Romani people in Slovenia

Romani people in Slovenia
Romi v Sloveniji (Slovene)
Roma with a bear in Šmarca in 1934
Total population
3,246 (2002)
Regions with significant populations
Prekmurje region and Dolenjska region
Languages
Balkan Romani, Italian, Slovene
Religion
Roman Catholicism

According to the 2002 census, there were 3,246 Romani individuals living in Slovenia.[1] The Council of Europe has estimated that approximately 8,500 Romani people live in Slovenia (0.42% of the population).[2] According to recent estimates, there are approximately 15,000 Romani in Slovenia, which constitutes 0.7% of the total Slovenian population.[3] The Roma have been living in Slovenia since the 15th century.[4]

Slovenian Roma live mainly in northeast Slovenia (the Prekmurje region) and southeast Slovenia (the regions of Lower Carniola, the Lower Sava Valley, and White Carniola), as well as in major towns such as Maribor, Velenje, Ljubljana, Celje, Jesenice, and Radovljica. The Sinti live mainly in Jesenice and Radovljica.[5] According to the Local Self-Government Act (Slovene: Zako o lokalni samoupravi), there are 20 municipalities where the Roma have resided historically, i.e., they are indigenous: Beltinci, Cankova, Črenšovci, Črnomelj, Dobrovnik, Grosuplje, Kočevje, Krško, Kuzma, Lendava, Metlika, Murska Sobota, Novo Mesto, Puconci, Rogašovci, Semič, Šentjernej, Tišina, Trebnje, and Turnišče.[6]

Rights and status

The rights and the status of the Roma community are stipulated in The Roma Community in the Republic of Slovenia Act (Zakon o romskl skupnosti v Republiki Sloveniji). At the local level, the Roma are represented in the municipalities where they are indigenous by a municipal councillor and a working body monitoring the situtation of the Roma community. At the national level, the Roma are represented by the Council of the Roma Community of the Republic of Slovenia (Svet romske skupnosti Republike Slovenije) as the umbrella organisation of the Roma community.[6]

Demographics and living conditions

The Roma mostly live in various Roma settlements that range in size from a few houses with approximately 20 to 50 inhabitants to larger settlements with up to 1,100 inhabitants. Most of them are Catholic and in a disadvantaged social position. Particularly in southeast Slovenia, only a few Roma have jobs, many do not send their children to school, they are confined to ghettos with no social role, and there is an increasing number of thefts, burglaries, fights, and shootings.[3] There are two main Romani language groups in Slovenia (the third smallest language group is the Roma from the former republics of Yugoslavia). The first is the language group of the Prekmurje Roma, which has many Hungarian words in its language. The second linguistic group is the Lower Carniola-White Carniola group.[7]

History

The Romani people originate from Northern India,[8][9][10][11][12][13] presumably from the northwestern Indian states of Rajasthan[12][13] and Punjab.[12]

The first report of the Roma in the Slovenia region dates from 1453 and refers to a smith. During World War II, part of Slovenia was annexed to Germany and the Roma living there were taken to concentration camps.[14]

During the Second World War, on 19 July 1942, the Partisan White Carniola Detachment took 61 Roma from Kanižarica. They were marched to Mavrlen, which had recently been emptied of its Gottschee German residents, held prisoner there for two days, and then murdered and buried in the Zagradec Mass Grave (Slovene: Grobišče Zagradec) southeast of the abandoned settlement of Gradec, now part of the settlement of Rožič Vrh.[15][16][17] Altogether, around 200 Romani people of Slovenia were killed during the Second World War.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ Roma – Minority Rights Group
  2. ^ "Slovenia".
  3. ^ a b "Kako rešiti napetosti med Romi in večinskim prebivalstvom na jugovzhodu Slovenije?" [How to resolve tensions between Roma and the majority population in southeastern Slovenia?] (in Slovenian). MMC RTV Slovenia.
  4. ^ Promoting Social Inclusion of Roma - European Commission
  5. ^ Situation of Roma in participating countries rm.coe.int
  6. ^ a b "Romska skupnost" [The Roma Community] (in Slovenian). Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  7. ^ "Pastorala Romov v Sloveniji" [Pastoral Care of Roma in Slovenia] (in Slovenian). Slovenian Bishops' Conference. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  8. ^ Hancock, Ian F. (2005) [2002]. We are the Romani People. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-902806-19-8: ‘While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romani groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European’{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  9. ^ Mendizabal, Isabel (6 December 2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. 22 (24): 2342–2349. Bibcode:2012CBio...22.2342M. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.039. hdl:10230/25348. PMID 23219723.
  10. ^ Sindya N. Bhanoo (11 December 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". New York Times.
  11. ^ Current Biology.
  12. ^ a b c Meira Goldberg, K.; Bennahum, Ninotchka Devorah; Hayes, Michelle Heffner (28 September 2015). Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives – K. Meira Goldberg, Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum, Michelle Heffner Hayes – Google Books. McFarland. ISBN 9780786494705.
  13. ^ a b Simon Broughton; Mark Ellingham; Richard Trillo (1999). World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Rough Guides. p. 147. ISBN 9781858286358. Roma Rajastan Penjab.
  14. ^ Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies). p. 254.
  15. ^ "Genocid nad Cigani na Blokah in v Iški." 2010. Zaveza 43 (25 February). Archived 2012-12-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Slovene)
  16. ^ Polič, Radko. 1975. Belokranjski odred. Ljubljana: Partizanska knjiga, p. 238.
  17. ^ Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Zagradec". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  18. ^ Delo.si - Za dostojen pokop pobitih Romov
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