Slovak Roma/Romani in the 1930s and the 1940s (1927 - 1950)

The master thesis addresses the alteration of Roma discourse and changes of relational patterns between Roma and the wider society during the 1930s and 1940s (more precisely 1927-1950). It focuses on the features attributed to the notion of "a Gypsy" by majority group members. Subsequently, it also attempts to reconstruct, using various levels of discursive practice, the position of Roma in the Slovak society. The main emphasis was laid on the wartime period, which was framed by the interwar and postwar context. In close connection with this anchoring, it tries to trace possible roots of wartime discursive and physical violence. It inquires various continuities and discontinuities of particular policies observing the individuals fulfilling these features attributed to the notion of a "Gypsy" or "an antisocial person" and their limits of agency. Apart from that it scrutinizes different means of categorization and their influence on attitude towards Roma