Deep VIEW
On the Margins of Memory
Anja Kožul Freelance journalist
“... Did they kill the Roma , too ? The greatest ‘ murder of truth ’ about the Roma concerns their genocide in the Second World War . Thousands of books , hundreds of thousands of texts , and millions of articles have been written about this last great global catastrophe and the suffering of various peoples in it . Entire libraries have been dedicated to the suffering of Serbs , Croats , Jews , and all others in this region . This is a positive step because truth , no matter how bitter , must be remembered . And what better way to preserve it than between the covers of a book , on celluloid , or some other medium . The truth about the suffering of the Roma in this region has been neglected , forgotten , and relegated to oblivion , kept away from public eyes and ears . Why ? Because it suits everyone else . Nobody asks the Roma how they feel about the concealment of the truth of the genocide against them . And who would even ask them , when so many of those who knew this truth are no longer alive ? The records answering the questions of who and how many of the Roma were killed , as well as when , how and why , are scarce , almost nonexistent . For example , from the end of the war onward , almost all researchers of genocide in the Independent State of Croatia claimed that there were virtually no records of Roma suffering in that place of torture . Tons of pages have been written on the subject , but there is little that addresses the genocide against the Roma . Darkness and silence …” This excerpt from the book They Killed the Truth About Us by Dragoljub Acković , a Roma activist and journalist from Serbia , vividly illustrates and summarizes the injustice done to the Roma minority following their tragic mass suffering in World War II .
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Observing Memories Issue 8