The Rights of the Roma: The Struggle for Citizenship in Postwar Czechoslovakia (Human Rights in History)

The Rights of the Roma writes Romani struggles for citizenship into the history of human rights in socialist and post-socialist Eastern Europe. If Roma have typically appeared in human rights narratives as victims, Celia Donert here draws on extensive original research in Czech and Slovak archives, sociological and ethnographic studies, and oral histories to foreground Romani activists as subjects and actors. Through a vivid social and political history of Roma in Czechoslovakia, she provides a new interpretation of the history of human rights by highlighting the role of Socialist regimes in constructing social citizenship in postwar Eastern Europe. The post-socialist human rights movement did not spring from the dissident movements of the 1970s, but rather emerged in response to the collapse of socialist citizenship after 1989. A timely study as Europe faces a major refugee crisis which raises questions about the historical roots of nationalist and xenophobic attitudes towards non-citizens. -- Publisher's website Cover Half-title Series information Title page Copyright information Dedication Table of contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Why Roma Rights Matter to the Human Rights Story Socialism, Social Rights, National Rights Chapter Synopsis 1 Legacies of 1919 Illiberal Internationalism: Solving the Gypsy Question in Eastern Europe Before 1938 The ‘International Gypsy’ and Illiberal Internationalism in Interwar Europe Roma, Genocide, and the ‘Racial State’ Liberation Genocide, Retribution, and Postwar National Cleansing Conclusion 2 Stalinist Gypsy Workers Stalinist Citizens? In the Spirit of Internationalism For the Future of the Nation Citizens in the Making Crossing the Line Conclusion 3 But Roma Are Rural! A New Dawn: Gypsies in Socialist Slovakia We Have Lived Here for One Hundred Years! Ethnography: Studying Gypsies after Race Science Liquidate the Settlements! The Politics of Public Health Conclusion 4 Cracking Down on Nomadism Socialist Legality and ‘Civil Society’ after Stalin Vlach Roma: Eradicating a Way of Life Romani Activism and the Crisis of 1956 Conclusion: Looking West? Social Deviance and Freedom of Movement 5 Into the 1960s: Politics Gets Personal Social Rights and Private Life Managing the Gypsy Population Resettlement Child Protection, Eugenics, and Sterilisation Towards 1968: The Politics of Marginality 6 Prague Spring for Roma! Battling for Romani Nationhood Románo kultúrno jekhtániben: The Romani Cultural Unions (1969–1973) Collective Rights and the Politics of Numbers Genocide, Racial Discrimination, and Reparations Self-Help Minority Rights in a New Key: Romani Politics, East and West Conclusion 7 The 1970s: Human Rights, Minority Rights, Roma Rights? They Have Never Had It So Good Rethinking Czech Dissent: Social Work, Autonomy, and Community The International Romani Movement and Minority Rights in the Late 1970s Conclusion 8 Losing Rights after 1989? Dreams of Freedom Human Rights and Violence in the 1990s Roma Rights in the ‘New’ New Europe Conclusion Bibliography Published Documents Archives Memoirs, Fiction, and Ephemera Ethnography, Sociology, Anthropology, and Demography Newspapers and Journals Secondary Literature Index This book writes Romani struggles for citizenship into the history of human rights in socialist and post-socialist Eastern Europe. If Roma have typically appeared in human rights narratives as victims, Celia Donert here draws on extensive original research in Czech and Slovak archives, sociological and ethnographic studies, and oral histories to foreground Romani activists as subjects and actors. Through a vivid social and political history of Roma in Czechoslovakia, she provides a new interpretation of the history of human rights by highlighting the role of Socialist regimes in constructing social citizenship in postwar Eastern Europe. The post-socialist human rights movement did not spring from the dissident movements of the 1970s, but rather emerged in response to the collapse of socialist citizenship after 1989. A timely study as Europe faces a major refugee crisis which raises questions about the historical roots of nationalist and xenophobic attitudes towards non-citizens