From 'Cardboard Boats' to the 'Redeemer Queen': Postwar Mnemonics of Roma Persecution in Romania

• In Event: Holocaust Remembrance of Roma and Sinti in Communist East Central Europe: Panel of the Prague Forum for Romani Histories

Abstract

The paper examines the postwar production of mnemonics about the deportation in Transnistria, as told by Romani survivors. My research includes over 35 testimonies collected from Roma survivors between 2007 and 2019. In the first part of the paper, I emphasize how the deportation eugenic criteria that were applied by the Romanian authorities shaped differently the content of the mnemonic production (testimonies, songs, myths, poems) by nomadic and settled Roma. In the second part, I highlight the role played by these mnemonics in preserving the memory of the Romani persecution during the communist period.

Author

• Adrian-Nicolae Furtuna, National Centre of Roma Culture