Marginal Groups on the Margins of Croatian Lexicography, or On the Culture of (Non)Remembrance of Roma Genocide Victims in Croatian Lexicography

Abstract

Similarly to other European countries, the history of the Roma population in Croatian areas was marked mostly by most periods of persecution and suffering, when the authorities tried to use repression in order to assimilate the Roma into the majority population. One such period was during World War II, when genocide against the Roma was carried out in many European countries by the Nazi authorities and their allies. After the War, the culture of remembering Roma victims became marginalised in Croatia. This paper examines how Croatian lexicography approached the issue of the significance of Roma suffering during World War II in selected lexicographical works from 1945 till today, and compares it to lexicographical publications from certain other European countries. Research shows that Croatian lexicography neglected the importance of Roma genocidal suffering as a central point in the history of the Roma population. Such a similar marginal attitude towards Roma suffering in World War II was present in other European lexicographies, which is only one of the arguments in favour of the thesis that post-war society in Europe, including Croatian society, neglected the importance of researching Roma suffering in war and thus marginalised the culture of remembrance of Roma victims of genocide, especially in science and culture.

Keywords

• roma
• lexicography
• croatia
• world war ii
• roma genocide
• culture of memory