Asserting a Presence in the Public Sphere : Autobiographies by two Romani Holocaust Survivors in Communist Czechoslovakia
Abstract
The chapter discusses autobiographies by two Romani Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia written between 1957-1989 in order to explore the post-war experiences of Romani Holocaust survivors with public presentation of their war-time fate and their identity as Roma in the atmosphere of side-lining the history of specific Holocaust victims, continuing stigmatization of Romani identity and state control of the "Gypsies". Emphasising the importance of research focused on post-war activities of the Roma themselves, the text explores the spaces in which the Holocaust of the Roma could be memorialized in communist Czechoslovakia, and the struggle of Romani survivors to assert the importance of their history among the general public and public consciousness.
By focusing on the navigation of contemporary social structures, ideological discourses and continuing anti-Gypsy stereotyping, the text also illustrates the complexity of the negotiating their multiple public identities as socialist citizens, Holocaust survivors and Roma in post-war Czechoslovakia.