The Postwar Migration of Romani Families from Slovakia to the Bohemian Lands. A Complex Legacy of War and Genocide in Czechoslovakia
Abstract
The chapter examines the postwar migration of Roma from Slovakia to the Bohemian lands as a process both that developed as a direct result of wartime events and their aftermath in Czechoslovakia and that decisively affected the lives of all local Romani families, whether or not they actively took part in the migration. Starting with a summary of the differences in the effects of the war on the Romani families in the Czech and Slovak parts of the republic and their postwar repercussions, the chapter then addresses postwar migration as a response of Romani families in Slovakia to wartime events and to the possibilities of territorial and social mobility that newly opened for them in the postwar period.
To offer deeper insight into the complex transformation of the life experiences and trajectories of individual Romani families, it then presents a case study of a family from southern Slovakia that joined in the migration in 1946 and established itself as residents of postwar Brno, the Moravian capital and the center of Romani political mobilization in postwar Bohemian lands. Using their example, the author argues that migration offered various opportunities for Romani individuals, supported by their family structures, of actively shaping their postwar lives and the lives of their families and local communities.