Czechoslovakia and the local nascent Romani movement.
About the author
Helena Sadílková is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ethnology and Central European and Balkan Studies at Charles University, where she heads the Roma Studies Unit.
Dušan Släka is an independent researcher with work experience as a historian and curator of the collection of written materials and self-documentation at the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno (CR), where he worked on several publication and exhibition projects.
Milada Závodská is a historian. Since 2019 she has been working as a researcher at the Research and Teaching Unit for Romani Studies at Charles University.
